Writing kick-ass website sales copy by Rachelle Money, 8 April 2009
Some people think writing sales copy for the web is exactly the same as writing for print. Many make the simple mistake of copying and pasting their print-based marketing messages onto their websites, and then scratch their heads wondering why their conversion rates are poor. Wordtracker has teamed up with Nick Usborne, a leading authority on the subject of writing for the web, in a new e-book which shows you how to make the transition from writing print sales copy to online copy and stay one step ahead of your competitors.
Key points
- Whether reading online or offline sales messages, there's no difference in human behavior. When people are told an "offer ends this weekend, buy now" they act immediately, regardless of whether they're being told to in print or online.
- Transparency is key to writing online sales copy. Don't make false promises because customers can read up on your products on comparison websites and customer review forums to get the real deal.
- Online customers aren't a captive audience, so making the sale can be harder. Generating leads by offering free trials or a free newsletter may be more important than blindly pursuing the big sales pitch.
As a public speaker, trainer and consultant Nick Usborne has advised dozens of companies including Yahoo!, MSN, Reuters, Citybank and Apple. And as the author of Net Words: Creating High-Impact Online Copy,
What's in Nick's e-book?
Writing Kick-Ass Website Sales Copy illustrates how you can 'power up' your sales messages by using nine different tactics, as well as showing you how to create powerful sales messages from your home page. Written in a relaxed style, Nick takes time to pull out the most important aspects of writing for the web with useful tips on how to structure your website in a customer-friendly way, where your products and services will be found easily. He also gives a step-by-step guide on how to maximize conversion rates by writing the kind of copy that gets sales.
Nick has worked as a freelance copywriter and trainer for the best part of 20 years and has witnessed the evolution of online writing, as well as the changing behavior of online consumers.
Captive audiences
He says the biggest mistake people make when writing sales copy online is that "they still think they are talking to a captive audience."
"If you are stuck in traffic and you're listening to the radio, or at home watching TV, or reading a magazine with adverts in it, you've got a fairly captive audience. People can be reached by these adverts one at a time in isolation.
"I talk about this in the Writing Kick-Ass Website Sales Copy e-book. Let's say someone is sent a piece of direct mail about a digital camera. They can't run down the street and ask the postman if they have another piece of direct mail about a different camera so they can do a comparison."
Online copy needs to be transparent
Nick explains that, online, readers are not in isolation because they can visit comparison websites and customer review forums to check that the manufacturers' claims are really true. He says that it's this kind of commercial environment which has led to businesses becoming more transparent. This in turn has had an effect on the ways in which people write sales copy.
Nick believes it's only in the past five years that businesses have realized that it takes a different skill set to write online.
"People were either writing editorial themselves on the website or they were pulling in ad agencies who were saying they'd write it, and then write it in the same style as they would in print."
Customers in control
With the transition from print to online there has also been a shift in control from business to customer, as Nick explains:
"You no longer have control of the brand or the way in which your services are talked about - that's the huge difference.
"But the one thing that doesn't change, and again there's more of this in the e-book, is human behavior. If I say in direct mail, radio or TV 'act now and get this for free,' that elicits a response and I can say the same thing online and I'll get the same response. So, although the mediums have changed, the same response is given to the same message.
"Creating a sense of urgency like 'buy now' or a sense of scarcity like 'only 20 tickets left' are the kind of bread and butter techniques created by direct marketers, and they still work online."
Engaging headlines
Another valuable technique recognized in both print and online copy is use of the headline. In Nick's e-book he discusses in detail why headlines are crucial to online sales copy.
"People scan web pages using an internal process which seeks to answer one question; am I in the right place? As long as your headline is sufficiently engaging people will continue reading the article, but if you aren't specific, informational, or interesting then the reader will think it's boring and back-click."
Now or never – getting the sale
Nick makes a great point when he says that if you read a magazine with an advert in it there's a big chance you will give it attention when leafing through the publication, or when you are reading one of the feature articles. Similarly, if there's a billboard ad between your home and your place of work and you don't notice it today, you probably will tomorrow and the next day. Nick has identified that it's a different ball game when it comes to online.
"If I go to a website it may have thousands of pages so if I leave that page the chances of me coming across it again, once I've clicked out of the website, is pretty small. With a web page it's either now or never. You can lose the reader if you haven't told them what your business, product or service is, or engaged them sufficiently.
