Copywriting for High Conversion

Have your ever seen a great looking website, but the copy was hard to read, boring, or tried to cram every idea onto the page?

Persuasive copywriting is an essential part of business conversion success. Some important places for conversion-centered copy are: homepage, page headlines (especially homepage, pricing page and landing page), call-to-action design and button copy, email, and blog headlines. We’d also add social media to this mix because platforms like Twitter put a limit on copy length that makes it critical to get it right.

Certain words and phrases have a proven emotional effect on readers that is associated with higher conversion. Readers want to be addressed in a personal manner, have their beliefs validated, and rewarded with a product, service or offer that is authentic. Here are few to start using in your messaging:

Tests indicate that personalization leads to higher click-thru rates. Emails that insert the reader’s name into the subject line or salutation are most successful. Second is seeing the word “my” – for example, a call-to-action button reading, “Yes, start MY free trial”. “You” and “Your” also have higher click-thru rates than no personalization at all.

Users both appreciate seeing the word “free” and are wary of it. The trick here is that your business must actually provide a free product or service, with limited strings attached. A free product trial is popular. For service agencies, consider a free eBook or Evaluation. User studies show consumers will choose an inferior product if there is a “free” claim attached– which can help new online businesses gain a competitive edge.

Using the word “because” helps validate product and service claims and are particularly influential on landing pages for consumer packaged goods. Health websites frequently use “because” to support product benefit claims and establish trust.

Young people especially are attracted to the word “new” because they like being early adaptors of trends and products. Consumers of all ages may hold off on buying a previous model or ‘older’ version from a competitor and wait for your ‘new’ offer – make sure you give them a way to subscribe to your updates so they don’t forget about your brand. Existing services can also be rebranded as ‘new’ and marketed via content and social media campaigns.

On the flip side, two words have a proven negative effect on conversion: “Submit”and “Go”. Your 5 or 6 word headline or call-to action should make it 100% clear what will happen when a user engages – if you have to use “submit” or “go”, your copy is still unclear.

After you’ve crafted several variations of persuasive copy for your website, you’ll want to run basic A/B testing to see if they achieve a higher conversion rate. A key element to test is your website’s Headline copy. It’s the first thing visitors see on your page – and if they landed on your page through a paid ad (PPC), it confirms that they made the right choice. Your bounce rate absolutely depends on the strength of your Headline copy. One common strategy for the Headline is the 2-line approach: a short primary headline, supported by a slightly smaller sub-heading. Here’s an example for a marketing software brand (notice how they worked “you” into the copy too!)

Regardless of what design strategy you choose, test your copy changes a word or line at a time, so you can confirm which change was actually responsible for a higher conversion. Run your test for at least a week to rule out coincidence or the effects from another marketing initiative. If you’re having trouble crafting the perfect website headline copy, there are a number of online templates that can help you construct your marketing ‘equations’ – simply plug in your brand and message and see which works.