Last updated on August 13th, 2024 at 01:46 pm
If you want to grow your business, there’s one skill you can develop that will move the needle more than anything else: sales copywriting.
The art (and science) of being able to not only grab attention but then convert that attention into a sale is one of the most profitable skills you’ll ever learn.
In this guide, we’ll break down 7 of the best sales copywriting secrets that professionals use every day to increase their conversion rates.
By the time you’re done reading, you’ll know exactly how to start converting more of the attention you’re getting into what matters most to your business: revenue and profits.
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#1: Get Them Agreeing With You
Well-structured copy should guide the reader from where they are right now to where it is you believe they should go.
One of the ways you can do this is by getting them to agree with you — either by making statements you know are true or by asking them questions you already know the answer to.
When you do it the right way, you’ll increase their curiosity and interest in what you’re saying to them, but you’ll also start to build trust around them believing you understand the problem they’re facing.
This increases the likelihood they’ll keep moving forward through your copy until you get to ask them if they’re interested in buying.
There’s a technique in sales circles called the “3 Yes” technique.
Essentially, it means that you want to get a “yes” answer at least 3 times before you move forward with asking for the sale.
To do it, you want to either make 3 statements you know they’ll agree with, with the statement you ultimately want them agreeing with as the final statement.
Or you can ask 3 questions that you already know are “yes” answers with the final question being the “yes” answer that you’re actually looking for.
The “3 Yes” Technique in Action
Here’s a very basic strategy for using the “3 Yes” technique in your sales copy.
Start by directly engaging your audience with the first question:
“Are you constantly tired, even after a full night’s sleep?”
If your audience is constantly tired even after they get a full night’s sleep, they’ll say “yes”, even if they don’t say it out loud.
Next, dive deeper into the problem they’re facing.
“Do you often feel overwhelmed by everyday tasks, like there’s too much on your plate and you’re always catching up?”
If they’re feeling that way, they’ll say “yes” again — even if it’s happening subconsciously.
Then, relate and empathize with their situation to show them you understand.
“Have you tried countless productivity hacks, caffeine fixes, and work-life balance strategies only to find yourself back where you started?”
They sigh in relief, thinking, “Yes, I thought it was only me!”
Now, if your offer was based around solving this problem for them, you can move forward with showing them why the productivity hacks, caffeine fixes, and work-life balance strategies failed to work for them — and why your offer is what will actually work.
Then you start to introduce the solution to them.
“What if we told you there’s a solution that doesn’t involve excessive caffeine, expensive life coaches, or radical lifestyle changes?”
Their curiosity piques, they lean in, eager to learn more.
Once you have their interest, you want to introduce proof that what you’re saying to them will actually work for them and their unique situation.
“Our program has helped hundreds of people just like you reclaim their energy and achieve their goals. But don’t just take our word for it, listen to what people just like you have to say about how it helped them, too…”
They start to trust, thinking, “If it worked for them, it could work for me.”
Finally, ask them to take action and take you up on the offer you’ve made them.
“Are you ready to turn your life around? Click here to start your journey towards a more energized, productive you.”
At this point, they’re eager to discover your solution because they’ve already begun saying “yes” to each of the questions and statements you put in front of them.
Remember, though, each step in the process needs to be authentic and truthful, as building long-term customer relationships is key to sustainable business success.
Here’s what it looks like in real-life examples:
The sales page below engages them with the headline and then dives deeper into the problem their audience is facing.
Each of these bullet points is designed to get a “yes” answer and show the audience that the offer is specifically designed for them — and built to solve major problems they’re facing.
Here’s a great example of empathizing and relating to their audience:
The sales page immediately tells them they are not alone and then deepens that connection with a quote from one of their customers, “I used to think I was getting old and there was nothing I could do about it.”
If other people in their audience have said that to themselves, their interest levels will increase and they will continue reading to see what the solution to the problem is.
The sales page goes one step further and twists the knife on the problem while showing why alternative solutions haven’t worked:
It lays out what their audience has tried (and failed to do) in preparation for laying out a solution or call to action that focuses on why all of those things didn’t work for them.
