Effective Copywriting

Cheatsheet
www.carminemastropierro.com

Product copywriting techniques

Benefits over features
What's really in it for your customers? Think about it. You're never just buying a product,
you're buying ​emotions​.

It doesn't matter what it is. A cool car makes you feel special and rich. Designer clothing
gives you confidence. Acne cream gives people a boost in self esteem.

These are the benefits of a product. Think of emotions and experience. Features are
just factual pieces of information.

Read my article on features versus benefits​ to unlock the full potential of this
copywriting technique.

Include your target keywords

E-commerce and SEO go hand in hand. Imagine being able to kick back while traffic
organically flows to your product pages. That's possible by targeting the right keywords.

Since you're selling products, you'll want to focus on keywords with buying intent. They
are also called ​transaction​ keywords. Think phrases with "buy", "best", or "most
affordable" for example.

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To get ideas, open up​ Ubersuggest​. Type in a keyword related to the product
description you're writing.

Tell a story about the product

It's no secret that the​ purchasing process is mostly emotional​. You might need a product
for a logical reason, but we buy many things based on our emotions. This is why
storytelling is so powerful.

Customers will become more engaged and emotionally involved in the product you sell.

Use power words

Free. Special. Rare. What do all of these have in common? They are​ power words​.

Remember that every single word has a feeling associated with it. By using very specific
words, you elicit precise emotions in your customers. Placing them ever so carefully in
your descriptions can ramp up your conversions because of this.

Make descriptions easy to scan

The reality is that no one reads every single word on a page or looks at every little
detail. The actual percentage is​ about 16%​.

Think about the last time you were on a blog or shopping online.

Your eyes just scan through to find the important stuff. Since that's the case, save your
customers some time and make it easy for them.

Universal copywriting strategies

Features versus benefits

It’s all too common to visit a product page and see boring and vague descriptions.

What’s the number one mistake companies make? Only listing the features of a
product, and leaving out the benefits.

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Features are the factual points about a product​ like size, color, and materials. These
have to be mentioned, but it’s not what customers care about.

What they actually want to hear is how the product will benefit them.

The benefits depend on the exact product or service that’s being offered. In general, the
benefit might be that a product will make you healthier, wealthier, or happier.

Let’s use HubSpot as an example. Here’s the ​sales page​ for their marketing package:

The title, which sums up the product, is “All-in-One Inbound Marketing Software.”

This is then followed by the benefits of their marketing plan stating “Everything you need
to launch effective marketing campaigns that make people interested in your business
and happy to be your customer.”

Storytelling
Humans love stories.

It’s how we communicated back when we were cavemen, and not much has changed
since.

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Stories resonate with us on a deep level because they are emotional. This is especially
the case when we directly relate to the story and the demographic of the individual
telling the tale.

This is one of the reasons that ​testimonials and reviews help conversion rates​ so much.
Customers get to see another person just like them explain their struggles, which
they’re facing too, and how a product solved it.

Agitate pain points

Behind every product is a solution to a problem. That problem is usually emotionally
based, which you can take advantage of as a copywriter.

This is achievable by mentioning the pain points consumers are experiencing to make
them seek the product in the first place.

If you ask yourself “What problem does this product solve for the customer?” you are
already 90% there. However, this takes you knowing your buyers persona like the back
of your hand.

I recommend reading reviews of competitors and analyzing your own to get into the
customer’s head. Business reviews are goldmines for copywriters.

Ask a question about the customer’s experience

Joseph Sugarman, one of the ​world’s greatest copywriters​, once said that you want the
customer to be saying “Yes” as much as possible because it will make them more likely
to say “Yes” to the sale later.

This is why it can be effective to ask relevant questions throughout content and sales
copy. Since the reader can relate to the questions being asked, it also keeps their
attention on the page for longer.

Write like you speak

While it might be tempting to use technical jargon and a fancy vocabulary, it’s actually
best if you don’t.

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Think about it.

A small group of individuals will understand advanced terminology and words, leaving
out a huge crowd of readers that don’t.

However, if you use a casual and simple vocab, suddenly reach everyone. Sales copy
is also supposed to flow easily, which large and complex words prevent by slowing
down the reading process.

Create a sense of urgency

Let’s imagine two scenarios.

In the first, there is an abundance of product inventory, sales, and special offers for
customers to take advantage of.

In the second, these same items are only available for a limited time.

What does this create? Urgency.

Customers feel like must take action right now or they’ll miss out.

This is what psychologists call ​fear of missing out​ or FOMO for short.

Copywriters can take advantage of this primitive behavior by creating offers, discounts,
and promotions which have a limited time span.

Furthermore, you can use power phrases like:

● Buy now before it’s too late

● Limited inventory
● While supply lasts
● Selling quickly
● Reduced price
● On clearance
● Last call
● Ends soon

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Calls to action
A call to action is one of the simplest yet most effective copywriting strategies on earth.

It’s literally what it sounds like: a call to take a particular action.

And no, consumers aren’t so lazy that you have to point them in the right direction.
You’re simply helping them think less.

The fewer questions, comments, and concerns they have, the faster they get to the
sale.

