The biggest challenge to online marketers is creating copy that is effective and produces real, tangible results. Here are some of the ways you can write copy that converts.
Know your customer
To start off with, knowing the basics are infinitely helpful in writing effective copy. This means doing the market research, and identifying who your audience is. Customer profiles can go a long way in helping you understand your customer’s needs as well as their behavioural trends. This knowledge is extremely handy to have over the long term as well.
Make your copy approachable
One of the best ways you can draw customers in is to write like a human being. That is, write copy in the way that you would speak. Technical jargon can be off-putting and occasionally intimidating. Instead, make sure your copy is personable and conversational (where appropriate). Much like pre-recorded tele-prompts, most customers don’t like the idea of conversing with a robot. While other factors such as SEO still remain relevant, just be mindful that stuffing your content with keywords shouldn’t be all that’s on your mind.
Customer reviews
Some of the most authoritative voices on the web come from consumers themselves. What’s especially great about customer reviews and testimonials is that the authors are seen as pillars of authority because they can relate – from one consumer to another – what it will be like to have your products or services. This is perhaps one of the simplest, and easiest ways to convert – let your customers (and products) do the talking for you. A few ways to do this is to leave comment boxes on your product pages (make sure they can be approved before they are published), send out customer surveys, or if you’re a local business, you can even consider talking to your customers directly and taking down what they have to say.
Call to actions
If you don’t ask, the answer is always going to be no. Your copy should eventually lead to a call-to-action. Consider what it is that you ultimately want your audience to do – whether it is ‘buy now’, ‘add to cart’, ‘download this eBook now’, work backwards from your end goal.