Now it’s time to introduce the solution:
Laying out how doing yoga is the solution to all of those pains and frustrations their audience is experiencing, and how it’s the key to solving the problems without failing (like before) is key to moving the conversation forward.
Finally, social proof is introduced to help build credibility:
The testimonials on the sales page aren’t picked at random, though.
Instead, each testimonial is chosen based on what the customer said and how it relates to each of the points made in the sales letter above.
This keeps the testimonials relevant to what their audience actually wants and helps increase conversions by speaking directly to the pains, problems, and frustrations that were solved by starting to do yoga.
Then, ask them to move forward:
When you’re making the ask, lay out the benefits of what they’ll get by taking you up on the offer, and then tell them how to get started.
Tie each of the benefits back to the “yes” answers you got from them earlier on in the sales letter.
This is a time-proven strategy and flow that will work to get people motivated to move from where they are right now to where you want them to go — taking you up on your offer.
If you want to learn more easy-to-use strategies and frameworks that will instantly improve your conversion rates, check out Copy Quick Start Secrets.
#2: Know Your Perfect Prospect
A major part of effectively using the “3 Yes” technique is understanding your audience better than they understand themselves.
To do this, you want to create an Ideal Customer Persona or ICP.
By understanding your ICP, you can address the pain points they’re currently facing and use the same language they use to describe that problem and how it shows up in their lives.
It also helps you understand how to motivate them to take action on solving those problems.
There’s a simple framework you can use to build your ICP, too.
Ideal Customer Persona Framework
- Demographics: What is the age, gender, location, education level, and income of your ideal customer?
- Psychographics: What are their interests, values, attitudes, and lifestyle?
- Behaviors: How do they interact with your product or similar products? How do they make purchasing decisions? What are their online habits?
- Needs and Pain Points: What problems do they face that your product can solve? What needs or desires do they have that your product can fulfill?
- Motivations: Why would they choose your product over others? What benefits or results are they seeking?
As you’re researching your market and building your ICP, pay close attention to the ONE perfect prospect you know would say “yes” to your offer.
Don’t focus on anyone and everyone that MIGHT buy. Instead, focus on only the people who WILL buy.
This does narrow down your audience but will help you align with more of your perfect customers while also casting a net wide enough to grab other potential customers, as well.
Ideal Customer Persona Example
Let’s define an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) for new moms who might need a baby bathtub.
- Demographics: Female, 20-35 years old, new mother (baby aged 0-2), likely has some college education, and a middle-income level.
- Psychographics: Values safety, convenience, and the well-being of her child, interested in products that can make motherhood easier.
- Behaviors: Likely to research baby products online, active in parenting forums and communities, follows mommy bloggers and influencers for product recommendations.
- Needs and Pain Points: Struggles with making bath time safe and comfortable for the baby, needs a reliable and user-friendly solution.
- Motivations: Wants to provide the best for her baby while ensuring convenience for herself. She is looking for a quality product that promises both safety and ease of use.
Now, let’s put together an email using the new moms’ pain points, motivations, and behaviors.
- Subject: Make Bath Time a Breeze with Our Safe and Convenient Baby Bathtub!
- {Name},
- We understand that as a new mom, you always want to give the best to your little one.
- When it comes to bath time for your baby, you want safety, comfort, and affordability.
- That’s why we’ve designed our Baby Bliss Bathtub with moms like you in mind.
- Our bathtub is made from baby-safe materials, features a non-slip base for added safety, and comes with easy-to-hold handles making it convenient for you to handle during bath times.
- Many new moms in your shoes have told us that our bathtub has made their babies’ bath times much more relaxed and enjoyable.
- It’s easy to use, clean, and most importantly, it keeps your little one safe and secure.
- If you want to make bath time a fun, stress-free experience for you and your baby, click here to learn why more new moms are switching to the Baby Bliss Bathtub!
- Wishing you and your little one many happy bath times,
- [Your Name]
Super-simple, straightforward, and focused 100% on the ideal customer persona we created.
If you want to apply these strategies (and learn even more highly-effective copywriting strategies just like them), check out Copywriting Secrets.
#3: Make it Easy to Read
Writing great sales copy comes down to more than just being able to persuade.
You also need to make sure you can keep people’s attention as they’re reading.
