Conversion Copywriting is the Better Strategy for Online Businesses
As businesses shift onto the internet, business owners constantly search for the best ways to capture the online audience. Writing good website copy has become necessary for any online business due to the basic need to fill a website with words. It’s simply impossible to sell a product or service online without some written description of what’s being offered. However, beyond basic website copywriting is a more targeted strategy called conversion copywriting. As the name suggests, this form of copywriting is meant to convert potential buyers into loyal customers.
Copywriting has evolved in line with the adoption of the internet. Instead of simple newspaper ads with straightforward messaging such as “Buy now!”, good website copy is authentic and leads a potential customer down a conversion path. Writing good conversion copy means meeting the consumer at every step of the buying process. So how does an online business go about implementing conversion copywriting onto their website and overall sales process?
Conversion vs. Traditional Copywriting
Looking further into traditional vs. conversion copy, there are subtle differences between the two. However, conversion copywriting is somewhat of a newer concept and takes elements from general sales, data analytics, psychology and storytelling.
Traditional copywriting, or what some refer to as “sales copywriting,” usually starts and ends with declaring why a product would benefit a consumer and doesn’t consider the individual needs of a given consumer. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but given the nature of most online businesses and the fleeting attention of consumers, it’s a good idea to take a more systematic and focused approach to website copy.
In other words, traditional sales copy is like a shiny object meant to attract anyone who happens to land on a website. However, sales copy can still get the job done with some good search engine optimization (SEO) and a well-designed website.
On the other hand, conversion copy is more persuasive and can lead not only to sales but also to retention. Conversion copy requires a level of attention and empathy that implies authenticity as well. If a consumer decides to make a purchase based on your copy, it means that they feel understood. Furthermore, conversion copywriting should contain storytelling elements, as consumers today are more interested in human-centered use cases than blatant advertising.
A quick guide to conversion copywriting
For conversion copywriting to work, you need to understand the journey a consumer is taking to lead them to make a purchase. This means that actually writing copy isn’t the first step in the matter. Instead, it would be best to focus on your ideal consumer and why they need your product or service.
Creating a buyer persona is the first step in conversion copywriting, and it usually involves a series of surveys or reviewing of analytics data. Web-hosting services often have a way to track metrics, or you can pair your site with a service like Google Analytics. Data that tracks the demographics of site visitors is a good start. Next, conducting well-tailored surveys over social media is an excellent way to gather even more insight about who is following your brand and what sort of things they’re looking for.
After creating a buyer persona, you can better understand your buyers’ needs and how your product can help them. This is where you can consult a sales playbook example to craft wording based on the phase of the sales pipeline your potential buyer is in. These phases usually start with a prospective stage to a decision-making phase.
Perfecting the final copy that’ll appear on the website will likely take two to three iterations of data-mining and refining the copy. Depending on how big your online business is, a copywriter may need to consult with other departments to find helpful information.
At some point, you may need to create separate landing pages based on the sales phase the potential buyer is in. Good copy will cause someone to click through to those different site pages as their curiosity is piqued. Some copy may be in the form of purely educational content, depending on the nature of your product or service.
Finally, the process of conversion copywriting does not end with the sale. Once someone has purchased a product or service, you should seek to retain their loyalty with additional material that’ll keep them coming back. This could be in the form of newsletters or other marketing campaigns. As a result, a copywriter’s job is ultimately cyclical as new copy will need to be created when new products or features are released.
The importance of a good copywriting strategy cannot go understated in the digital age where a given online business may have dozens of competitors. Likewise, consumers have many similar products to choose from. But with a solid understanding of the power of conversion copy, it’s possible to captivate buyers and retain brand loyalty.