At the Bloovi Conversion Day, Amy Harrison cut straight to the chase: when it comes to copywriting, everyone writes more or less the same thing, always using the same old ‘powerful’ words, like ‘dynamic’, ‘high-quality’, ‘leading’, ‘high-tech’ and ‘handy’. My motto? Sharing is caring, so here are her four tips that have helped me write targeted texts time and time again:
1. Avoid cheating copy
Texts that focus far too much on yourself rather than on your customer? Not done! That is what we call cheating copy – texts you’ll find on thousands of other websites as well. Don’t be a copycat: think outside the box. Visualise, make your message specific and, last but not least, apply the ‘what’s in it for me?’ principle to everything you write! Remember your customers are only interested in what your offer can mean to them.
2. Forget umbrella terms like ‘dynamic’, ‘high-quality’, ‘leading’, ‘high-tech’ and ‘handy’
When writing a text to boost your conversion rate – website texts, for example – it is very tempting to include as many ‘powerful’ words as possible. Unfortunately, most of them are useless umbrella terms. Focusing on your customers will help. How are your readers supposed to know whether or not your offer is genuinely powerful or high-quality? Above all, don’t just assume your customers will take you at your word – especially not if it’s a vague buzzword. You need to show what’s in it for them. How? Maybe by highlighting a specific feature and linking it to a relevant benefit for your customers. A good example would be: “[Product] is a powerful time-tracking tool whose different reporting features help you analyse your staff productivity right from day one.” By giving your readers specific information, you boost your credibility and make your offer much more attractive.
3. Know your readers and what matters to them
Think of ‘buyer personas’ – semi-realistic impressions of your ideal customers – when you write, to instantly make your texts more effective. You can use tools like usabilityhub, which allows you to test the effectiveness of things like website headlines in just five seconds. At Outsource, we’ve also created our very own test. Check it out here!
4. Make sure your readers feel an ‘admitted pain’
More often than not, your target audience do not know they have a certain need. That can be quite tricky when drafting your texts, because they are generally focused on problems and solutions. So step into your readers’ shoes and target the right issues. This makes people aware that they have a problem and that your solution is the answer. That is why you need to focus their attention on the risks of not using your product or service. Need an example?
“Now let’s get writing!”.So, instead of writing, “Send automatic payment reminders by SMS and get rid of all those unpaid invoices”, write: “Are your employees wasting a lot of time reminding customers to pay their invoices? Send automatic payment reminders by SMS”.
