Q. What’s ONE invaluable tip for crafting sales copy that converts?
The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.
1. Create a Call to Action
Whenever we do videos at Big Fish Presentations, we make sure to build up the story of the problem, introduce the solution as something only the company in the video provides, then name everything that might go wrong if contact is not made. This leads up to the call to action, which is the critical next step to lock down a phone call leading to a sale!
– Kenny Nguyen, Big Fish Presentations
2. Read It Aloud
There’s nothing like reading aloud what you’ve written to hear any quirks or stilted aspects of your copy. If you read your sales copy aloud to yourself (or someone else), you’ll experience the impact of it, just as your audience will. You can then use carefully chosen language and phrasing to its best effect to truly get inside the head of your customer through your sales copy.
– Lea Woodward, Inspiring Ventures
3. Have Fresh Eyes Look at It
Whenever we hire new people, we have them read all of our sales collateral and provide feedback. We know what we do, but to someone new to the industry, we might not be adequately delivering the message. Getting fresh eyes on everything on a fairly regular basis helps us determine the edits we need to make and ensures our copy will convert.
– Arjun Arora, ReTargeter
4. Read ‘The Boron Letters’
Gary Halbert was one of the greatest copywriters and direct mail marketers. He left behind “The Boron Letters,” which are available on his website. It’s a must-read if you want to learn about crafting sales copy that converts.
– Brett Farmiloe, Digital Marketing Agency
5. Focus on Clarity
Effective sales copy involves getting your point across clearly and succinctly without telling a long and drawn-out tale behind your business. Keep it brief and to the point.
– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
6. Provide a Solution
Sales copy should focus on how your solution is helping the customer more than focusing on the features of your product. It should be more about the “how” instead of the “what.”
– Shradha Agarwal, ContextMedia
7. Keep It Short and Sweet
My first creative director told me that if I couldn’t communicate a message on a billboard in six words, I would have lost the sale because the car had already gone by. Nowadays, six may be one word too many. If it can’t be sold in a few choice words, it’s going to be a tough sale. Consumers are headline- and bullet point-driven when consuming information.
– Michael Portman, Birds Barbershop
8. Test Your Message
If you want your sales copy to convert, you have to split test. The worst mistake you can make in marketing and copywriting is to assume the consumer is just like you or that just because something worked in the past, it will work again. Test different messages and message styling to see what actually converts.
– Sean Kelly, HUMAN (Helping Unite Mankind And Nutrition)
9. Speak to Your Ideal Customer
Part of your job as an entrepreneur is to really know your customers. I have two customer avatars that represent the majority of my audience. I keep these avatar profiles on the wall in my office so I’m constantly reminded of who my business serves. Having a customer avatar allows you to create copy that speaks to their hearts, addresses the challenges they are facing and gives them a solution.
– Natalie MacNeil, She Takes on the World
10. Give Them the Details
Customers care most about the specifics of your product. Don’t make them jump through hoops to get to the things they care about. Good copy should tell them how the product works, how much it costs and how to get it.
– Vanessa Nornberg, Metal Mafia
11. Overcome Objections
Focus less on benefits and features and more on soothing your potential customers’ fears. Spend time brainstorming every possible objection you could imagine that someone would have to buying your product. Then go through one by one and address and overcome each objection.
– Cody McKibben, Digital Nomad Academy
Image Credit: http://libeltyseo.com/
