6 tips for conversion copywriting
Many marketers focus on keywords and link-building opportunities and name dropping as they develop website content, which isn’t bad in and of itself but it can be when we forget to make our content engaging or drive action.
Writing for SEO is an important part of writing copy for a website but we always have to remember that our target audience is always a person or group of people. They are the ones who are going to take action or make a purchase, not bots sent from a search engine.
If your content is obviously written for a bot and people are quickly bouncing from your site, it won’t matter if you have it optimized perfectly or not with keywords, links, or alt text, as the search engines will see that no one wants to spend time reading your content so they’ll start ranking it lower or stop serving it as a result.
So, how do you ensure your content is optimized for your audience? That’s where conversion copywriting comes in!
How to write conversion-focused website copy
1. Start with a goal
What do you want your readers to do after they read your content? Perhaps that’s buying a product, contacting sales, downloading an ebook, or even registering for a webinar.
Your goal needs to be clear and apparent to your readers otherwise they’ll get to the bottom of the page and not be inspired to take the action you present. Keep your goal in mind as you create content for the page to draw the website visitor in and motivate them to do whatever your goal sets out to do.
2. Research your audience
You know what you want the reader to do, but now you need to make sure you know who will be reading this content and how to persuade them to take action.
You must know:
- Who your customers are and their needs
- Their challenges and pain points
- Your product or service’s USP
- Benefits of your product or service
- Why the conversion should happen now
Your content needs to be specific to your target audience and easily explain how your product or service is the right one for them.
3. Structure your content
Make it super easy for website visitors to read and quickly understand your website’s content by using headings, breaking up paragraphs into one or two sentences, and even using bulleted lists where appropriate.
You’ll catch their attention as they scan the page with a CTA button or form, but they need to be convinced to convert and that comes from reading your copy.
4. Write in second-person
Writing in second-person POV helps the reader by placing them directly in the content. Quick recap on the different POVs:
- First-person POV = I/me/mine
- Second-person POV = you/your/yours
- Third-person POV = he/she/his/hers
By using second person, the reader is more likely to identify with the challenges and pain points you’re talking about in your copy and be more excited to hear about the benefits that will directly impact their lives.
5. Use action words
Tell your readers what to do. It’s as simple as that. If your goal is to get them to contact sales, be sure to repeat the phrase “contact sales” in the CTA and within the text. Don’t feel like you need to be clever with your CTA, just tell them what they’re signing up for and what they can expect to be delivered.
The best CTAs are short and often finish the question: I want to…
- Save a spot in the webinar
- Start a free trial
- Explore products and services
- Experience [the product]
- Compare products and services
- Get a discount
- Download the guide
- Plan a vacation
6. Follow the 4 Cs
Your copy needs to be clear, concise, compelling, and credible. If you want to persuade website visitors to take an action, the 4 Cs will help them get there. I’d also add in conversational and consistent to this cluster of Cs for conversion copywriting. Keep your tone light and engaging and be consistent with your word choices, copy length, and CTAs.
To develop compelling content, focus on the benefits of your product or service instead of features. Features are what your product does and how it works, benefits are how your product improves the lives of your customers.
Let’s say you make automatic dog feeders that dispense food and water. Don’t tell your potential customers that it holds 64 oz. of water and can be programmed to drop food at 6 p.m. That’s great and all but it doesn’t meant that much to your customer. Instead, tell them that their pets will stay hydrated for days without worry and that their pets will be able to eat their dinner on-time every night, even if their owners are stuck at work or in traffic.
Benefits are emotional triggers and actually tell them how the product will change their lives. You can even talk to product development to see why they created that feature in the first place. What was the customer problem this feature solves? Identify that problem in your copy and show how your product solves for it.
What other tips do you have for conversion copywriting? Share your ideas in the comments below!
