Recently I met up with a friend of mine who is a business owner. During our conversation, he recalled a bad experience that he had not long ago and I think there is a valuable lesson we can take away from his story.
Last year, my friend was invited to speak at an event where he would share his experiences in running his business with the audience. Even though the event organizer did a great job in filling up the seats for the event, my friend told me that it turned out to be a really unpleasant experience for him.
That day, it became clear to him that people had come to this event with hopes of hearing him reveal his “secrets and shortcuts to success”, which was what the event had promised them when they signed up for it.
But in all honesty, there are no “secrets” or “shortcuts” at all! My friend had to go through a tough time dealing with questions during the Q&A session and many people left the session unhappy.
In fact, this is an unfortunate incident that represents a real problem for many online businesses nowadays.
While copywriting is an undoubtedly important and powerful skill to have for online businesses, bear in mind that it is a double-edged sword; it can get you more eyeballs and sales, but it can also hurt you and your business if it is not used appropriately.
I have learnt over the years that the more powerful your copywriting skills are, the more you need to be cautious about managing customers’ expectations. (This is also the reason why some products have high refund rates!)
Whenever you write a powerful sales page, make sure your product is able to deliver what you promise. Otherwise, not only will customers ask for refunds, they will not trust and buy from you again!
The whole purpose of copywriting is to persuade people to take action. Below I have listed the three most important things for you to consider when you create your next sales page or email.
I have good results using these tips since I started my business and I am sure they will help you as much as they have served me.
1. Headline/Subject
The purpose of the sales page headline or the email subject is NOT to make your readers buy (yet)! Many people try to squeeze so much information in the title that it becomes long and ineffective.
The sole purpose of the headline/subject is to make them read the content for the sales page or open your email. That’s it!
So when creating your headline/subject, focus on how you can capture your readers’ attention and get them curious to find out more. (Imagine if you are a target customer, what will you be attracted to?)
Facebook is a good place to start if you are looking for ideas for your headlines/subjects. You can study the articles that your friends share on Facebook as they usually come with captivating titles that attract people to click to find out more!
2. Content
Instead of promising your readers the moon and the stars, sometimes you just need to be honest with yourself and answer the following question to get the results you desire: “Why must your readers buy the product/service from you and why must they buy it now?”
Note that the question contains two parts. First, why you? Why should your readers buy the product/services from you and not others? This is where you tell them what is the unique value that you bring to them.
Second, why must your readers buy from you now? Most people make use of time-limited discounts to encourage people to take action and this is one of the techniques you can consider.
You should also have a clear call-to-action for people to contact you or purchase your product/service immediately. If you want your readers to buy from you, don’t forget to show them how easy and convenient it is!
3. Reviews
The final component is customer reviews. No matter what type of products/services you are selling, it is important to show result-oriented reviews that prove to readers that people are benefiting from your product/service.
If you do not have any reviews yet, I would suggest that you work on strengthening your product and collecting positive reviews on it. This is the first step to have compounded results in future.
Start strong and you will be able to manage growth with lesser headaches.
I hope you have gained some useful insights from this post and feel free to implement these tips in your next sales page or email. Do share with me how it works out for you!
P.S. The reason why some sales pages are not converting well nowadays is not because the copy is poorly written. In fact, most sales pages are overly copywritten which makes people think that it is too good to be true. Instead of focusing all your energy on building your copywriting skills, why not spend more time on making an awesome product that adds greater value to the marketplace?
