Having incredible copy is one of the fastest ways to increase your conversion rates and sales, yet so many companies are terrible at it.
Creating great copy is one of the best proven ways to increase your conversions of site visits to sales. However it is something that we all struggle with. Even the big companies!
I recently attended a course in which it was stated that having great copy can increase your success from 20% to 500%. And it can be done by making some pretty simple changes, that work almost immediately.
For those of you who are like me and hadn’t heard of copywriting before. It’s essentially just the art of moving words around to help your content to have the best impact. And this stuff really works.
So here are my top 5 take aways:
No one like to read things that sound like a legal document, or like it’s been written like a drone. If you try and write like you talk, then people are much more like to connect with your content and with your personality.
2. Don’t be boring
This is quite difficult as we have been molded to send formal sounding emails by our jobs, so it may take a bit of practice. But if you do a bit of a test between 2 emails, one sounding robot like, and the other sounding less formal, then you’re pretty much guaranteed to get better click through rates (the number of people clicking your links in the email).
The examples below show the improved response rate of a less formal email
Boring Template
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Hi Steve,
With Thousands of searches for Home Decorators on Yellow Pages in the Perth area every month, Cooper’s Decorators is in a great position to increase business.
I’d like to be in a position to best assist your business with Yellow Pages. To help me out, please take a few seconds to answer the questions below:
- Have you seen what other businesses are doing to grow through Yellow Pages?
- Can I help answer any questions regarding Yellow Pages or your Business Owner’s account?
- Are you interested in learning how best to utilise Yellow Pages?
I look forward to speaking to you
1 response
Subject: The Secret to Getting More Customers
Hi Steve,
I have 2 ways that will help bring more customers in your door, and grow yourbusiness:
1.) Exposure to the RIGHT people. All too often businesses promote themselves via direct mail or local magazines. That’s great for brand awareness, but, if you’re looking for a quicker return for your money then that’s not the way you should be marketing.
That kind of exposure is called outbound marketing, putting your business in front of people that aren’t actively looking for your business.
You should be promoting through inbound marketing, which is what Yellow Pages online does! When you advertise with us, we promote you to people that are looking for your business right now.
I also have a second way… but it’s too good to give away in an email (which I don’t even know you have received yet). So if you’d like to have a chat about this, just ring me up and I’ll tell you everything. NOTE: It’s something that will definitely help you stand out from the crowd!
Call today 🙂
Dave
4 responses
As you can see. This simple change, had some brilliant results!
3. Don’t attempt to sound like a massive company
Most people seem to fall into this trap. I have definitely done it. The trick isn’t to try and sound super cleaver. It’s to deliver a clear message.
I any instance, the trick is to be concise.
Here’s an example:
“davecottam.com creates articles, videos and other resources to help motivate, teach, celebrate and put entrepreneurs on the path to success in the business world. I have been doing this in various formats since 2014.”
Trims to:
“I create media for entrepreneurs to help teach and celebrate them and showcase other entrepreneurs. I’ve been doing this in various formats since 2014.”
Trimmed again:
“Inspiring, informing and celebrating entrepreneurs since 2014.”
Trimming works for all your copy. Everything that you write should be streamlined. This includes emails, blogs, magazine articles, webpage content etc. Don’t try to sound too clever. Just get your point across in the quickest and most understandable way possible, and you’ll be less likely to lose the reader.
4. Write headlines that sell. Not headlines that sound clever.
Copywriter Joe Sugarman says:
- The job of the first line is to get them sucked into the second line.
- The job of the second line is to get them sucked into the third line.
- The job of the third line is to get them sucked into the fourth line.
An easy headline formula is:[End result they want] plus [time period] plus [address the objections]
This formula can help you write good headlines for anything! For example:[Get your driveway covered for under $45/meter] [in 2 days] [fully guaranteed]
You can use this formula for anything!
5. Give value. Then Sell.
No one likes to be sold to. It turns people off. So it is advised to use the following balance:70 percent: Providing value 30 percent: Selling
This way the reader gets some great information from you, plus you get to pitch them a small sale.
Most people don’t like reading a sales pitch, but if it comes with some great information, then they don’t mind. This mix of giving something before you ask for it is a proven method of winning loyal readers as well as increasing sales.
Hopefully if you implement some of this, then you’ll see the same boost in your results that I did 🙂
Thanks for reading
Dave
Please feel free to contact me, comment, like, and share. Especially like and share 🙂
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This works for email subscriptions and blog comments as well as product sales, since readers give up something they value–their time, email address, privacy–to get something of value in return. This fundamental copywriting tip works really well in conjunction with tip #17, providing instantaneous gratification.