12 Steps to Creating Copy that Sells

If you want to sell more products online or through online marketing, there is one thing you need to be able to do: create copy that sells.

Contrary to what you might think, great sales copy doesn’t feel like sales copy at all. And writing copy that sells is one of the toughest marketing tasks you’ll ever face in your small business.

Creating great sales copy is so much more than sprinkling magic words here and there, choosing an image, and adding a call to action (CTA). That’s not going to increase conversions.

Creating copy that sells is a thoughtful process that requires consistent effort in outperforming self and thinking out of the box.

If you’re struggling with online sales and conversion but don’t think there is anything wrong with your sales copy, you might want to take another look.

Let’s look at 12 steps you can take to create copy that sells.

How to Write Copy that Sells

When it comes to writing copy that sells, there are some basic things that you can do to ensure that your copy will hit the mark.

1. Set a Goal

You can never achieve the desired results if you never set a goal. When it comes to copywriting, you need to stick to creating just one goal. That’s it.

When you try setting multiple goals, your copy loses its charm and starts distracting readers. It fails to give a clear message about what you want them to do and confuses them. The result: they leave your site and go elsewhere, and you lose out on potential sales.

By setting a single goal, you can focus better and achieve your objective. If you are running multiple campaigns, it’s best to create individual landing pages and assign them to each campaign separately. Always remember: if you give your prospects too many choices – they’ll almost always choose not to make a choice.

2. Create Buyer Personas

Simply put, buyer personas are semi-fictional descriptions of your ideal prospects. You can create them based on market research and taking cues from your existing customers. Buyer personas give you a better idea of who you are targeting your sales copy, allowing you to write directed towards a person.

Without creating buyer personas, you’ll not know who you should target. This, in return, might increase the cost of customer acquisition and significantly decrease return on investment.

Here’s an example of a buyer persona created by Munro:

Through buyer’s persona research, you can discover your customers’ pain points and problems and craft an effective communication style. This will help you better engage your audience through your sales copy.

3. Write Irresistible Headlines

Now that you know who you’re targeting and what you want them to do, it is time to put your ideas into words. Headlines carry maximum weight in sales copy. That’s why great sales copy always has the best headlines.

Here’s a great example from Scratch Wireless. Their headline is simple yet powerful. It says:

“Wireless should be free because it can be.”

So, put your best efforts into creating a headline that immediately entices your customer and makes them stay. If your headline fails to glue them to the copy, no matter how great the body content is, they won’t stay long enough to read through and appreciate that.

If you’re unsure which headline you should go with, split test headlines and evaluate which one works best.

4. Give Your Buyers a Good Reason to Buy from You

Do you give your buyers enough reasons to purchase from you? Don’t shy away from openly discussing the customer pain points and educate them about how your product or service can make their lives easier and solve their problems.

Discuss how you are better and different from your competitors. Highlight what makes you special. This is your USP – unique selling proposition.

5. Write an Awesome Description

All sales copy that converts have something in common:

•     They don’t beat around the bush; instead, they directly discuss the problem or pain points and offer a solution.
•     The words are easy to understand. No jargon.
•     People love to read them over and over again and are still not bored. That’s because the message creates an invisible connection with the audience that entertains them, educates them, and gives them hope.

Always start by talking about the most important thing you want your audience to know. Feel free to use data, numbers, or stats when you have them.

Below is an example from MailChimp. You can see that their copy has a clear headline, a subhead, and a short description that directly communicates with their audience.

6. Cut The Sentences Until You Can Cut No More

One of the rules in copywriting is to keep the sentences short and remove all unnecessary words. If you look at higher-converting sales copy, you’ll find that none of the sentences are too long.

Remove unnecessary words, adverbs, and adjectives. It may seem difficult when you’re starting, but you can master these copywriting skills with time.

This article from CopyBlogger makes the following suggestions:

•     Use a word instead of a phrase
•     Use a phrase instead of a sentence
•     Use a sentence instead of a paragraph
•     Use a paragraph instead of a page

7. Read Your Copy Out Loud

Wise marketers read their copy out loud. That way, they can easily spot gaps in the content flow and correct them.

Ask yourself—will you buy after reading the sales copy? Does it convince you to take the next step?

If you aren’t convinced to make a purchase, you can’t expect your customers to buy from you. And the only way to know that and save yourself from wasting money on poorly written copy is by reading the copy aloud.

If you don’t like it, rework and re-read. Repeat this process until you’re happy with what you’ve got.

Advanced-Level Tips for Converting More with Your Copy

If you’re a beginner, try doing the steps mentioned above, and when you’re done, you can follow the advanced-level tips I’m sharing below. These will help to take your copy to the next level.

1. Choose a Good Background

It’s a no brainer that the background covers most of the visual space. Use a color combination that compliments the text and visuals and makes the reading easy. Choose colors in a way that doesn’t hurt the eyes.

2. Focus on Typography

Typography is the art of arranging texts in a way that makes the letters, words, and sentences more readable, legible, and visually appealing. Typography helps you establish a visual hierarchy and maintain a graphic balance.

3. Improve the Page Speed

As I discussed this my previous article on creating high converting landing pages, page speed is one of the most important factors in sales conversions.

According to this study, conversion rates drop drastically for slow loading pages.

 4. Add More White Space

If the words and sentences are put too close to each other, it might hamper the readability. Make it easy for your audience to clearly see the words and lines by adding more white space. In fact, empty white space improves conversion – so let your page breathe!

5. Brainstorm the CTAs

“Buy Now,” “Subscribe,” “Talk to us”—all of these calls to action (CTA) are clichéd. CTAs are so important yet often overlooked. Brainstorm on generating the best CTAs to use in your copy and put them on a piece of paper to not forget them. 

Writing copy that sells takes time and energy. And it doesn’t happen in a day. Sometimes copywriters spend days and weeks writing headlines and the body of a sales page. So be patient and follow the steps and tricks outlined above and make great things happen.

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