Entries Tagged 'Tactical Copywriting' ↓
March 13th, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
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Enjoy and God bless,
Andy Havens
July 2nd, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
No, I haven’t been hiding under one but it’s been a busy time.
My wife and I have decided to sell our house so I’ve been working like a madman getting it ready. With that and trying to keep clients happy, I’ve barely been able to keep up.
More on selling our house in a future post - nothing has been written in stone yet.
So what else is new?
I’ve had canniptions testing for one client in particular. This one is a total web site re-design… something I normally run from. I’m not doing the design work per se but we’ve been testing pages with and without headers and that’s where we’ve run into trouble…
Let me tell you - if you’re going to purchase design services make sure the site works with and without a graphic header! I’ve never had a problem like this come up but basically this site was designed so you can’t simple pop off the header or pop on a new one. One has to do some major fudging to do this.
In my “graphically challenged” opinion - this just doesn’t work. Sorry but too many of us testers are finding out some markets simply buy more with less “eye-candy” so I will look for those design factors from now on.
What other considerations should one consider?
First, keep in mind, I am NOT an expert here. My thingy is copy not “pretty”. On the other hand I’m not convinced an ugly site with good copy will outsell a pleasant-looking one either. That said there are a few things I like to see…
Clean pages with good colors. Don’t get gaudy on me.
What happens when you want to test the name of a product or a slogan? Is it going to be easy or difficult?
No Clutter. I’m not partial to pages with a gadzillion thingys going on all at once.
A strong message. When I land on your page I’d like to know what you’ve got to offer.
Does this mean there’s not room for portal pages or other general-type sites with lots to offer?
I think there’s plenty of room for those types of pages. I just don’t want to be overwhelmed.
What about You?
When you go searching for something - do you want to be bombarded with everything up to and including the kitchen sink?
Do you prefer lots of “action” on the pages you visit?
I’d like to hear what you’ve got to say on this.
Meanwhile, I’ve got house to work on…
God bless,
Andy
June 5th, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
Here’s a simple but deadly effective method to write hard-hitting copy chock full of benefits your readers will eat up like a chocoholic at a candy factory…
It’s called the “so what” test. Michel Fortin teaches it, but I learned it long ago in one of the many sales training courses I’ve taken. However I must say it took me a long time to take the bone out of my head about applying it to “salesmanship in print”. Here’s how it works…
Write down something about your product. Anything.
It comes in “Candy Apple Red” (I must have sweet tooth today :-). So what?
So it’s sexy. So what?
So girls love it. So What?
So you’ll attract girls attention. So what?
So you’ll be more popular with the girls. So what?
So I’m married and I’ll get into a lot of trouble if I continue so I’ll stop here. But you get the idea.
Notice only the FIRST thing I mentioned is tangible. Everything else is imaginary. Benefits are not touched they are felt and that is what makes them so powerful.
Use the so what test in your copywriting and you’ll invoke more emotion so you’ll sell more. So you’ll make more money. So you can hire more people to do your work. So you can spend more time with your family. So you can afford better stuff…
But do me one favor please? Don’t get too wrapped up in the “things”. There really is more to life than can be purchased with cash.
God bless,
Andy
May 30th, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
The following is a response to a blog entry to Ray Edwards (the Florida Ray).
I’ve known Ray for a few years now and I count him as a friend. But we differ a bit on this issue.
You can find Ray’s post here:
http://www.webcopy-writing.com/blog/2008/05/27/how-to-you-measure-your-copywriting-skills/
Basically Ray says the copywriting industry per se needs some sort of ’standard’. I disagree. I see Ray’s proposal as a first step in restricting access to the field. Granted anyone can hang a shingle and call themselves a “copywriter”, but there’s more to succeeding in this field than being able to spell the term.
I’m not sure I can agree with your conclusions. There are lots of new products in new markets that could eat even a veteran copywriter alive.
Let’s take another look at this - what makes for bad copy? How do you know what works and what doesn’t?
