The ability to persuade others is a powerful skill. Whether you’re a business trying to sell a product, a politician campaigning for office, or an advocate fighting for a cause, your success often depends on how well you can convince people to take action.
One of the most effective ways to persuade is through your writing. The words you choose, and how you arrange them, can dramatically impact your audience.
Whether you’re writing product descriptions, landing pages, emails, or any other sales content, applying these copywriting best practices will help you generate more leads and sales. Let’s dive in and start boosting conversions with copy that sells!
Let’s get real for a sec. This whole “persuasive copywriting” thing isn’t about dazzling your audience with fancy words or clever tricks. The secret is way simpler than that – talk directly to what your audience actually want.
See, people don’t care about you or your product. They care about themselves – their hopes, their dreams, their frustrations. Your job is to become a mind reader and get inside their heads. Copywriting matters for businesses!
Get inside the hearts and minds of your target audience. Ask yourself:
As you answer these questions, create a core desire statement that synthesizes what your audience ultimately wants. Let this desire statement guide the rest of your copy. Continually refer back to the hopes, frustrations and goals of your reader as you write.
For example, your desire statement might be:
“Sick and tired of disappointing homemade pizza that’s soggy, burned, or just plain lame? The Deluxe Pizza Pro oven bakes authentic brick oven-style pizza with smoky flavor and crispy perfection in under 5 minutes.”
“Want to start crushing your side hustle goals like a boss babe? Our Startup Slaying bundle gives you the social media templates, time management guides, and marketing playbooks to work less and earn more.”
“Still waiting for that big break in your music career? Our Hit Song Hacker system reveals the melody magic, lyrical secrets, and production tips of chart-topping songs so you can make a smash hit of your own.”
“Dreaming of beachy, bombshell hair but always end up disappointed with frizz and damage? Let the ocean-powered formulas in our Mermaid Magic line nourish your locks to flawless, flowing perfection.”
“Want to bring jaw-dropping drama to your eyelashes without the clumps or raccoon eyes? Our Fierce & Feathery mascara fans and lifts lashes to daring new lengths.”
See how it works?
Keeping your audience’s desires and motivations front and center ensures your message resonates.
Tune into their frequency. Jam out to their station. Synchronize your vibes. This is how you write copy with effective advertising keywords that seriously resonates.
To truly persuade someone, you must be seen as a credible and trustworthy source. Your audience will only believe your claims and act on your recommendations if they trust you.
Here are some tips to establish credibility and trust through persuasive writing:
While establishing credibility takes time, incorporating some of these elements can go a long way. The more readers see you as reliable, honest and authoritative, the more open they’ll be to your message.
Now that you’ve tapped into your audience’s desires and built up credibility, it’s time to create a sense of urgency and scarcity. These elements prompt action by making your reader feel like they need to respond right now instead of putting it off.
Some effective ways to inject urgency and scarcity include:
Limited Time Offers
Countdown Timers
Limited Quantities
Price Increases
Warning of Missing Out
Caution About Inaction
Peer Pressure
You don’t necessarily need all of these urgency elements, but including some of them can be highly effective. Just be careful not to manufacture false scarcity or hype. This destroys reader trust. Make your urgency realistic and back it up with tangible details like inventory levels, closing dates, and count-down timers. The right amount of urgency applied ethically can be a game changer for converting interest into action.
While logical arguments are helpful for persuasion, appealing directly to emotions is often more powerful. Human decision making is driven by emotion. We make choices based on how something makes us feel, then use reason to justify those choices after the fact.
Skillfully employing emotional triggers in your copy can motivate readers to take action by arousing feelings that propel them forward. Use these techniques to tap into your audience’s emotional state:
Appeal to Self-Interest
Focus on how the reader will directly and personally benefit from your offering. For example:
Spark Curiosity
Pose intriguing questions, set up mysteries, and promise to reveal inside secrets to capture attention. For example:
Evoke Pride and Achievement
Make readers feel smart, accomplished, and respected by taking your recommended action. For example:
Inspire with Meaning and Purpose
Connect your offering to a greater mission, cause, or purpose that your audience cares about. For example:
Spark Joy and Excitement
Focus on delightful feelings like fun, pleasure, and playfulness. For example:
Incite Anger or Outrage
Channel your reader’s indignation toward injustice into support for your cause. For example:
Play on Fear of Loss
Prevent pain points by showing what readers might lose if they don’t act. For example:
Arouse Patriotism and Pride
Connect your offering with local or national identity and values. For example:
Match the emotion you want to elicit with carefully chosen language, stories, and details tailored to your audience. Measure response and refine your copy to keep improving emotional resonance. With skillful emotional appeal, your message will connect at a deeper, more powerful level.
The final step is guiding your audience down the path you want them to take. You’ve captured their attention and desire. You’ve built credibility and trust. You’ve injected urgency and aroused emotion. Now close the deal with a strong call to action.
Some tips for effective calls to action:
Keep your audience always moving toward this final action. Shape your copy to guide readers down the funnel step-by-step. With skillful guidance, you’ll convert interest and desire into real, measurable action.
To help you master SEO copywriting, I have created a free SEO copywriting checklist that covers the essential tips and strategies outlined in this article. You can use as a handy reference when optimizing your own website content for search engines and converting readers. With this checklist, you’ll have a valuable resource to boost your SEO content and see greater results from your efforts!
Sales copy refers to the persuasive text used to sell a product or service. The goal of sales copy is to convince readers to take a desired action, such as purchasing a product, subscribing to a newsletter, or downloading an ebook.
The most important element of effective sales copywriting is conveying the benefits to the reader. You must identify and communicate clearly the tangible outcomes and advantages that your product or service provides to the customer. Explain exactly how it will improve their life, save them time or money, or solve a specific problem they have. Focus on the benefits, not the features of what you are selling.
The tone you use is also crucial. Your copy must sound authentic, trustworthy and persuasive. Write in a conversational style as if you are speaking directly to the reader one-on-one. Use simple, straightforward language with short sentences and active verbs. Avoid jargon, technical terms and hyperbole that readers will find inauthentic. The more genuine you sound, the more compelIing your sales message will be.
You must also have a clear call to action at the end of your copy that directly tells the reader what you want them to do next. Whether that’s purchasing a product, subscribing to your service, or simply providing contact information, clarity in your call to action is key to driving your desired result and converting readers into customers. Benefits, tone and a clear call to action are the essential foundations of effective sales copywriting that persuades readers and moves them to the next step.
Persuasive copywriting is crucial for accomplishing business, advocacy and communication goals.
By mastering the techniques in this guide, you can craft compelling messages that speak directly to your audience’s deepest desires.
You’ll build credibility and trust. You’ll inject urgency and arouse the right emotions.
And ultimately, you’ll guide readers to take action.
It takes practice to become an expert persuasive copywriter. But keep your audience’s motivations and psychology at the heart of your message.
Understand what your readers want and need. Care about their problems. And hone your skills at leading them on a journey from attention to desire to action.
Do this consistently, and your copy will inspire, influence and motivate on a whole new level. So put these principles into play, and unlock the power to turn your words into results!