The Definitive Guide to Copywriting (Link)
Every product has a unique personality and it is your job to find it.
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How would you describe the product? For this question, provide a simple, two to three sentence description of the product. It doesn’t need to be super long or detailed and don’t worry about providing a fancy answer. Simply write down a short description as if you were describing the product to a customer.
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What’s unique/special about this product? The goal here is to identify something unique or special about the product. What does this product offer that others don’t? Is it made in the USA? Is it easy to install? Does it provide analytics that other sites don’t offer?
Eventually, you’ll use this to identify a unique selling proposition (USP). A USP is something unique that other companies don’t offer. Is there something special about your product? Is there something that makes it stand out from the competition? Record anything here about the product that makes it special or unique.
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What big benefit does it provide? Not only do you want to know how a product is unique, but you also know what benefit it provides customers. Many companies stop at describing the product and don’t go on to conveying the benefit of using it.
For example, a company may talk about how they offer web analytics software but don’t tell customers about the benefit of using the service. Instead, they should tell customers that the software helps them build a more profitable site, generate more revenue per customer, or accomplish something else along these lines. The focus should be on providing a benefit, not just describing the service.
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What pain does it alleviate? People generally buy for one of two reasons — to increase their pleasure or to minimize pain. In the question above, we identified the benefit that would “increase pleasure;” in this question, we’ll identify which pain is minimized by using the product.
For example, a car insurance company could use a headline like this: “Are You Paying Too Much for Your Car Insurance?” The ad would then go on to talk about how most customers pay more than they need for car insurance, and how company X can save them more money (which is something similar to what GEICO currently does). The purpose of the ad is first to focus on the pain, and then to talk about how Company X alleviates that pain. Another option is to focus the ad on the pleasure customers experience from saving money. It could use a headline like this: “How Will You Spend the Money You Save Using [Specific Car Insurance Company Name Here]?” Instead of focusing on the pain, it draws attention to the pleasure experienced by switching to a different insurer (which is what GEICO did in 2008 with their “the money you could be saving” ads).
Often, focusing on the pain eliminated is more effective than focusing on the pleasure provided, but both approaches can be tested to evaluate their effectiveness.
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What features are included and what are the benefits of each? The first thing you want to do to answer this question is write down each of the product’s features. You may not end up using all of them in your copy, but at the very least, you want to record them all in one place so you have them at your fingertips if needed. Some products have a lot of features, others have less. Either way, list all of your product features here with a short description of each. In addition to listing the features, be sure to list the benefit of each. We’ll talk more about benefits later, but in short, customers care more about benefits provided by features than the features themselves (but you still may need to list the features in your copy so be sure to record them all here).
For example, customers care more about high speed internet that helps them watch streaming videos without interruption than internet that provides 15 mbps download speeds. The “15 mbps” is a feature, in this case, and “streaming videos without interruption” is the benefit provided by the feature. Record the features of your product and the corresponding benefit now.
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Who currently buys your product? The first question identifies who your current customers are. You may be selling to both startups and Fortune 500’s, but whatever the case may be, it’s important to know who your current customers are because you need to know who pays your bills. (If you haven’t started selling anything yet, skip this question and move on to the next one.)
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Who would you like to buy your product? This second question identifies who you would like to be selling to. As mentioned above, you may be selling to startups and Fortune 500’s, but you’d rather focus on the Fortune 500’s because they have larger budgets and are less likely to be price conscious.
It’s ok to sell to both, but if you’d like to target one over the other, you’ll end up writing your copy differently. That’s why it’s important to know exactly who you’re selling to and who your target customers are.
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What does a typical customer look like? The goal of this question is to create a detailed picture of your typical customers. The other questions create an overview in broad brushstrokes, but this question zooms in on individual customers. We’re zeroing in on a handful of real customers in order to find out what’s important to them.
Include a title, description, and what’s important to him/her.
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What do customers love about your product? In addition to needing to know who your customers are, you also need to know what delights them about your product. Why did they buy in the first place, and why do they keep coming back?
Prius owners, for example, buy because they’re interested in doing their part to save the environment. That’s more important to them than how the car looks. So Toyota is smart to play up that angle and not to focus on how sexy the car is (which is good because Prius’s aren’t the best looking cars on the road).
BMW owners, on the other hand, care less about the size of their carbon footprint and more about their self image. They want a car that makes them appear successful and elite. Their image is more important than gas mileage, and that’s why they buy a BMW in the first place.
With both of these examples, the copy needs to focus on what appeals the most to the target customers and what they love the most about the product. This will be different for every product, even within the same industry.