A large part of that does revolve around the words you use to convey the ideas you’re trying to get across, but another part of it is making your copy easy to read.
That’s where proper formatting comes in.
If you look at this guide you can see a great example of proper formatting in action.
If all we did was put up a massive wall of text, your eyes would get tired and your attention span would decrease — making you want to go search for new cat memes and videos.
Since our goal is to keep your attention, we’ve used formatting throughout the guide to break up that large wall of text and make it more digestible.
Formatting options you have at your disposal are elements like:
- Bullet Points
- Paragraphs
- Headings & Subheadings
- Different colors to break up sections
- Images in between paragraphs
- Variations in fonts, sizes, and weights
Here are a few examples of formatting being used to get your creative wheels spinning:
The example below uses a combination of colored areas, different fonts, and icons to break up the wall of text and make it easier to read.
The next example uses similar colors of blocks but breaks up the text by using different colors and sizes for the fonts, as well as large breaks between the lines of text.
The example from Funnel Hacking LIVE 2023 uses bold and underlining to place emphasis on the text that’s most important and guide the reader’s eyes to where they should go next.
The key to using formatting to break up your copy is to keep the message from looking like one big wall of text and make it easy on your reader’s eyes while keeping their attention.
#4: Stack the Value
Another strategy to increase the conversion rates you get from your sales copy is to make the offer so incredibly valuable that it’s hard for people to say no.
Since each offer you make will have a perceived value — or a price that your audience is willing to pay without thinking it’s too expensive — you can stack the offer and benefits to increase that perceived value so when people see the price tag it’s no longer an objection.
Perceived value, in this case, refers to your audience’s perception of the merit and desirability of your offer, especially compared to offers from your competitors.
That means the more valuable you’re able to make the offer, the more likely it is that people in your audience will take you up on it.
To make it more valuable, you want to use a concept called “Value Stacking”.
It’s the art of putting together elements like your main product, your bonuses, your guarantee, after-sales support, exclusive access, etc. so there’s no stone left unturned.
Then, you assign a real-world dollar value to each of those elements (and the microelements inside of each one) to increase the total dollar value your offer is worth.
Once you’ve done that, you can introduce a price that’s FAR lower than what the real-world value of the offer is so it becomes absolutely irresistible to your audience.
To help you get started with Value Stacking, here are a couple great examples:
The example above breaks the offer into 5 core parts: 3 separate elements of the course, live q&a calls, and feedback sessions.
Then, a dollar value is assigned to the first 3 core parts: $5,000, $1,016, and $5,000. This brings the total offer value of Copy Cure to $11,016.
The final 2 elements are truly priceless, as far as getting feedback and support goes, so the value of “priceless” has been assigned.
Finally, the offer price is introduced at $1,299 so the audience is (essentially) getting a 90% discount off the price that the offer is actually valued at.
As a general rule of thumb, you want to make your price around 10% of what the real-world value of the core elements inside the offer are valued at.
Here’s another great example of value stacking:
You can see each of the elements in the offer broken down and assigned their own value.
In this case, the total real-world value of the offer is $4,185, while the actual price of the offer is only $21 — making it an insanely valuable offer for what they’re getting when they buy.
Get Our Top Copywriting Secrets Here!
#5: Use the Right Trigger Words
Trigger words are phrases that are used to evoke a particular response or action from your reader by tapping into common emotions and experiences.
The best places to use trigger words in a sales page include headlines, subheadings, product descriptions, calls to action, and testimonials (if available).
To help you understand great trigger words and when to use them, here’s a chart you can reference as you’re writing:
| Standard Copy | Copy with Trigger Words |
|---|---|
| Order our new book | Discover thrilling adventures with our new book! |
| Subscribe to our newsletter | Get exclusive insights by subscribing to our newsletter! |
| This product is now cheaper | Unleash huge savings on this product now! |
| We have a new range of shoes | Step into style with our fresh footwear collection! |
| Check out our latest sale | Last chance to grab unbeatable deals in our sale! |
| Order our new shoes | Looking for comfortable and stylish footwear? Step into our new shoes! |
| Subscribe to our magazine | Crave the latest fashion trends? Get exclusive access by subscribing to our magazine! |
| Try our software | Ready to boost your productivity? Experience our cutting-edge software! |
| Try our new salad | Want lunch that won’t leave you hungry? Try our satisfying new salad today! |
| Explore our holiday deals | Dreaming of a beach getaway? Dive into our unbeatable holiday deals now! |
Think of trigger words like salt and pepper in a recipe you’re putting together: too few and there’s not enough flavor, but too many, and the recipe doesn’t taste good.
