Copywriting For Geeks
Copywriting For Geeks
Copywriting For Geeks
A few years ago, I remember being more than doubtful about long copy and various sales techniques. I used to think being funny and making cool things was all it took to persuade people to use my stuff. I was right about the latter, but wrong about not believing in sales techniques that have been used for years. The most common argument geeks have against copywriting is that its deceptive. Weve all seen diet pills and get rich quick scams. Those have given copywriting a pretty bad name. But the core problem with geeks is that we are geeks. We are used to nding information for free and diving deeply into problems. So, comparing sales speech to our standards of knowledge, can be sometimes deceptive. My perception towards copywriting started to change after I sold a few copies of my rst ebook. Although I saw quite a few complaints about my sales page from geeks, I sold a lot more copies than I expected. I started A/B testing elements on my sales page and noticed that what most sales experts recommended worked and stuff geeks told me about sales, didnt. I knew there was a giant gap in my knowledge. I studied everything I could nd about sales, copywriting, advertising, marketing and started to apply what I was learning. A year later, I quit my job as a programmer and Im now making a living selling my own products online. I know for a fact that my copywriting skills have something to do with this.
This book is based on the eight principles of persuasion as described in Inuence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini. Those principles have been extracted from psychological experiments and used (and abused) in various sales and marketing departments. Later in this book you will also see various tips Ive compiled and successfully used in my own copy.
- Zig Ziglar
of Persuasion
Derived from the excellent book Inuence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
product rst, your following product will look less expensive. more expensive alternative. Also known as price anchoring.
That 16GB WiFi iPad looks a lot less expensive now, doesnt it?
http://www.mint.com/blog/how-to/price-anchoring/
principle: request-then-retreat technique. (request), then a less expensive one (retreat) to make the last one look less expensive (contrast) and force concession from the buyer.
By contrasting the more expensive plan with the two other ones, they make them look less expensive. $99 is a lot of money, but not as much compared to $149. Additionally, using the request-then-retreat technique, they promote the Premium, mid-price plan (request) then force a concession by suggesting the Plus plan (retreat).
http://basecamphq.com/signup
EE FR
:)
Small
Commitment
Bigger
People feel social pressure to be consistent with the image other people have of them. Making a commitment is a form of social afrmation, taking a stand, expressing who you are. Once that sort of commitment is made, people will feel pressure to stay consistent with that commitment, to be true to the image they feel they are projecting. A common use of this principle if the free trial. Whenever a product has a free aspect to it, it is based on this principle. The idea is to get prospects to commit to using your product. The more they use it, the more pressure theyll feel to use it more and use you other products. This is why its hard to get people to switch from your competitors to you.
Highlighted in red are the elements of social proof. Customer showcase, number of people using your product, testimonials, are all proofs that other people are using and liking your product.
http://basecamphq.com/
Social Proof
Social Proof is the most important thing to add to your copy. But it is a chicken-or-the-egg type of problem. When youre launching, you could need some social proof, but since you just launched and nobody actually used your product, you cant get anyone to testify for it. Here are a few tricks: - Get testimonials for something else you did. - Get testimonials from current customers about how awesome you are. - Collect nice things people have said about you on the web. - Send emails to people you interacted with to get a short testimonial. Youd be surprised how far simply asking for a testimonial can get you. Once you start selling. Make sure to gather social proof wherever you can. As soon as someone mentions your product (positively) put it on your sales page. Anything that proves other people are using your product, put it on your sales page. A sales page can never have too much social proof.
Association
Principle of
Go Daddy has nothing to do with nice looking girls. But since quite a few people like nice looking girls, the principle of association will make some people like Go Daddy. This principle has been abused in beer ads too for quite some time.
http://www.godaddy.com/default.aspx
valuable when their availability is limited. instead of how much could be saved.
Scarcity Principle: Show what is lost without your product instead of how much could be saved.
http://sendgrid.com/
instead of deferring and forgetting about your product. one week sale.
http://owningrails.com/
David Ogilvy
David Ogilvy was known as "The Father of Advertising." In 1962, Time called him "the most sought-after wizard in today's advertising industry.
Dont be a bore.
Source: http://todaysadvisor.com/images/david_ogilvy_how_to_create_advertising_that_sells_big.jpg
not
Features
Benets
person already had them. Make them see the end result.
Remarkability
Risk reversal
Offering a refund can be quite powerful when doing customer support. Each time Ive had people complain about my products, simply offering a refund turned them into a happy customers. Most people dont like to get their money back. List all the risks any prospect could see in taking your offer, and then try to remove all those risks. I guarantee youll have a killer offer... or Ill give you your money back!
Dene need
Answer Objection
{ Master headlines after reading this page } or I write yours for free {
Unique proposition
Designing a headline is a good exercise in dening what needs your product is solving. To write a good headline you must understand what your customers want. There are several techniques to structure a headline, heres one that worked for me and is derived from the now famous Dominos campaign: You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less - or it's free. Probably the best headline in history. This single sentence allowed Dominos to enter and dominate the already crowded space of pizza delivery.
The headline is divided into three parts. First, dene the need your product is solving. What do people want to achieve when buying your product? Then, make a unique and bold proposition. For example in the Dominos tagline, nobody was delivering in 30 minutes at that time. Your proposition must be unique, you must be the only one saying this and it must be bold. So bold it will make people doubt. Yes! Finally, and here is the magic trick, you conclude your headline by answering the doubts youve just put in their heads. Using Dominos again: delivered in 30 minutes? Yeah right or its free? Holy burrito, count me in!.
Swipe le
A swipe le is a collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letters. Keeping a swipe le (templates) is a common practice used by advertising copywriters and creative directors as a ready reference of ideas for projects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swipe_le
Keeping a swipe le is a good way to improve your copywriting skills. Whenever you see a sales page that convinces you, looks nice and is successful, take note! Here are the best examples I could nd in my own swipe le, also a few of my own pages. Annotated with my comments.
http://basecamphq.com/
http://basecamphq.com/
http://createyourproglang.com/
http://createyourproglang.com/
http://www.freshbooks.com/
Urgency
Contrast
Product position
Large promise
http://www.appsumo.com/startup-copywriting/
A/B Testing
A/B testing is a method which allows you to test several versions of a web page or email. You measure which version performs best by tracking actions performed.
Reciprocity
Now Im applying the Reciprocity principle and asking you a favor :) If you enjoyed this book please spread the word. Perhaps write a small tweet about it.
Thank you!
- M-A