I know of instances where what you and I would agree is “lousy copy” that sells well - as you yourself pointed out - and seen this same “lousy copy” be replaced by “professionally written” copy that produces worse results.
I’ve written copy myself that failed to do better than the original. Why? In the case I’m thinking of it was because I had a total lack of enthusiasm for the product.
I’ve had other projects take off after an initial failure. The entire copy wasn’t bad - it just needed tweaking.
You’ve read Halbert and Carlton. I’m sure you came across their method where they suggest recording a live pitch from a top salesman and turning into written copy.
So what’s the answer?
I’d say the ONLY measure of good copy is results. I don’t think one can measure results soley by conversion rates because said rates will vary with the market and a whole bunch of other factors. However with good testing procedures and a solid basis on what makes good copy, I believe just about anyone can write copy.
So how do you get results? Write copy and test it in the marketplace. Do this enough and eventually one will either learn how to improve copy in ANY market or quit.
This is one reason I started guarantying results. The only blessings I need on my copy is God’s and the markets’. Anyone else can take a hike.
I am one of the few who dares guarantee results because I insist on testing. Anyone can write copy that fails to convert in any market. The real measure is how you handle failure.
For me the process is simple. I deliver results or it costs my clients nothing.
God bless,
Andy
May 15th, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
Few things strike more fear into a marketer’s heart than an “over the top” guarantee. I mean Gutsy with a capital “G”. And yet few elements of a sales page exude more power. Why?
Because your reader doesn’t trust you. Not at all. Few marketers have earned enough trust to risk even a few dollars for something “unknown”. Not all marketers have this problem…
A few years ago I bought a high ticket item from a marketer - it wasn’t even his product - he was an affiliate. By “high ticket” I mean over $1500. Online. And I didn’t blink an eye. Why is that?
I knew the product. The company it came from is a leader in the field. The marketer who sold it has a way about him I find very trustworthy. He is always helpful. He gives a lot of good information away at no charge. And I’ve never seen a “hypey” sales pitch from him. In short - he has positioned himself far above many of those in his field.
So my first suggestion to you is to follow this lead. Take the high road. Avoid anything that hints of shady practices or shoddy products. Be worthy of trust and people will trust you.
Secondly, gather as much proof as you can. Social proof (testimonials, etc.), scientific proof, endorsements, anything you can gather to back up what you say. And don’t say anything you can’t back up.
Finally, offer the absolute strongest guarantee you dare. This is where things get interesting. You see, when it comes right down to it…
You Don’t Trust Your Customers!
Why else would you fail to guarantee an information product forever? Do you think hordes of customers are going to way 7.33 years and then descend on you at once for a refund?
The most common objection for strong guarantees is thieves. Yes some people will take your product and then ask for a refund. You will get that no matter what guarantee you offer. Think about the psychology of a thief for a moment…
They lie, cheat and steal… right? Do you expect them to be patient also? How long do you think a thief will wait to get a refund? A year? Not if they can get it in minutes. Or a week. In other words, guaranting your product for a year will make NO difference with thieves. So what does that leave?
Marginal customers. Customers who bought your product but don’t really want it because it doesn’t meet their needs or expectations. It happens.
The fact is you should be EAGER to give a refund to marginal customers. WHAT! Why?
Because these are the customers who will tell you what’s wrong with your product or your sales approach. Not only should you be able to cut down on future refunds but you should also armed to get more customers by refining your product and/or sales letter!
On the other hand the general rule is the more solid the guarantee the greater the sales. Yep more people will buy if you convince them they have absolutely NO risk if they decide to buy your product. Just make sure you honor this!
Now for that “Gutsy” Guarantee…
If you really want to “Go for the Gutsy” here one of the most daring guarantees going:
FREE If You Choose!
At firt it even chills me to the bone, but think about it…
You’re selling a digital product so what are the chances someone will get the refund and then delete your product from their hard drive? (I do but I think I’m the exception here.)
