How to 10X Your Conversions with Killer Copy
Conferences.
Can you remember them? All the build up. Moving calls and meetings to allow for 3 days out of the office. Rearranging kids and spouses to cope alone for almost a week. The travel. The hotels. The cooked breakfast…
The last conference I attended as a guest (not a speaker) was PPC Hero London in 2017… I mean, even I am staggered it was that long ago.
There was one big highlight for me which made the event worthwhile.
The keynote which opened the conference was delivered by Amy Harrison, a freelance copywriter and an interesting choice since the conference is heavily engrained in the ‘nuts and bolts’ of day to day platform management… copy seemed to be a stark contrast to this and a topic I’d imagine most of the attendees rarely had any say in (most of whom came from large PPC or brand agencies specialising in shopping and heavy search users).
Yet, it was the opening presentation. And I was very pleased.
You see, to give a little background, I’ve been dealing with some career conflict for a while now...
I’ve been wrestling with my inner copy spirit! My inner creative, desperate to cut loose. Those of us working in the day-to-day of the ad platforms can often get sucked in – addicted even – to the widgets and gadgets. The shiny new buttons screaming ‘push me now!’ and the algorithmic changes causing us all to wrack our brains for 3 days before everything settles back down again and life goes on.
But you actually already know – very well – the exciting new shiny thing, guaranteed to 10X your conversions: Good copy.
My thesis is that no matter how good you are at pushing buttons and dusting off widgets, none of this will ever replace good copy. In fact, the only thing that will replace it, is great copy.
Good Copy is Better Than Gadgets and Widgets
We ‘direct marketing’ folk are familiar with the key principals of good copy. But we sometimes have to cut through the noise and the fuss that’s being made around the widgets and gadgets being released, and remind ourselves of what is really important.
Lets take it back to basics…
Amy Harrison spoke specifically on The Customer Disconnect (you can find her full presentation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzsB5KJvlCwQOXNpZ3dFbXpiVFk/view)
She described a ‘disconnect’ as “A breakdown in understanding between what you think you say and what prospects think you mean, which happens when you focus on what you want the prospect to do but forget why prospects should want to do it”
“Aha!” I hear you cry. “We don’t do this! We are always focused on the benefit to the customer. I can stop reading here” – but wait, stay with me. I bet if you’re not doing this, you know someone who is…
A good example of this is the lost promise. When we promise a prospect is going to learn something, but we never *clearly* deliver on the promise…
“Number 1 stock set to rocket in the next 2 months…”
It’s plastered all over an ad.
I click.
I go to a landing page which reads:
“Free report: 6 Stocks set to rocket this year.”
… OK. So there is still the number 1 stock in there, among the 6 this is recommending to me. So I keenly enter my email address.
The thank you page then reads:
“Thank you, your free report will be delivered to your email in the next 10 minutes. But before you go – there is something you should know:
“Cryptocurrency Shock: Expert prediction could see 1423% gains in just six months”
Wait? Where’s the one stock I was promised?
I go to my email, see there is a welcome email there… from a company I don’t recognise… it says “Welcome to Investing newsletter”, and logic tells me it must be the thing I signed up for earlier, that is going to give me that number 1 stock.
I scroll through the welcome email until I find a link at the bottom, which says “6 Stocks Set to Rocket in 2017”
Ok…. Surely the one I was promised is in here… I open… and no… there is no “Number one”…
Not only is it frustrating, but it’s actually breaking my trust before we even have any to start with. The whole purpose of lead generation is to build a relationship – usually based on trust – with the reader.
Is Your Copy Cheating on You?
Another example of ‘Disconnect” she used was “Cheating Copy”. We know this as specificity… or lack thereof.
How do you know your copy is cheating on you? You see it hanging around other sites…
Clayton Makepeace refers to this as “Me too” headlines.
“Oh no, this isn’t us. We are always very specific. I’ll stop here…” – wait! I have examples here, and one of them could be yours!
Let me give you an example: Looking through my inbox here are 3 headlines I read in the last 24 hour (and one of them could be yours!):
Cheating Headline #1:
“What Are You Waiting For?”
I Googled it…
It’s a Nickelback song.
It’s also a Saturday’s song.
Classic cheating copy…
Cheating Headline #2:
“Last Chance on Halloween Sale”
I Googled it…
Shared this headline with Boohoo.com, a women’s clothing site
Also shared their headline with “Copycat Couture”, a FB page with 185 Likes on FB, specialising in matching “Mom and Me” leggings…
Yeh, its cheating.
Cheating Headline #3:
“Get This While it’s Still Free”
I Googled it and found…
A Pinterest board of free apps for kids.
A dodgy site I decided not to click on, advertising a Marine Sharpshooter.
Yep… definitely cheating.
So, how do you tackle the customer disconnect? Advice from Clayton Makepeace…
Amy’s solution was to imagine you are talking to “Generic Cynical Man” – pretty accurate for many of the audiences we target (no offence, men)! What would he say?
“Maximise your returns!”
🡪 You would say that.
“See 600% gains in just 3 days!”
🡪 Yeh, right.
So how do you get around the “generic cynical man”? You make him the promise, but give him specifics and proof, you make it believable…
Again, referencing Clayton Makepeace in an article he wrote:
Headline example:
“Lose weight fast!”
Clayton says adding razor-sharp specifics - quantifying the results you’re promising - can make ad copy come alive:
“World’s first and only supplement GUARANTEED to vaporize 15 pounds of ugly fat––from your belly,
hips, butt, and thighs––in 30 days or LESS!”
Think: How much faster does your product work? 20% faster? 40% faster? Twice as fast?
How much time will it save your prospect? 15 minutes a day? 45 minutes a day? Five hours a week?
How much money will it make him or save him––down to the penny––and how often? How much will it cut his health risks or mitigate his symptoms?
(A great podcast featuring Clayton Makepeace can be found here, from friend Kevin Rogers: https://copychief.com/ep-106-clayton-makepeace/)
Tools to help you with your shiny new widget… copy!
One tool Amy recommended was Usabilityhub.com.
A panel get a 5 second view of your site – landing page for example. Then the panel have to recall what stood out or what they thought you were trying to say / sell.
And here, in no particular order, are a couple of other tips I took away:
Get inside the prospects head:
What is their problem? What is their worry or fear?
Don’t know? Ask them! Survey the customer and find out! But ask ONE big question…
Health?
Husbands health?
Retirement income?
Unbalanced portfolio causing risk?
Suggested:
Reddit
Answerthepublic.com
Crib Sheet:
Symptom, Problem, Risk, Cure, Contrast
Example used was Corsidil Mouth Wash:
Symptom: Blood when brushing teeth
Problem: Bacterial problem
Risk: Damage to oral health and bad breath
Cure: Removal of plaque bacteria that causes gum disease
Contrast: Healthy gums, peace of mind, increased confidence
Crib Sheet 2:
A what? That does what? So what?
So, whatever you take from this, it should be that great copy is king - above all ad strategies, targeting methods, audiences, channels, CRO tests and everything in between. Start there, and those ‘bells and whistles’ will only make your campaigns stronger.
Good luck!