So take a minute and reflect on the main reasons people buy your product. What do they love about it? Once you’ve figured it out, record your answer in the document.
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What’s your job title?
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What company do you work for?
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How would you describe our product to a friend or colleague? The point of this question is to learn how your customers describe your product or service. You’re attempting to find out what words they use to talk about what you do because often the way you talk within the organization doesn’t match how customers talk on the street. What matters to you may not necessarily matter to them, so we want to find out how exactly they talk about what you do.
When reviewing the answers, copy and paste the key phrases into the section you just created in your customer research document.
Can you see why these types of answers are so powerful? You’re learning the exact phrases customers use to talk about your product and what’s important to them, not to mention you’re generating some awesome testimonials for your site (so long as you ask for permission to use them).
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What questions did you have before buying, i.e. what almost prevented you from making a purchase? Question two identifies the hurdles that prevent customers from buying. You’re attempting to figure out what stands in the way between a customer purchasing and not purchasing.
The list of potential answers goes on, but each one mentions a hurdle that prevents customers from buying. Two of these focused on price, one asked for a free trial and a money-back guarantee, and the third wasn’t sure what benefit the surveys would provide for their business.
Reading these answers helps us realize the following:
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We need to convey how valuable the survey tool is and how much of a return it will provide with a small monthly investment.
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A free trial and a money-back guarantee would be good, at least as an test to see if it increases sales.
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Something like a case study should be used to show how these types of surveys are useful to businesses.
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What ultimately convinced you to buy this product? This question gets at the root of what convinced customers to buy your product. It shows you which benefits or features are the most important to them. Do they care about price or service? Were they impressed with your client list or your track record? Or were they convinced with the free 30-day trial?
Here are the insights provided by these answers:
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The pre-formulated surveys are of interest to people because they don’t always know what questions to ask. This seem to be a pain point for customers.
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Word-of-mouth recommendations are powerful for getting people to choose one company over another.
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Not being a drain on IT resources is also important for customers so this is an important selling point.
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Which features were the most important to you when deciding whether or not to buy? The point of this question is to identify which features are more important to customers than others. Many products have a list of features, but some are more important than others.
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What did you hope to accomplish by using this product? This question attempts to find out what benefit customers were looking to derive from using the product or service. What exactly are they trying to do? Sell more effectively? Reach more customers? Or something else?
Hi, We’re in the process of rewriting the copy for our website and would like to learn more about your experience with the Simple Survey Tool. Your answers will help us better understand our customers and learn which features are the most important to them.
The four u’s:
- Your headline should be unique.
- Your headline should be ultra-specific.
- Your headline should convey a sense of urgency.
- Your headline should be useful.
- Emphasize benefits over features
- Be as specific as possible
- Target emotions
- Leverage testimonials
- To say things you can’t
- To strengthen key aspects of your copy
- To highlight key clients
- For headlines
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Why your copy shouldn’t be about you
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Write conversationally
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Create a slippery slide First, keep the reader in mind at all times. Consider things like, “Would the reader be bored at this point? Would he be interested in what I’m saying? Is this sentence confusing? Is this paragraph necessary? Am I going to lose anyone with this point?”
Always consider how the prospect will respond as you’re writing the copy. If it’s boring, she’ll go on to read something else. If it’s confusing, she’ll stop out of frustration. You want to constantly be thinking about the reader’s needs, desires, and interests. You need to always write copy that keeps each and every prospect reading.
Second, only write as much as you need to write and no more. Does your point strengthen your copy and bring your prospect one step closer to buying? Good, then make sure to include it. Or is it tangential, and is there a chance that the prospect will get lost and move on to something else? If so, leave it out.
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Write quickly
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Use simple language
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Use short paragraphs
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Always get your copy edited
- Make people feel like they belong
- Ask people to “join us” or “become a member”
- Create a community - “member”
- Display client/customer logos
- Show off social media numbers
- Create a feeling of exclusivity
- Prove the value of your product
- Establish yourself as an authority
- Highly trained staff
- Experienced staff
- Company history
- Provide “Reasons Why”
- CTA
- Create a sense of urgency
- Make a compelling offer
- Don’t forget a guarantee
- Only write as much as you need to write and no more
- Long copy answers more objections
- Sometimes short copy is better
- People read what’s interesting to them
- Design sets the stage for the offer
- The point of your copy is to get read
- Getting copy and design to work together
- Always use high contrast for fonts
- Make sure your font doesn’t blend into a background image
- Use every elemtn to draw the reader’s attention to your headlines and copy
- Employ reverse type sparingly
- Email subject lines
- Email and creative copy
- Use Google Analytics URL Builder
- Website headlines and copy
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