17 Tips for Crafting Copy that Sells

In my last blog post, I talked about why it’s so easy to overlook copy on the web.  Now that you know why you shouldn’t overlook copywriting, here are 17 steps you can follow to create effective copywriting that will sell your products.

1. Use a call to action. The most common sign of an inexperienced salesperson is that he delivers an entire sales pitch, has a prospect at the edge of her seat and then never asks her to buy his product.  Using a strong call to action is the single most powerful way to improve your copywriting.  There is no point delivering a long pitch if you never ask (tell) your reader to perform the action you want her to do, whether it be signing up for a newsletter, adding an item to a cart, or requesting a quote.

2. Focus on what the customer wants to hear. This goes back to avoiding ego-marketing.  Forget about what you think you should be writing about. Think about what your customers want to read, and write about it. You might think the story of how you created your product is great, but potential customers don’t care. Instead, find out what led your current customers to buy your product and incorporate that. If you don’t have any current customers, conduct informal focus groups asking people what would make them buy your product.

3. Forget the big words. Writers, as a general rule, are word nerds. They use big words that make people reach for their dictionaries. In literary circles, there is debate about whether or not this is a good thing. In the world of copywriting, there is no debate. Use easily understandable language. You’re not trying to recreate Joyce. You’re trying to convey a message. Messages are most easily conveyed with simple words. If a sixth grader can’t understand your copy, it’s too complex.

4. Sometimes grammar is not that important. I’m one of the above-mentioned word nerds, so this rule hurts me. A lot. But it’s important. When writing good copy, the focus is on the impact, and the message. Not on the grammar. If your grammar is so bad it’s distracting, that’s not good. But if you have to massacre grammar in favor of adding impact… do it. Fragments. Run-ons. Poor use of punctuation. Inappropriate Capitalization. These can all work in copywriting.

5. Use short sentences. Short sentences are punchy. They keep the flow moving. They make the reader continue reading. The average length of a sentence in thrillers and suspense novels is shorter than in other novels. It keeps the reader interested. The same should go for your copy. Keep the sentences short, and keep the pace quick. The last thing you want is your reader to get bored.

6. Cut out the fluff. If you read a sentence in your copy and you’re uncertain if it helps you convert, cut it. Fluff just slows down the pace of the writing and distracts the reader. Keep him focused on the end goal of converting. Don’t get him thinking along tangents with extraneous material.

7. Don’t sound like an infomercial. “Call now and receive, not one… not two… not three… but 17,467 widgets. But wait! That’s not all…” Believe it or not, this kind of marketing is effective in the right circumstance. However, chances are your copy is not the right circumstance. The above methods are used in infomercials that play on television late at night, when nothing else is on. They have a captive audience. They have a bored audience. And there’s something strangely hypnotic about the television ads. Unless you’re selling a Slap Chop, chances are your customers are too smart, and have too many other things to do with their time to be attracted by this sort of writing.

8. Offer a guarantee. Consumers don’t like parting with their money. They are afraid that they will give it up and not receive something of equal value in return. The best thing your copy can do is relieve that fear. Offering a guarantee is the easiest way to do that. If you have a good product, you don’t need to worry about it costing you too much. The amount of sales it will lock down will outweigh any losses.

9. Remove barriers to entry. Your copy should not be a long explanation of how the reader can obtain your product. Your copy should be a sales pitch that talks about the benefits of the product. How the user obtains the product should be as simple as possible. Amazon has become the most successful online retailer in the world because users can place an order with a single click. They make it easy.

10. Be specific. Don’t talk about your product in vague generalities, use as many specifics as you can. If your product saves your customers money, don’t tell them it’s going to save them money. Don’t tell them it’s going to save them thousands of dollars. Tell them exactly how much it’s going to save them. Generalities smell like BS, and consumers are weary of BS.

11. Test your copy. No matter how much you edit your copy, you won’t know how good it is until you see how it converts, and you won’t know how to make it better until you test it. There are a number of tools available to test web copy and design. I’ve used Google’s Website Optimizer in the past. In The Four Hour Work Week (amazon link), Tim Ferriss talks about how he used a PPC campaign to test different titles for his book. The ad that got the best click-through-rate was chosen as the title for his book.

12. Use formatting intelligently. In the last post, I talked about how copy and design need to work together. Part of that is knowing how to use formatting intelligently. DON’T WRITE IN ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME. Don’t bold random words for no apparent reason. Don’t write in hard to read colours. However, using formatting intelligently and in the right places can help your copy. Straight text with no formatting is boring to the average reader. Spice it up, but don’t go overboard.

13. Use testimonials. I stumbled upon Gwen Bell’s website a few weeks ago, and one of the things I loved about it was how she has peppered in testimonials. The testimonials are in italics, so they stand out, but they’re also unobtrusive and don’t get in the way of her message or the navigation. Testimonials are social currency. They build trust with your reader, and if you have your reader’s trust, it’s much easier to convince her that she’s buying a quality product.

14. Follow a logical flow. It’s important that your writing flow and follow in a logical pattern. Have you ever read copy that jumps all over the place? It’s like being pitched by a chimp with ADD. You need to carry the reader through the copy and deliver him to the end where he will convert. If you jump around, there’s a good chance he’ll jump right off your page.

15. Tell a story. The easiest way to create a flow in your copy is to tell a story. Stories create their own flow because they are a series of events that lead to a natural conclusion. If you can craft your copy into a story, then the reader will follow along into the natural conclusion of converting.

16. Don’t give options. Make sure your copy has single-minded focus. If it’s to convert to a sale, the copy should point to a “buy now” button. If it’s to lead to a newsletter sign up, then it should lead to a sign up form.  If it’s to request a quote, it should lead to a quote request form. Don’t write copy that tries to do many things at once, even if those things seem similar. For instance, don’t try to sell two different products with the same copy. The dual purpose of the copy takes away from its effectiveness, and you lose the reader in the flow. The other thing that happens is that consumers are typically paralyzed by choice. People think they want more choices, but really, what they want is for you to make their life easy and choose for them.

17. Use a call to action. “Didn’t you start with that?” I hear you saying. Yes, I did. And I’m closing with it. The same way your copy should open and close with a call to action. One call to action is good. Two is better. How many is too many? That depends on the copy, but all copy can use at least two calls to action.

There you have it.  Some of you with copywriting experience may notice a few traditional tips that are lacking here such as “Turn features into benefits.”  My goal here was to give some practical tips straight from the head of someone who gets paid to do this stuff and not sound like a textbook. A lot of the more traditional tips will take care of themselves if you follow the above.

That being said, there are also a lot more tips that aren’t here. Perhaps you can fill them in.

What do you think? What are some copywriting tips that I missed? What do you think of the above? Do any of these not make sense to you? Were they helpful? Let me know in the comments.