A lot has been written about how to write selling copy—articles, videos, and even full-length books. Such educational materials are in high demand because many business owners, startup founders, marketers, and others interested in promoting brands, products, and services have realized the effectiveness of content that can motivate the reader to take action. Moreover, many have figured out that creating selling copy is an art that can be mastered without necessarily being a professional copywriter.
Each format of selling copy serves its own purpose—whether it’s generating interest, prompting action, or convincing the customer that they’ve found exactly what they were looking for. Depending on the platform and the company’s goals, writing approaches may vary. Let’s consider the main types of selling copy and their features:
5. Social Media Content. This includes feed posts, Stories, ads, and more.
6. Press Releases. These materials are intended for publication in the media to inform consumers about new products, events, or other company news.
7. Testimonials and Case Studies. Nothing demonstrates the effectiveness of a product or service as clearly as a published success story.
8. Blog Posts. If, in a corporate blog, you talk about your products and achievements or offer a product or service, such content—originally purely informational—becomes selling copy.
9. Commercial Proposals. Directly addressing the target audience is a critical task. A company may only have one chance to present its services to a client, so mistakes in preparing a commercial proposal can be costly.
It’s important to understand that at the core of every successful text lies a clear understanding of the target audience, proper structure, and skillful use of psychological triggers. In this article, we’ll examine each of these three aspects in more detail.
Understanding the Target Audience
Before you begin writing sales copy for advertising, it’s crucial to form a clear portrait of whom it’s intended for. Ask yourself the following questions:
Answers to these questions will help you create more personalized and effective copy.
Over the past two years, the already complex portrait of the modern user has undergone serious changes. Their key traits can be described as:
Every sales text should follow a certain structure. Below are the main elements worth including.
Headline. It’s the first thing your reader sees. Whether the text will be read depends largely on the headline, so it should be catchy and immediately grab attention. Numbers, questions, provocative statements, and promises of benefit work well.
Today’s most effective headline types:
Overused clichés (“market leaders,” “a wide range of products/services,” “an individual approach to each client,” “a unique opportunity,” “a fast-growing company,” etc.).
How to avoid: specify your offer more precisely, add numbers (amounts, timeframes, etc.).
Unbelievable promises (“Earn your first million in a week,” “Learn English from scratch in a week,” etc.).
How to avoid: state realistic timeframes; otherwise, you’ll only push customers away.
Focusing on yourself rather than the customer (“We did it—opened our third coffee shop,” “Our website is finally up and running”).
How to avoid: focus on the customer’s benefit (“We’re offering discounts to celebrate our new coffee shop,” “The website is working again—place your orders online!”).
Overusing exclamation marks (“Attention!!! Final summer sale!!! Up to 70% off clothes!!!”).
How to avoid: tone it down—the reader will make decisions based on concrete facts, not your over-the-top enthusiasm.
Awkward use of catchphrases (“Not by bread alone...,” “All roads lead to Rome”).
How to avoid: combine part of the familiar phrase with an explanation that provides a concrete understanding of the product or brand. For example: “Stop the moment: everything for a photo shoot,” “Two of a kind: matching outfits for husband and wife.”
Sometimes a subheading enhances the headline by briefly revealing the essence of the offer and maintaining interest.
Problem. Start by describing a problem that concerns your target audience. It’s important to make them feel you understand their pain and are ready to offer a solution. Example: “Tired of constant breakouts on your face? Creams and lotions only making it worse?”
Solution or Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Present your product or service as the perfect solution to the problem described above. Clearly articulate the product’s or service’s main advantages and explain how it will help your client. USP examples for a children’s soccer school:
Benefits. Provide the user with concrete facts about the product’s features that will improve their life, help prevent or solve certain problems. Example (from sales copy about heat meters): Benefit 1. The built-in controller allows simultaneous accounting and weather-based heat regulation on the property, alternating between “day/night” and “work/holiday” modes, saving up to 30% on heat energy. Benefit 2. Thanks to an additional pair of flow sensors (FS) in large-diameter flow meters (over 150 mm), you don’t have to stop heat and water supply when replacing the working FS. Benefit 3. The self-diagnosis function stores and prints data on more than 40 types of possible defects in heat accounting, both inside and outside the unit.
Evidence. Back up your claims with examples, customer reviews, statistics, or case studies. The task here is to dispel any doubts about the quality, safety, and effectiveness of your product, increasing trust in your offer. Example: The reliability of our meters is confirmed by a number of certificates:
Call to Action (CTA). If you have done everything correctly up to this point, the reader is already warmed up and almost ready to click the desired button. Now the main task is to prompt them to take action. Finish the text with a clear call to action. Use imperative verbs such as “order now,” “sign up for an online consultation,” “download for free,” etc.
A successful CTA should have the following characteristics:
Examples of successful CTAs:
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We all know how relevant vitamin D (calciferol) is. The topic of the “sun vitamin” became even more pronounced after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when numerous studies claimed that vitamin D helps the body resist the coronavirus. But the functions of this nutrient are much broader since it participates in virtually all bodily processes:
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The above examples of sales copy all follow the same principle. At their core is a time-tested and genuinely effective model.
Save (or better yet, memorize) and use this simple sales copy template:
Creating sales copy is a process that requires attention to detail and a deep understanding of your audience’s needs. By following the steps described and using the suggested template, you’ll be able to generate content that attracts and converts customers. There are nuances in how to write sales copy for a website, for a particular social media page, or for an ad. That’s advanced level :) Remember that practice is key to success. The more you write, the better your skills become and the more precisely you’ll hit the heart of your audience.
Creating effective sales copy is an art that requires understanding human psychology. By skillfully using psychological triggers, you can not only spark interest but also effectively prompt the reader to take action. Let’s consider a few of them:
With all this in mind, remember that writing sales copy, like copywriting in general, is a creative process, meaning that the existing knowledge and skills need to be interpreted in the context of the specific task at hand. In this sense, today’s popular ChatGPT can only serve as a tool, not a replacement for a specialist. A clear understanding of the target audience’s needs, defining tone of voice, following a logical structure, avoiding filler and clichés, skillfully applying triggers, and other aspects combined will help create an engaging article that can deliver the expected feedback. Finally, we want to add that a good copywriter must be an empath above all. Because the surefire way to write a successful text is to put yourself in the shoes of a user who wants to buy a product or service. What information would matter to you in that case? That’s what you should write about.