A call to action is a phrase which tells the customer exactly what to do next. ​I wrote an
entire article on them​ that you should read for understanding this technique in-depth.

However, here are some calls to action you can try for yourself:

● Buy now
● Shop now
● Add to cart
● Don’t wait
● Order today
● Call now
● Call this number
● Enter your email
● Click here
● Get yours today
● Claim coupon
● Claim discount
● Save money
● View catalog

Use an anchor or concept

An advanced copywriting tactic you see pros like ​David Ogilvy​ and ​Joseph Sugarman
use in their famous advertisements is anchoring or using a concept.

This is where you take a product and connect it to a character, event, or outside idea.

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I always like to use ​David Ogilvy’s ad for Hathaway’s shirts​ as an example. It’s
universally recognized as one of the best ads ever produced.

You wonder who the man with the eyepatch is and how he relates to the product
instantly upon seeing the ad.

The best part is you never figure it out. He’s a mystery. It makes you think and read the
rest of the copy.

Adding a concept to your copywriting as Ogilvy did will capture more attention and
instantly make your promotion stand out from the crowd.

This strategy requires you to sharpen your creative skills and crumple a few pieces of
paper churning out ideas. But it’s well worth the final result.

Pain + agitate + solve formula

A tried and true copywriting formula that works for everything from blog posts to ​sales
letters​ is acknowledging a pain point, agitating it, and presenting the solution.

That solution can be your content, a digital product, service, or anything you want.

Let’s imagine we’re selling web design services and we want to use this formula on a
landing page.

We could begin by bringing up the pain point of not having a website or knowing how to
build one. That would suck, right?

Well, we wouldn’t stop there. We’d agitate this by explaining the customer is potentially
losing business and opportunities by not having a site.

The cherry on top would be positioning our web design services as the solution to their
problem.

See how simple that is?

This formula can be completed within a few sentences or spanned across thousands of
words in a sales letter. It’s up to you to use it accordingly.

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Scarcity creates fear of missing out
Limited inventory. Offers only lasting a certain time. The product being discontinued.

What do all of these have in common?

Scarcity.

Nobody wants to miss out on a good deal.

Similar to urgency, creating scarcity with your copywriting forces customers to make a
decision now.

If they wait, they will miss out on a great deal and who wants to do that?

You can create a sense of scarcity by emphasizing the window of time someone needs
to take action to complete an offer. Look at this landing page for a weight loss product to
see what I mean.

Take advantage of power words

Every word has an emotion and image attached to it.

If I say the word “zen,” what comes to mind?

How about the word “seductive?”

Most likely you thought of a monk for the first and an attractive woman for the second.

Those are universal symbols for these words. Hence why one of the top copywriting
strategies is to use power words.

These are single words and phrases that pack a bigger punch than Mike Tyson in his
prime.

I recommend that you use power words the most in headlines as that’s where attention
matters the most.

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Make sure to read my guide to ​headline copywriting​ to craft epic titles that attract
non-stop clicks.

However, power words can be sprinkled in throughout copy and content to keep people
at the edge of their seats.

Focus on a logical order of points

If you began every article with a conclusion, people would think you’re crazy, right?

That’s exactly why creating a logical order for content and copy is essential.

It is simply the practice of ordering the points you make in a piece of copy in the order a
reader would think of them.

Take the two following examples into consideration:

First copy example:

1. Introduction
2. Product features and benefits
3. Pricing
4. Testimonials
5. Call to action
6. Conclusion

Second copy example:

1. Introduction
2. Pricing
3. Call to action
4. Product features and benefits
5. Testimonials
6. Conclusion

Which one makes more sense? The first one, of course!

This is because customers will want to learn about the product first and if it’s for them
before pricing or seeing testimonials.

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Strategizing the order in which you make points will help readers get through the copy
more easily.

Read my previous post on ​article formatting​ to learn more about this idea.

Use statistics to back up points

You can’t make up numbers and stats when selling a product unless you want the FTC
knocking at your door.

But hey, maybe that’s your thing.

For every other writer, you will want to make sure that you cite interesting and accurate
data.

Charts, graphs, and studies also make content much more exciting.

I love using Google Scholar myself​. You can use it by simply typing in a keyword related
to any topic and sifting through to find relevant info.

Here’s an example of a book related to digital marketing that I could cite and pull
examples from:

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This copywriting strategy is also important after ​Google’s recent E-A-T algorithm
update​.

E-A-T stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.

Sourcing blog posts from big publications are great, but Google is now more interested
in seeing you link to academic resources especially in YMYL(Your money or your life)
industries.

Images are salespeople

No copy is complete without accompanying images.

As Claude Hopkins would put it, images are salespeople themselves.

This is because images create the opportunity to bring out more emotion in customers
and paint a picture in their mind.

Let’s imagine that you’re selling a product or service related to human resources.

What’s one of the main goals of an HR department?

To make people work together better.

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In this case, it would make sense to do one of two things:

1. Show an image of a disorganized team to strike the emotions of customers

because that’s the problem they’re trying to fix.
2. Use an image of a happy and productive team because that’s the end result they
want.