That means you want to use them when they’ll have the biggest impact without completely overdoing it and making your copy too hype-filled or outrageous.
A little goes a long way when it comes to trigger words!
#6: Offer a Guarantee
When you introduce an offer to an audience, it can feel incredibly risky for them to take you up on it.
To help reduce that feeling of risk, you’ll want to introduce some form of a guarantee.
This risk-reversal strategy can be incredibly effective and is a great way to increase your conversion rates.
Your guarantee can be anything from offering them a full 30 days where they can get their money back if they’re not satisfied, to matching your competitor’s price, or even giving them a free trial period to try before they buy.
When you make the guarantee, though, you want to also make sure it’s visible during key sections in your copy — like near your “Add To Cart” button, during the checkout process, and in your “Frequently Asked Questions” section.
There are a few key elements you want to make sure are included, too:
- Relevancy: The guarantee should be relevant to your product or service. For example, a lifetime guarantee is relevant for a high-quality product designed to last, like jewelry or furniture.
- Simplicity: Your guarantee should be easy to take advantage of. Tell people how they can act on it if they need to use it.
- Time Frame: A specific time frame adds credibility to your guarantee. Whether it’s 30 days, 60 days, or a lifetime, make sure it’s stated clearly.
Here’s a great guarantee from PrettyLitter:
You can see PrettyLitter offers a full 30-day risk-free guarantee so if, for any reason, customers aren’t completely satisfied, all they have to do is return the litter box for a full refund.
The example below offers a similar guarantee and gives customers 15 days to decide whether or not the offer is right for them while also making it clear they can refund the offer themselves with a single click — no emails, phone calls, or hassle.
To help get your wheels spinning, here are a few more examples:
- Online Artisanal Coffee Shop: “Savor our flavors without the risk! If our coffee doesn’t awaken your senses, we’ll replace it with another blend of your choice, free of charge.”
- Digital Marketing Course Provider: “See the results or get your money back! If you don’t notice a 20% increase in your website traffic after implementing our strategies, we’ll refund your course fee in full.”
- Online Plant Nursery: “Our green guarantee to you: If your plant doesn’t thrive within the first 30 days, we’ll send you a new one, on us.”
When you’re building your guarantee, think about what your customers may worry about and then reverse that risk so it becomes easier to say “yes” to the offer you’re making.
#7: Use a Before & After Bridge
The “Before and After Bridge” is a persuasive writing technique often used in sales copy.
The goal of this technique is to paint a clear picture for potential customers of their current situation (the “before”), and then to imagine a better future (the “after”) that your product or service can provide.
The “bridge” is your product or service, which facilitates the transition from “before” to “after” and makes the promise of the transition very clear.
To help you understand the before & after bridge, here are a few examples:
This example helps people visualize what would be possible within a few short months by comparing where they’re at now to the body they want to achieve.
It’s placing a heavy emphasis on the benefits of the offer rather than the features.
Below is how the copy continues after the introduction.
You can see the comparison between what’s going on now (and not working) versus what the audience wants to achieve — and can achieve by accepting the offer.
Here’s another great example:
The Challenge Secrets Masterclass makes a direct comparison between what their audience is feeling right now, before going through the masterclass, and what life will feel like after — once they’ve taken the masterclass.
The before focuses on the pain points and frustrations their audience is feeling.
The after focuses on the benefits they’ll get by taking the masterclass and what they’ll achieve by going through it.
Final Thoughts
When you follow the strategies we’ve broken down in this guide, writing high-converting sales copy becomes significantly easier to do.
If you want to save even more time while you’re writing copy, check out Funnel Scripts.
With it, you can implement each of the strategies we’ve included and produce extremely effective copy in far less time than it takes to become a master copywriter yourself.