We’ve talked about techniques before and how effective asking questions or using a male or female voice can be. Certainly, there are a variety of ways to optimally craft your voice over video. But how can we go deeper? How can we really dig deep into the brains of our audience?

Thankfully, it’s not as complicated as it first seems. We’re all different, but we are wired pretty similarly. There are things that most people are attracted to and things that make us go “ugh.” The key, then, is to find what sticks and use it in your voice overs. For that, we can turn to psychology. Here are some tips:

1. Lower Your Voice: Have you ever noticed that if someone is constantly yelling, then that person eventually loses his or her effect? We just start to tune out when someone is shouting at us all the time. It’s like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. So, the opposite is true. When we hear a whisper we naturally want to know what the secret is, what the whole hush-hush is for. This can be a valuable technique if you want to draw attention to a certain part of your script.
2. Make it Personal: Why should I care? Why should I take action? Well, because it relates to my life and it concerns me. The bottom line is, the more specific you can get and the harder you can hit on a personal level, the more compelled people will be to buy in. So when you’re coming up with your script, go for substance over generic statement. Go for examples over directions. Show them. Don’t tell them.
3. Fear is your friend: We make things personal because it invokes emotions. Well. So does fear and doubt. Is your product exclusive? Is it a limited time? Will it fix a problem that your audience has, but only if they act now? Those are things that encourage people to act and introducing emotion into the script – emotion that sets off doubt and uncertainty – can be a powerful psychological motivator.

Scripts are so quick and they usually go in one ear and out the other. By following some of these tips, you’ll make it more likely that your message sticks.