How to tap into the 16 dominant emotions that make your reader tick (and click)

3-step framework

If your writing doesn’t make people feel something, they’ll forget it.

So how do you make it stick?

• Make the reader feel proud.

• Make the reader feel relieved.

• Make the reader feel confident.

• Make the reader feel something!

Because your reader won’t remember what you said—only how you made them feel.

But you can’t create emotion. You have to channel it.

Here’s how to do in 3-steps:

Step 1: What Does Your Reader Need To Know, Feel, or Do?

Say your audience is coaches struggling to get leads on LinkedIn.

They’ve been told that LinkedIn is the place to land high-ticket clients. They spend hours writing content, optimizing their profiles, and commenting. But when it comes to actual leads? Crickets. The only people “sliding into their DM”s are other coaches trying to sell them something.

Frustrating, right?

At this point, they’re starting to wonder if LinkedIn even works for coaches at all.

What’s holding them back?

Most coaches assume their lack of leads is a numbers game.

"I don’t have enough followers to land clients."

They believe that unless they build a huge audience, nobody will take them seriously. That’s why they spend months trying to “grow” before they ever think about selling.

But the truth?

Coaches with just a few hundred connections are landing clients every single month.

So the real question is:

What do they need to know, feel, and do to break out of this mindset?

For example:

• Know → They don’t need a massive audience to generate leads.

• Feel → Relieved that their small following isn’t a dealbreaker.

• Do → Create a 5-day free Educational Email Course to get more qualified leads.

Your job is to challenge that belief, shift their mindset, and show them the next step.

Let’s keep going.

Step 2: Tap Into One Of The Reader’s 16 Dominant Emotions

Now, let’s talk about emotion.

What do you think is behind the frustration coaches feel? On the surface, it’s the lack of leads. But if you want to move people to action, you have to go deeper.

Every decision—especially in business—is driven by emotion. And when it comes to struggling coaches, their frustration isn’t just about leads. It’s about what those leads represent on an emotional level.

This is where dominant emotions come into play. Copywriting legend Clayton Makepeace points out that there are 16 dominant emotions that drive action.

A few of these emotions stand out for a LinkedIn coach:

• Fear: The fear that they’re wasting time while their competitors are winning.

• Recognition: The desire to be seen as an authority but feeling invisible.

• Security: The need for financial stability and a steady stream of clients.

The task here is to call out these emotions and flip them into hope.

Because the truth is, they’re not too late. They don’t need a massive audience. And there is a proven way to start landing clients without playing the content game for months.

Here’s how this looks in action:

• Fear-based: “Struggling to get leads? You might be making the same mistake every coach does in their first year.”

• Hope-based: “If you’ve got 300 followers, you already have enough to turn LinkedIn into a lead-gen machine. Here’s the playbook.”

One triggers doubt.

The other creates possibility.

This is how you grab attention, make your reader feel seen, and move them toward action. Now, it’s time to bridge the gap and show them exactly how to get the outcome they want.

Step 3: Give The Reader The Path To Get What They Want

Most people don’t take action because they can’t see the steps.

They want the result—but without a clear path, they stay stuck.

And what happens when people feel stuck?

Frustration turns into doubt. Doubt turns into inaction.

So instead of just giving advice to our LinkedIn coach, we want to reframe their fear into certainty. For example: “This simple 3-post formula shows you how to turn your small audience into a consistent source of clients—without wasting hours on content no one sees.”

See what happened there?

• It speaks to their fear of posting into the void.

• It makes the solution feel simple and achievable.

• It creates hope—that they can get clients, even with a small audience.

Now, they can see a way forward.

That’s the real power of good writing.

And if you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry—I’ve got you.

Here’s an AI prompt to try:

The Emotional Trigger Cheat Sheet

This prompt is designed to help you tap into the deeper emotional needs of your audience, so your writing connects instantly and hits harder.

It walks you through:

• Identifying the true desires behind an emotion.

• Structuring your writing to amplify that dominant emotion.

• Generating multiple angles to make it land.

All you have to do?

Pick an emotion, add it to the prompt, and let ChatGPT or Claude give you 5 different ways to leverage it effectively in your writing.

Let’s break it down with an example.

Step 1: Prep The Prompt

Say we’re targeting Greed—the desire for more.

By priming the AI with this emotion, the model will generate angles that emphasize abundance, success, and achieving more than enough

Step 2: Run The Prompt And Watch AI Target Your Emotion

Notice how each point pulls on a different psychological trigger:

• Paint the contrast between settling and scaling.

• Reveals a hidden opportunity others are missing.

• Makes abundance feel scientific (like a formula).

• Exposes what separates those who “get it” from those who don’t.

• Frames growth as inevitable—just a matter of using the right system.

See the difference?

Instead of just talking about success, these angles pull the reader in—because they tap into desire, FOMO, and status.

Step 3: Push Your Thinking Further

Use a strategic question.

For example:

“What makes someone believe unlimited abundance is possible for them?”

Then as you write, ask yourself:

• Does the example make abundance feel achievable?

• Does it motivate action by showing a clear path to success?

Channel these desires into actionable, emotionally resonant writing.

This prompt can save you a ton of time.

Here are few instances to give it a try:

• Before you write—to guide your messaging. If you’re stuck staring at a blank page, this prompt gives you clarity. Ask yourself: “What emotion do I want my reader to feel by the end of this?” Then use the cheat sheet to map it out before you write a word.

• During the editing phase—to punch it up. Maybe you’ve got a decent draft, but you’re not feeling it. Pull out the prompt and ask: “What emotional need have I really tapped into here?” Chances are, you’ll realize you’re too focused on facts and features The cheat sheet will help you weave emotion into your piece without starting from scratch.

• When you’re writing a headline or hook. Your headline is where emotion matters most. If your hook doesn’t spark curiosity or feeling, people won’t read further. Use the cheat sheet to test different emotional triggers for your headline.

Here’s the prompt: