Introduction
What is persuasive copywriting about? It’s one thing to be good at writing, it is an entirely different ball game to be good at persuasive writing. For you to be good at writing copy that converts, you need to learn the art of persuasion. Understand that writing a persuasive copy is different from writing a piece of content.
Let’s take a look at how you can write a persuasive copy for your business/marketing.
Definition of persuasive copywriting
Persuasive copywriting involves writing to convert or persuade prospects. Examples are sales copy, sales letter, or piece of content used for persuasion. Actions such as purchasing an item, signing up for a newsletter, or giving to a cause requires persuasive copywriting.
Importance in Marketing
Persuasive copywriting is important in marketing. For you to sell your products or services, you need to master the art of persuasion to stand out amongst your competitors.
Your ability to persuade your prospects will give you an edge over your competitors.
Key Elements of Persuasive Copywriting
- Know and understand your audience.
Before crafting your copy, it’s crucial that you get to know and understand your audience.
Knowing your audience means that you research them and get to understand what their core problem is and the solution they seek.
Understanding their pain points, needs, desires, challenges with previous products/services similar to yours, their doubts, shopping habits, and a lot of other things. Your product/service will usually determine the way you carry out your research.
- Focus on the solution
When writing a persuasive copy, it’s important to show your prospects the solution they seek. Since you’ve researched your audience, you now understand what they want and the solution they seek.
Focus your copy on what they want to have, and paint a picture they crave by providing the solution to their problem.
It’s easy to persuade your prospects when they see the solution they’ve been looking for. Even better is when you counter their fears, doubts, and reservations about the product/service.
- Use personalization
Make your copy feel like it is strictly for your prospects by personalizing your copy. When you use words like “You” and “Your”, your prospects immediately feel like it’s a personal message solely for them.
Personalization makes your copy more engaging and persuasive, it implies that you’re talking directly to them and not someone else or the general public.
According to Lime Copywriting, a study from the University of Texas shows that personalization gives us a sense of control by making us feel we’re getting something tailored especially to us.
- Focus on the benefits, not the features
The priority of your copy is to persuade your prospects, therefore you should focus more on the benefit of your product/service rather than the features.
Benefits are what your product/service does for your prospects, the features are what your products/services are.
People care about what your product can do for them, rather than how good your product is. Make sense?
Some Businesses are carried away because their products have “cooler” features than their competitors. However, it’s important to note that your prospects are more interested in having their problems solved.
The features should be your secondary advantage.
For instance:
Benefit: “Our sunscreen gives your skin 24 hours of protection from ultraviolet (UV) radiation and keeps skin damage, sunburn, and skin cancer”.
Feature: “Our Sunscreen comes in a beautiful bottle and a dropper that makes it easy to apply”.
- Clear call to action (CTA)
Use clear and prominent call-to-action (CTA). Your call to action should suggest to your prospects what to do, it shouldn’t be vague but should be clear and concise.
Make your CTA persuasive by stating the outcome and the benefit of the product/service.
They should be direct, and use verbs that prompt immediate action such as, “Buy Now”, “Start Now”, and “Get Your Copy Now”.
- Storytelling
Leverage storytelling to write persuasive copy. Storytelling will make your copy resonate with your prospects. When they read a story similar to theirs it makes it relatable to them and persuades them further.
Storytelling paints a vivid picture in the minds of your prospects, it’s immediately easy for them to see themselves in the scenario you created through storytelling.
You will persuade your prospects because of the picture you have painted in their minds.
- Social proof
Social proof is very effective in creating a persuasive copy.
It builds trust and credibility. It shows that your product/service is as good as advertised.
When you have a lot of social proof, your prospects will be easily persuaded, and they will wish to have the same results as shown by your social proof.
- Authority
Where possible, state authorities in your copy. Authorities help you build trust and persuasion. When you back your copy with authority, it helps to validate your copy and it shows that you’re not only trying to sell to your prospects but you genuinely care for them, which brings us to our next point.
- Use empathy
Even though you are trying to sell to your prospects, you should genuinely care for them and you should show them you do.
Empathy goes a long way in persuasion and in marketing.
Imagine two different sellers, one is kind and the other is an arrogant seller who doesn’t care about solving your problem but only cares about getting your money.
Who’d you buy from? It’s a no-brainer, I can guarantee you’d buy from the seller who cares about your problem being solved.
Next time you write your persuasive copy, be “the kind seller” who shows empathy because you genuinely care about solving the problem of your prospects.
- Use FOMO
Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a system that works well in crafting a persuasive copy. That being said, FOMO can be annoying when used wrongly (my personal opinion).
Usually, FOMO is used to create scarcity, if you claim you have only 24 hours to keep an offer before you cancel your offer, then, end it after 24 hours.
Don’t use words like “After tonight, you’ll never get this offer again”. This is meant to create the fear of missing out, but it sounds a little desperate.
Compare this with “Take advantage of our discount sales prices before it ends today by 12 midnight.”
Tell me honestly, which would you rather buy from? The second example right? I thought as much.
Don’t forget that your prospects are humans and should be treated with respect.
- Use AIDA
AIDA is one of the most famous copywriting techniques. It’s also popular because it works well in persuading prospects. The acronym stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.
You start by getting the attention of your prospects, and when you have their attention, you keep them interested in what you have to say, and then you create a desire in them by showing them what they wish to have, after which you prompt them to act such as buying or signing up.
- Emotional appeal
Emotion works well with persuasion. Ever heard the famous line “People buy on emotion and justify it with logic”? Well, it’s true.
People buy because of passion, fear, excitement, joy, pain, etc. They buy because of the feeling associated with the product, leverage emotions in your copy.
What can your product/service make your prospects feel? Use that.
Some Things to Note
- Craft an attention-grabbing headline, otherwise your copy won’t be read, let alone persuade your prospects.
- Researching your target audience before creating your copy is crucial for creating a tailored copy.
- Focus on problem-solving.
- Use only stories that are relatable and relevant to your prospects.
- While trying to persuade your prospects, don’t sound desperate.
- Empathy is your friend, show it.
- Analyse, test, and optimize your headline.
- Tailor your copy for your target audience to resonate with them, your copy shouldn’t address everybody.
Conclusion
You can achieve persuasive copywriting by using the above techniques. Keep the purpose of your writing in mind while using all the techniques you choose to use, stay on course, and make all you write relevant to your goal.