How to Write Persuasive Copy That You Know, Actually Persuades (Version 1.0)

Attention copywriters! This week I’m going to share a handy dandy little cheat sheet to spiff up pretty much any copy you write to get someone to do something (which is, basically, all copy you write, right?)

Whenever you want to get an enthusiastic “yes!” like an opt-in for your email list, to make a sale, snag a donation, nab a subscriber, fill seats at an event, or just inspire people to cuddle puppies, you need to build action-inspiring copy on a strong foundation with four Cornerstones of Copy.

But wait, wait wait, what if you already have your own style of copywriting? What if you have it all worked out and you’re doing just fine, thank you? No worries, mate. Start with these cornerstones and then build up the walls with your own proven techniques and decorate ‘em with your own unique style.

But it all starts here. With the four big stones.
Here they are in a nutshell:

1. Here’s what I’ve got for you.
2. Here’s the amazing thing I’m going to do for you.
3. Who am I and why should you listen to me?
4. Here’s what you need to do now.

Cornerstone #1 Here's What I've Got for You Today...

 Before you can persuade anyone to do anything, you have to dangle some bait. Tell them what you’ve got. Sum it up in one sentence...detailed enough to entice but vague enough to leave them wanting more. What’s your product or service? What does it do? Who is it for?

A one-sentence summary that catches your reader’s attention but don’t elaborate yet, because it’s time to move on to #2  

Cornerstone #2 What's in it for You...

 Now Featuring Benefits!

Here’s where you’ll lay out the benefits to the consumer (don’t get “benefits” confused with “features” which we’ll hit on a bit later...just hold on to your features for now). So talk about the great benefits the consumer will receive when they take action. (You’ll lose ten pounds a week! Your kid will sleep all night! You’ll never have dishpan hands again! Your car will wash itself!)What is it about your product or service that makes life so much better? And what does so much better look like to the customer? Describe the end result, the “after” picture, so the customer can imagine what will happen once they get their hands on your product (or partake of your service) and start wanting what you’re offering. Show you reader exactly how your product/service will make life easier and help the customer reach the personal goals that matter most to them. More confidence? Less stress? A financial windfall? A promotion? Done!

Okay, now it’s time to unpack the features! Here’s where we revisit #1 “What I’ve Got for You” and describe it in delicious and irresistible detail...remember what I said about holding off on the features? Well, hold no longer! Here’s where you let go and release the fantastic features from their Pandora’s Box. The features are important, but not as important to the customer as their benefits, so try to pair up features with benefits as much as you can without sounding awkward.

Remember, features are the necessary-but-unexciting facts about your product or service, where benefits are exciting tidbits that cue the emotional response.

Like this:

Product - Diet Coke. Feature: 0 calories. Benefit: Look better than your husband’s lady-boss at the company Christmas party.

Product – Automobile. Feature: automatic safety restraint system. Benefit: you won’t die when some intoxicated yahoo slams you off the road and into a telephone pole.

Service – Open 24 hours. Benefit: Who cares about insomnia when you can shop at 2AM?

Even though the benefits are more important than the features, you need to give the features their own air time because customers get nervous when they don’t have all the details and nervous people don’t buy. Example: batteries included (i.e. ready to use RIGHT NOW!)

Use bullet points to highlight the features and include teasers:

• “Worksheets come with every module” (blah)
• “Action sheets come with every module so you can take what you’ve just learned and immediately put it into action for maximum results” (better)

 Bullet points are the copywriters “secret weapon” because they highlight your main points in a bold and skimmable way by drawing the reader’s eye, and, therefore, their full attention.

Cornerstone #3. Who are you to be telling me this? (aka Why Should I Listen to/Trust You?)

Who are you in relation to you reader? If you’re a blogger and the reader subscribes to your blog, they may know you pretty well and you may get to skip the formal introduction. But if you’re writing a sales letter that is being distributed into the unknown ether, you’ll need to establish yourself as a trustworthy and worthwhile person who knows what they are talking about. This is why some cold call sales letters have a photo at the top which often contains some element that helps the reader like and trust the author. Photos with babies and puppies in them are winners. So are smiling people (that warm, friendly smile, not the fake forced smile that reads “I might kill you in your sleep.”) If you’re selling a course, have a happy bespectacled student smiling away next to a pile of books, or if you are hocking garden soil, show someone cheerfully harvesting (thornless) roses, or if you are selling a weight-loss product, the quintessential six-pack abs photo is a powerful call to action.

You want to tell your customer, “Hey, I’m a lot like you, and because of that I can help you.” The benefit may be for him/her, but you are the right person to help and to steer them in the right direction.

Cornerstone #4. What You Need to do RIGHT NOW

It’s the call to action, baby. The reader is revved up and ready to do whatever you ask. Don’t drop the ball, hold their hand and walk them through to the actual sale. Don’t just drop a link and walk away, tell the reader to “click here.” Tell the reader exactly what they need to do right this minute to go forward with the “sale,” whether that “sale” is to get them to subscribe, volunteer, donate, buy...be specific and painstakingly clear. Lay out the step by step and, if you can, add a little urgency (only 39 left! Offer ends in 24 hours!) your call to action is the most important part, what everything has been leading up to, so guide the reader through until the very end.

Okay, that all makes sense, but do I really need the cornerstones if my stuff is free?

Yep. You betcha. In the old days the word free practically guaranteed that you could offer any old junk and people would take it, like the very word “free” had magical powers.

Fast forward a few years and now you are competing for time and attention rather than money, and people don’t have much of either to give, so if you want to get your information into their hands, just letting it go for free isn’t enough to entice today’s tech-inundated readers. So even if you are offering a free report, webinar, newsletter, estimate, etc. you still gotta sell it. The four cornerstones aren’t about exchanging dollars, they’re about motivating a specific, well-defined behavior. Own them like a pro and you’re well on your way to becoming a powerful copywriter who delivers.