What are you going to do otherwise? Go to their house and check? Yeah, right. So why not take advantage of this and say “go ahead and try it if you don’t like it, I’ll refund your money”
I’ve seen others do this, most recently, Brad Callen for his SEO Elite product. I was impressed. If you get something different it’s because he’s testing and you’ve hit an alternate offer - it happens.
Other Gutsy Guarantees include offering to give back more than the reader paid - 10%, 20% even double your money back! Frankly, such offers scare me as a buyer and as a seller.
The bottom line is you should offer the best guarantee you can and still sleep at night.
One final note - is this rule written in stone? No. One very successful marketer comes to mind… Matt Furey.
Matt offers NO guarantee at all. Matt makes far more money with his products than I do. I’m fairly certain Matt tests his messages but I’m still not convinced this concept would be valid in most markets.
I’ve done this myself on occasion because I offer a product so cheap it would nearly cost me money to refund it. I’m not a fan of this tactic. I’ve come to believe you are better off offering value and getting a fair price for that value.
The best overall advice I can offer is to test your own market. See what is acceptable to them. There’s no reason you can’t limit your tests in extreme cases to just a few hundred or even 1,000 visitors. Even if you have a 5% conversion rate and your “double your money back” guarantee doubles this you’ve only risked 100 refunds. If your refund rate remains less than 50% and you’ll still make a gross profit.
God bless,
Andy
May 8th, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
Your P.S. is an integral part of your sales message. Many marketers contend a large majority of readers fly from headline to P.S. making it the second most read part of your sales letter. I noticed I do this but I may be conditioned by my copywriting and testing studies so I cannot consider my own habits valid. Besides I always stop by the price myself on the way to the P.S. 
If you’re stuck for a P.S. here’s one thing not to do and a couple of things TO do…
First what NOT to do: Don’t summarize your offer. If you put you’re whole offer in a nutshell and tack it on to the end of your sales page - you are essentially counting on one or two paragraphs as your entire sales page. Why?
Because the “summary offer” generally answers the questions most people have - what is it and what does it cost? So what can you do?
One method is to simply put a couple of testimonials in your P.S. this can work very well especially if the testimonials offer up some good benefits.
Another thing you can to is try to invoke curiosity by stating a benefit from your body copy or bullets. This can be tricky but it can work well too.
Finally you can add another bonus to your product - one that changes every now and then. You can tell the reader this bonus is “for a limited time”. The magazine “Fly Fisherman” did this well by offering creels. They said they only had so many and when they were gone…
If you sell a physical product this can be a very effective method - especially if your product is a high ticket item with a good profit margin because you can afford to offer high value bonuses.
This last method is one of the easiest and most effective ways to add a P.S. but you really should change your bonus from time to time so your readers know you mean business. And you might be surprised at how many stop again to see if you’re “limited time offer” was for real or just another gimmick.
God bless,
Andy
P.S. Do you have a favorite technique? One other one is to add some tidbit not found in the body copy. My own favorite is number two above.
April 23rd, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
Hi,
I know I haven’t posted so much lately. I finally realized I was posting too often. From now on expect 1-2 posts per week. If this doesn’t set right with you, feel free to let me know.
Other changes on the horizon…
I’m dropping the idea of video critiques. The fact is I’m apparently just too brutal. It takes a thick skin to write copy and have it reviewed by someone. I know. I’ve been there. And while I do make every effort to be gentle, I refuse to ignore the concept of “best practices”. What is that?
It’s is what is generally known and proven to work. Does that mean I’ll “attack” anyone or any ideas deviating from “best practices”? Ablsolutely not!
I’ll be the first to suggest testing just about anything. I do draw the line at the “vulgar” and anything that rings of questionable ethics. Other than that, I am all for pushing the envelope. Now for the third and final change…
I’m raising prices substantially for “Sales Page Makeovers” . I just finished a quote for a complete re-write of a sales page. I quoted it both ways - as a straight copy job (something I rarely do these days) and as a makeover. I was stunned at what I’ve been giving away!
No more.
