CXL — CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) Review Part 3

Hello, I am Pratik a Senior Marketing Manager and this is the third review of my ongoing CXL course on conversion rate optimisation. Today we will be covering the topics of conversion copywriting and how to increase your conversions with attractive copy on your web pages.

In this lesson, the process of writing a great copy is explained without the need of being a natural copywriter. The best processes are simple, as those are the ones you use.

Here are the six steps of an effective copywriting process:

1. Research: customer, product and competition.
2. Outline and guideposts.
3. Draft copy.
4. Conversion boost.
5. Revise, rearrange.
6. Test.

The research is the most extensive part of copywriting. You must spend weeks researching on the customer and what do they think about your product, what are their needs, what do they think, what are the problems they face, where do they look for a solution? You need to figure out why people buy the product, how they buy it, what they use it for, and what matters to them. If you don’t have this figured out, you really cannot write a copy that works. When it’s your own business that you’re writing copy for, things go much faster, of course, as you know the product and the competition.

It is important to know your target users well before you write a copy to attract them or gain their attention. The course further explains what questions you need to focus on to create a good base of research for your copy.

Next, they go on to explain the importance of Outline & guideposts. Writing an outline usually only takes a few minutes and provides a roadmap for the rest of the project. It allows you to complete the work faster and ensures that you stick to the flow. they have used a template copy which is a standard when it comes to homepage copy. It is also clarified that there is no set template for doing things, as what works for one may not necessarily work for others.

• Headline:

What is the end-benefit you’re offering, in one short sentence? Can mention the product and/or the customer. Attention grabber.

• Sub-headline or a two-to-three sentence paragraph:

A specific explanation of what you do/offer, for whom, and why is it useful.

• Bullet points:

List the key benefits or features.

There are also examples of product page copy and how to place them according to your target group. A product page is where you sell the value of your product and where the user takes action (adds to cart, sign up, makes a purchase, etc.).

In the Draft copy section, you must start filling in the blanks in the template above and keep these points in mind for the style of your writing. A few of the best practices are to avoid using Jargons & Blandvertising. In addition to fancy words, avoid meaningless phrases. What do “on-demand marketing software”, “integrated solutions” or “flexible platform” really mean anyway?

Or useless phrases like “changing the way X is done”, “paradigm-shifting …” or “synergistic collaboration” — stop the nonsense. These bland phrases have long lost any meaning, and you will just waste precious attention time.

Be specific instead of using heavy and confusing words. One of the provided examples of being specific is as follow:

“We have the best coffee in the world” vs “Our estate earned the ‘world’s best coffee’ title at the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s Roasters Guild for the third year in a row.” Which claim is more believable?

You should use a superlative only if you back it up.

The copy needs to be about the user and not about your product or company. It is explained that the human brain is divided into 3 sections, and the old brain is responsible for the decision making process. The “Old Brain” is the part that humans and their predecessors have had the longest — like 450 million years or so. So the part of the brain that controls decisions is fairly primitive and mostly concerned with survival.

If your copy is about you (your product, your company) and not the prospect (his problems, his life), you will fail. Make it about them. Too many companies start by stating “our company was founded…”, “we offer …” or something especially useless like “welcome to your website”.

Instead of saying “we specialize in dog training”, say “train your dog in two weeks” — move the focus from you to the benefit they will receive. People care about themselves — not you — and whether your website can be helpful in some way.

Don’t make the customer think twice! It is mentioned how giving added information can often confuse the customer and increase friction. For instance, Amazon often hides full technical information of products behind a link — since it’s only interesting to the hardcore tech-savvy customers (and most customers are not). Showcase additional details in a drop-down menu or show more format.

Conversion boost:

Once you have the content in place, it’s time to give it a conversion boost. The goal of the website copy is to convert the reader into a buyer (or subscriber, lead, etc.). There are certain things we can do to improve the conversion rate (the percentage of readers that take action) of the copy.

• Optimize for clarity — it’s obvious what you sell, why that is good and who it’s for
• Optimize for information — no question unanswered
• Persuasion boost — apply a persuasion technique that applies to your particular context

Revise & Rearrange:

Done with conversion-boosting? Now enjoy a full night of sleep and come back to the copy in the morning.

A fresh look a day later will help you spot inconsistencies, missing information, and flaws in the general flow of the copy. Use this time to add more information, rearrange the order of different blocks and fix the typos (spelling mistakes can cost you, customers).

Before you publish the sales copy, it always pays to get two or three other people to read it and give you feedback. You want feedback from your ideal customers — do they get any questions that were left unanswered? Is there any part that needs to be made clearer? And peers — other marketers or entrepreneurs.

Test:

There is no good way to predict how well the copy will do. Sometimes the conversion rates can skyrocket overnight. Sometimes the new copy turns out to be a downright dud. Test it!

This concludes this weeks review, I hope this helped you get an understanding of this CXL course and especially some clarity on content writing to increase your conversions. If you like what I have written and want to study or look at what more can you learn visit the cxl website or click here: [CRO course]