"That's why I think sales pages online are focused on 'buy now' messages because you need people to act immediately, because unlike the billboard or magazine advert, when you lose someone from a web ad you really have lost them forever."
For many reading that statement it may seem that you have to be more aggressive with your sales messages to grab the readers' attention, but not so, as Nick makes clear in his e-book.
"You can't be aggressive because the control online is with your customer. No-one responds well to aggressive marketing. It's a challenge because on one hand you have to make that conversion now, but you can't be overbearing about the message."
Generating leads rather than sales
Nick has come to the conclusion that many businesses have noticed the challenges of trying to sell to a customer from one web page, and instead are focused more on generating leads which could end up in a sale further down the line.
He says: "That's why you will see things like download this white paper for free, here's a video or here's a free trial. What they're doing there is recognizing that they know it's tough to get people to buy from one page, so they will reduce the size of the barrier and make it really easy for people to take services or products.
"It's a change in mindset again where you have to say I'm not going to try and sell the biggest and most expensive product today, but what I will do is offer a useful product for free."
Reduce perceived risk
Another point made by Usborne is to reduce the perceived risk of purchasing online. He uses Amazon as an example of a business which has built confidence in its customers by allowing customer reviews to be published. Nick says there is "far more credibility" to what a real person will say about a product than the manufacturer's blurb.
He says: "Allowing customers to review your product online means the company mindset has to change. You have to be prepared to let go of that control and accept that some people may not like your product or services, and they'll tell people about that."
Usborne also talks a lot about endorsement in his e-book as a means to help reduce fear about making a purchase online. He says it's exactly the same as link building but applied to a different area.
"You are looking for well-respected, well-established and trusted websites with which to establish a relationship.
"If you think about Google, they follow links and will see it as a vote of confidence, and it's the same thing with endorsements; you are looking outside for external votes of confidence that are credible."
Nick believes there is a "huge vacuum" in terms of the number of people who have the skills to write online sales copy successfully. By downloading his e-book now you could gain the skills needed to put you head and shoulders above your competitors, and increase your conversion rates with the kind of copy that generates real sales.
About Rachelle Money
Rachelle Money is a freelance journalist based in Scotland, UK. She graduated from the Scottish School of Journalism in 2005 where she was awarded an internship with two national publications - The Sunday Herald newspaper and The Big Issue magazine. Rachelle has been working with Wordtracker since August 2007 and is a regular contributor to the newsletter.
22 comments
This is so true! You just can't write copy anymore and just expect people to take your word on it. They have too many other resources available to them online.
I think writing sales copy should contain strong, concrete reasons a person should buy Product X, and be able to back their claims with reviews of the product. I hardly ever list products that don't have good reviews, unless I've personally used the product and disagree with the bad reviews. Then I make my own review of the product, before I make my sales pitch.
That's the other part of sales copy though. People want to know benefits above and beyond other things. Transparency is what it's all about. Tell others how different products can enhance their lives and then back it up with benefits or studies that have been done. (People also love statistics!) That also builds trust. Once someone deems you as being trustworthy for one or two products, they are much more likely to believe in other products you endorse.
Headlines throughout the page make sifting through information much better. Busy people skim pages. Without headlines to discern information, the copy gets lost. Sales pages where I have multiple headlines throughout the page, do much better than sales pages that don't.
Very important topic, loved this article - every web developer ought to read this.
I believe you wholly. Sale copy is what exposes the totallity of what a product is. Unless you are able to convince someone through your sales copy, even if your product is the best, people might not buy. Your conversion rate solely on your sales copy though you need a traffic on the site fitst
Kick-ass sales copy on the web IS different that in print. For a start, you could never measure the effectiveness of print copy!
I have a client who just placed a $3000 print ad, but only AFTER we tested his messages on Adwords (would they engage with the message?) and then on his landing pages (would they ACT after reading the follow-on messages and invitations?).
We were able to tune what we thought were kick-ass messages until they totally aligned with what the market responded to.
This is a great article. I find often that getting the proper sales copy up on a website can be a challenge to hold the attention of the visitor. But before you can even get that far you need to be able to get the site rankings up so you can generate the traffic and leads.
