Are You Making These 3 Mistakes in Your Sales Copy?
If you're a business owner writing copy for sales pages, websites, brochures, social media ads or even blog posts, then avoiding these 3 mistakes will make your copy more effective and help to increase your sales.
The 3 common mistakes that business owners make with copywriting are writing from the their viewpoint and not from the reader's, failing to get straight to the point at the start of your copy, and asking for the sale before giving something of value to the reader.
Let's take a deeper look at these 3 common mistakes, why we make, and how to avoid them - so that you can start writing the WORDS THAT WIN!
Mistake #1 - Writing From Your Perspective
When writing copy it can be very tempting to write about your successes, your certifications and qualifications - because that's what we think readers are interested in and what is going to persuade them to buy our product or service.
However, they're not always interested in you - but more about what's in it for them!
So, in our copy you need to focus on the BENEFITS and TRANSFORMATION that your readers will get from using your product or service.
Read: 5-Steps to Write Benefit-Focused Copy
Aim to make the copy relatable to the person who is reading it by showing that you understand and empathise with the problem they are facing.
To help with this, take some time to consider these 3 things:
who is your target audience
what problems do they have
how your product or service can solve their problem
Mistake #2 - Burying the Lede
Take a moment to consider what makes you stop scrolling through your social media news feed and read an article?
It's normally an attention-grabbing headline, right?
As we know from our own experience, the attention span of readers is short these days - and it's getting shorter.
It's therefore crucial to do TWO THINGS with your copy.
Create an impactful headline (or subject line of an email) to improve the click-through-rate
Get to the point quickly - don't waffle or your reader will be clicking the back button!
Read: How to Create Winning Headlines
Once we've got the reader's attention with our headline, we need to create an opening sentence that gets our reader's instantly attracted. We need to let them know know what BENEFIT they are going to get from reading the rest of our copy.
This could be anything from a social media update, blog post, sales letter or web page.
Here's a few tips to help you write impactful opening sentences:
Aim for 25 words max
Use your keyword in the first 9 words
Start with an impact word
Work on the basis that you have 5 seconds to get across your main point
In copywriting, there is a term known as "burying the lede" - which basically means that you fail to emphasise the most important point of the article or story, and write a lot of secondary information at the beginning.
Get your main point across first, and use the main body of the copy to elaborate.
Mistake #3 - Asking for the Sale First
The third and final common mistake is to ask for the sale before giving something of VALUE to your readers.
These days, the mindset of reader's is that they are expecting to gain some useful knowledge or information first, before being asked to buy something.
Let's look at a quick example.
Imagine that you're the owner of a gym and your sending out your weekly newsletter.
Including a link to your sales page at the top of the page will likely get your readers thinking "Oh, I've only read one sentence and he's already trying to sell me something"
So, instead of including a link to your sales page at the top of your email - why not give away 3 free tips on how to lose weight effortlessly first, and then at the bottom of the email include a link to your sales page with your call-to-action.
Really this idea boils down to giving something of VALUE to the reader first, and then asking for something in return.
Final Thoughts
I hope that helps and it's going to help you and your business in the future.
Keep these 3 mistakes in mind the next time you're writing copy for a sales page, your website, social media update or blog post.
Switch them around and you'll instantly have more effective copy. Remember to do these three things:
Write for the reader
Get to the point straight away
Give value before asking for a sale
Need any help with your copy?
Contact us today and we'll happily set up a FREE consultation so we can start helping your write the WORDS THAT WIN!
James G Media is a copywriting and content writing agency based in Bangkok, Thailand. It's our mission to support your business growth by helping you write the Words That Win through copywriting for sales and advertising, social media marketing, SEO content writing, and website design.