Both are great ideas. And as with most things, split testing can be used to determine
which helps conversion better.

Headline copywriting
Use a sense of urgency
A ​psychological study in 2012​ found that urgency made individuals act quickly while
thinking less at the same time. A.K.A, the perfect article headline strategy!

The key is to be conscientious of your target audience, though. Some times urgency
backfires and will actually produce less favorable results.

Imagine you were selling home alarm systems, and these were two headlines you were
considering:

● “Buy Now Before Your House Gets Robbed or Broken In To”

● “Buy Now to Keep Your Children Safe and to Have Peace of Mind”

Which headline do you think would be better? I would argue the second one. Urgency is
good, but too much urgency can have the opposite effect.

Scarcity
It can also be used along with the sense of scarcity. This is a simple trick to make
customers act faster in fear that they will miss out. Here are some examples:

● “Only 8 Tickets Remaining, Gets Yours Before They’re Gone!”

● “50% Sale Ends in 24 Hours”

Check out this weekly ad from Amazon.

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They offer a discount code and a date that it expires by. This is a classic e-commerce
approach to using scarcity.

This is easy to implement, and of course, it has to be truthful. Don’t lie that a sale or
time sensitive deal is occurring if it isn’t.

Look at companies like Adidas. They intentionally limit certain footwear or products,
because it naturally creates scarcity. There isn’t enough to go around, so demand
shoots higher than the moon.

Do you manufacture your own products? ​Consider releasing a limited edition product​ or
line of items to test this for yourself. Add some urgency into your headline, and you
have the ​golden ticket to more sales​.

Avoiding mistakes or unpleasant situations

No one wants to keep running into the same problem.

David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at the Bayor College of Medicine has spoken about
and researched this extensively.

He’s stated that ​negative situations​ cause us to take action more quickly. How can you
use this in a headline? By stating the reader’s problem, like this:

● “Still in Student Debt? Learn How to Pay it Off in One Week”

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 ● “5 Ways You’re Ruining Your On-Page SEO Without Realizing It”
● “Stop Making These Content Marketing Mistakes Today”

Use exact numbers or stats

Tell me what sounds better:

● “Learn How to Start an Online Business”

● “Learn How to Start an Online Shoe Business in 24 Hours That Can Generate
$247/Day”

The second copywriting title is much more effective. It uses numbers to ​make it more
descriptive​ and believable. This also aids in the reader understanding exactly what they
are getting into, while the first headline is vague and could mean anything.

Internet marketing guru Neil Patel shows how to pull this off effortlessly. And no, I don’t
mean that shirt.

Use a concept or anchor

A copywriting anchor or concept is when you attach the main topic to an external force,
such as:

● “How The Germans Took Over SEO”

● “Get Your Girlfriend Back With These 3 Texts”

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In these examples, the main topics are SEO and getting your girlfriend back. But to
make it more exciting, you add an anchor(3 steps) or a concept(The Germans).

For the first headline, the article might detail how German marketers found secrets to
Google’s algorithm​ and it exposes their strategies.

The second one would give the reader three templates for text messages they can send
to their ex.

I love this example of concept copywriting from the watchmaker Omega.

This watch model, the Speedmaster Moonwatch, was worn by astronauts that went into

😉
orbit. Thus, the “First Omega in Space” is very literal and makes an excellent concept
headline. I would’ve done something like “One Step for Man, One Step for Omega”

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Attention grabbing headline copywriting formulas
I’m going to include a swipe file at the end of this article, but these are some formulas
you can use to put together your own headlines.

They are fill-in-the-blank style, so include your own topic, product, or ideas.

1. Never Before Seen Insights into ___

2. 10 Secret Tricks to ___
3. Are You Making (This Mistake) That’s Leading to ___
4. What ___ Doesn’t What You to Know
5. Things We Learned From ___
6. Myths You Probably Still Believe About ___
7. Read What This Expert Has to Say About ___
8. How I Increased My (Metric) by ___
9. Do You Know These ___ Strategies?
10. Stop Doing ___ to Improve (Metric)

Let’s also look at some literal formulas — copywriting equations you can flesh out for
yourself.

Pain + agitate + solve

A classic copywriting formula​. I use this constantly and it’s never failed to deliver great
results.

While it truly shines when used for social media or articles, it’s a killer headline writing
strategy, too.

The idea is that you take the paint point of a customer, agitate it, and then solve it. Here
are some examples:

● “How Your Fear of Success is Delaying Your Dreams and What to Do About It”
● “Can’t Think of Article Ideas? Say Goodbye to Writers Block With These 5 Tips”

Before + after + how

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This formula involves stating the current situation of the reader, what it could be like
when improved, and how to get there.

It’s effective because it instantly tells the audience what to except from diving into the
rest of the copy.

Kevan Lee’s social media post shows how you can use this formula in the real world.

As a marketer, I understand that social media images do take a fair amount of time to
create.

I don’t know about you, but when he says we can cut the design process from 1 hour
into 15 minutes, I’m sold. It tells me exactly what I’ll learn from clicking his link, and
speaks to my existing experience.

Get copywriting services that 

generate traffic, leads, and revenue! 

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