I’ll post more on this next time but the figures justify much higher prices for this service. If no one is willing to pay then I’ll just have to focus on maximizing conversions on my own products.
Until next time…
God bless,
Andy
April 10th, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
Just finished a report on the 5 reasons people run from your website screaming in terror. Okay so maybe that’ s a little overboard. However if you look at your stats, you may find a large number leaving before the first 30 seconds.
If you want them to stay longer and maybe buy something then this report is for you. I do have one problem…
I’d like your help with the title. I narrowed it down to the two I like best but I’m open to suggestions. Here’s the two I ended up with:
“5 Reasons Folks Flee from Your Website Like Extras in a Godzilla Movie”
or
“5 Common Reasons Visitors Flee from Your Website and How to Fix It”
Which one to you prefer? Please leave a comment below.
God bless,
Andy
By the way, if you want a copy of my report with my compliments, simply sign up for my blog alerts.
April 7th, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
Is thers such a thing? Well yes and no…
I’ll be the first to admit there are days when stuff just isn’t flowing the way I want it to. I write something and set it aside and sometimes I never get back to it. Today is such a day for me.
On the other hand I NEVER sit and stare at an empty screen. Okay, almost never. So what do I do?
I write something. Anything. And I keep writing until I either have something of value or it’s time to quit. So what good does that do me?
First of all it keeps me from claiming I’ve got “writer’s block”. I’m writing even if it’s not worth the cyberpaper it’s written on. Plus…
I almost always get something out of my musings - even if it’s just a list of ideas. I often end up with something worth editing. So what can you do? Here’s some 4 ideas you can use if your stuck…
Make lists. List everything about your product you can think of. It doesn’t take any creativity to do it and you need to have a list.
Write a page from your swipe file. Or use my swipe file if you like. You’ll find it at the “Hot Sales Letters” link to your right.
Edit something. Check over your sales page for typos, awkward sentences and such. If you can’t find anything readi it out loud. You’ll be surprised how different you page sounds compared to how it reads.
Re-write something. Pick an element from your sales page and re-write it. Even if you don’t have it in you to re-write the whole thing, look for one or two words you can improve upon.
All this should get your juices flowing or at least stop the flood of excuses. The fact is “writer’s block” is a self-fueling, self-fulfilling (or unfulfilling) concept that just adds fuel to your procrastination fire. Don’t let it.
God bless,
Andy
April 5th, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
Money magazine’ Dan Ariely just published an article on “tricks” maketers use to get folks to buy.
Here’s a link to the article: Consumer Habits
Is this ethical? Some might say if you have to ask if something is ethical, than it’s not. But I don’t think this is true and I consider myself a very ethical person.
Some of these tricks are well-known - such as offering something for free. Some marketers contend this tactic is losing some of it’s appeal. I think it’s all in the context. We humans are “hard-wired” to grab offers like these. Certainly as everyone offers stuff for free and much of the stuff is worth less than the asking price - you will find more resistance.
On the other hand, consider the “free offer” Ariely himself got caught up in… buy this car and get free oil changes for a year. And this is a guy to studies consumer behavior.
Another way to apply this principle is when building your offer. The next best thing (or maybe even better) is offering so much value for the money one would have to be a fool to pass it up.
The other interesting aspect of this article is his observation of “comparative” pricing. Ariely says for example, if your comparing menu prices at a restaurant, the $45 dish may seem outrageous in one restaurant. But if another dish on the same menu is $60, it may seem comparatively cheap.
Another thing to keep in mind is the consumer’s expectations. You’d scream bloody murder if somone placed that menu in front of you at “Joe’s Diner” but if you were in “Antione’s Bistro” you may not blink an eyelash, even if the food at Joe’s is not all that bad.
Ariely’s article is from his book “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.” It may be a good companion to Cialdini’s “Influence: The Psychology of Persuason”. I haven’t read Ariely’s book yet. When I do, I’ll post a review.
God bless,
Andy
P.S. You’ll also find a wealth of sales triggers in “22 Secret Hot Buttons“