This is all very true , great article but one thing to remmeber and this go's for many young copy writers is that you still need to write with persanality . So many writers get off on the sales pitch after awhile and forget to stay focused on writing like they are talking to a client. Rather than writing copy for the masses write like your talking to the next door friend . Try to start small and it will become viral soon enough. RT
Your sales style and presentation is everything! Just make sure benefits are part of it! Great information and thanks for sharing.
Online Marketing is the key to any business and writing copy is more important than ever these days. Regardless if you do copy for print or online the key point they state is so true:
"Whether reading online or offline sales messages, there's no difference in human behavior. When people are told an "offer ends this weekend, buy now" they act immediately, regardless of whether they're being told to in print or online."
Call to ACTION is REQUIRED! You must tell the reader what to do next. Don't assume anything, tell them what to do and they will do it!
Great article, keep up the good work!
Jared Creator of MVPpod iPod Flash Player
I have never met Nick eye to eye but enjoy reading his newsletters and my opinion is that he is both very savvy and one of the good guys who helps others learn without forcing them to buy something.
Nick and I are competitors on Google. If you search for home page copywriting tips we flip back and forth between one and two. Either way, I am please to have a ranking with a classy guy.
I am going to buy the book.
Cheers,
Ron
Good article. I find it hard to push the "Buy Now!" message without seeming like you are begging. It is difficult to walk that middle ground.
This article is well written and a great review of Usborne's e-book. I totally agree that engaging headlines and copy that tells exactly what you are about, are both vital when writing for your website. There are many other excellent hints here too. It sounds like a good book for any webmaster to read. Thanks
I think that it should be noted that writing copy for others should be done cautiously. If a client is making claims that aren't true and you as the copy writer have not done your legal homework ( Your contract with your client ) you may unintentionally become the "Fact Checker". If someone follows advise that you have written and then sues for damages - you'd best be in a position of knowing the law ahead of time. I write for myself only ( as a web developer ) and with my clients I just advise them in how to write Internet copy ( using Wordtracker of course ) keywords etc.
Another note on trust - Amazon is not trusted because of the reviews - Reviews on most sites are screened by the web developer or owners and become as useless as testimonials or references on a resume. I do not trust any review on the Interent unless it comes from what I believe is a reputable source. Amazon has built trust through name recognition and longevity on the Internet and in e-commerce.
As an affiliate marketer I find that I face a great deal of competition in selling the most popular products. Until I began to pay attention to my sales copy sales were mediocre. Sales have trended upward since then. This really is the all important part of selling on the web and there is an art to it which needs to be learnt and continually improved on. This ebook is great and has been a huge help to me.
I particularly liked the part about "they still think they are talking to a captive audience".
One of my IM websites that I have stopped promoting actively and has disappeared from Google's 1st 3 pages has been consistently producing fantastic sales every day.
On the contrary, another of my websites that has been sitting on Position 1 of Google for a competitive keyword hardly produces any sales.
Testing exercises indeed revealed that this was because of the initial few dollars that I tried to save between the sales copy being written by a pro and not-so-pro. :)
Thank you for sharing. Writing an article has been a real challenge and your ebook has helped me to understand the process. It is really an art to writing good copy and capturing your online customers.
I regularly receive Nick's newsletter and find his information very useful. I intend to buy his book and add it to my marketing toolbox. Thanks Rachel for a great review and thanks to Nick for publishing such a good resource!
I agree with the article in general, but don't you think you have to be a bit of a natural writer anyway? I just don't like to write and everytime I have tried to follow others advice, it just seem like a chore, where I know some true writers who just take ideas like this and crank out the work.
Thanks Rachel for this great review. It's wonderfully concise that it feels like I don't really have to buy the book - as yet! I'll have your key points in mind as I try to finish up my first website sales copy. Looking forward to your future articles.
Great article Rachel, looking forward to learn more from Nick's E-book.
My website, Get A Trip.com is currently under development and I am required to write most of the content. This new E-Book, does it include anything to do with how to write sizzling web-copy and at the same time making it not just SEO friendly, but really how to write for a SEO perspective? If anyone knows, please respond before I purchase this. AIl of Rachel's articles though seem to be fitting right along with where I'm at with my business -- thanks Rachel!
Is this book suitable for someone with an ecommerce shop selling online? i wasnt sure if this sort of thing is for affiliate marketers or retailers.
your comments would be most welcome.
Sounds like a good read. I'd like to get it into the hands of all the keyword stuffed website publishers out there.