5 Must-Have Tips For Writing Copy That Converts
If you can’t turn yourself into a consumer, you probably shouldn’t be in the advertising business at all.” —Leo Burnett
Writing copy that converts should feel like having a conversation with the ideal customer. Good copy understands what the target audience wants, presents them with solutions, answers their objections, and of course, converts them.
Turn traffic into revenue by writing copy that converts with the following 5 tips.
1. List Features Instead Of Benefits
Benefits sell, features don’t. Lay out the benefits and tell your users how your product is going to make their life easier. In the words of Seth Godin, it is all about “Me, me, me. My favorite person: me.” Make sure you are talking to your leads about their favorite subject: themselves.
Remember how Steve Jobs revealed the magic of the iPod? He didn’t bother to talk too much about its technical capacity…he emphasized what customers could do with it by using the punchline “1000 songs in your pocket.”
2. Test Different Headlines
Your headline is the most important thing on your page. Whether it is an AdWords result, or a landing page, the headline is the first thing people see. You need to A/B test different headlines. Don’t be afraid to do so, as long as you are generating enough traffic to get statistically significant results.
Create different test-headlines based on your traffic sources, there is not just one perfect headline. One headline might work better for you on your PPC traffic, but another headline might work better on your organic traffic.
When you write your headline, focus it around your target persona’s pain points and present your perfect solution. And, don’t forget to support your headline message in the body/landing page of your page. Ad relevancy improves your Quality Score, and sends a consistent message to your leads.
3. Always Prove What You Claim
This is especially true for e-commerce/SaaS startups, where their products are less tangible. Trust becomes crucial and can be established using testimonials, proven facts, or leveraging social proof. Studies suggest that with testimonials, participants showed higher levels of trust, in fact, the positive influence of testimonials was significantly more pronounced with more expensive products than cheaper ones.
For example, if you claim that your startup offers the cheapest CRM software, you need to prove it. Add numbers, add figures, or add case studies or client testimonials, anything that will support what you are saying on your copywriting.
4. Be Concise
You want to try to get your point across as fast as possible. As Leonardo Da Vinci said, “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Use headers and sub-headers to make it easy for readers to scan through. Ditch the long, winding paragraphs full or jargon; you are not trying to get a literary award here, you are optimizing for conversion.
The team at Crazy Egg has done a great job writing copy that converts. They kept the user in mind by not ‘assaulting’ them with a wall of text online.
Breaking big hunks of information with bullet points (as with headers), makes the copy more readable and less daunting to read.
5. Use Persuasive Language
Persuasiveness is not about what you say, it’s about how you say it. Every marketer knows that the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me” is an outright lie.
The words you use have an incredible amount of power. Always go back to your drafts and identify any phrases or sentences that lack punch or excitement before publishing.
Here’s a long list of persuasive words to get you inspired:
The Big List of 189 Words That Convert
Final Thought
When you are writing your copy, don’t forget to use customer-centric language, this is really the key to copywriting for conversion. Understand exactly who you’re writing for and what makes them tick.
Share your passion, take away their objections, and make them smile. That is the key to writing copy that converts.
Now… start optimizing your copy with these ideas. Practice makes perfect.