Last updated on February 7th, 2025 at 12:35 am
Copywriting is about more than just the words you put onto a page.
There’s an art and a science behind those words that help influence your readers to take action.
Whether that’s purchasing a product, subscribing to your email list, or getting behind a big, bold new idea, there’s proven copywriting principles you’ll want to learn if you want your copy to convert.
Those principles are the foundational guidelines and best practices that help guide you through the process of writing high-converting copy.
And, when you understand them on a deeper level, you’ll be able to build a compelling, persuasive message every time you have something to offer to your audience.
In this guide, we’re going to break down some of the most effective, proven-to-convert principles you can start using to write copy for your emails, sales letters, ads, and more.
It all starts with one of the most important principles…
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Principle #1: Write for One Person
Even though you’re putting your message in front of a large audience, you’re actually only talking to one person at a time.
There’s only one person on the page at any given time reading that message.
That means you want to make sure it’s as personal and direct as possible — as if you’ve written it just for the person reading it.
Since people want to feel understood and valued, creating the message with one specific person (your one perfect customer) in mind helps make them feel the message was custom-tailored to them.
To accomplish that goal, here’s a few key tips:
- Using Personal Language: Instead of writing things like “All users will benefit from…”, shift your language into “You will benefit from…”.
- Use A Conversational Tone: After you’ve finished writing, read your copy out loud. Does it sound like something you would say in a personal conversation? If not, go back and tweak it.
- Ask Personal Questions: Just like having a conversation with someone, asking questions can make your writing more engaging. Think, “Have you ever felt…?” or “Do you struggle with…?”.
Take a look at the example below to see what it looks like:
You can tell from the example that this copy is written for one single person.
It’s using statements like “you” and “yours” while also flowing exactly like it would if someone were standing in front of you saying the same thing.
Principle #2: Sell Benefits, Not Features
Once you’ve dialed into your one perfect customer and are speaking directly to them, the next principle you want to keep in mind is that you’re never actually selling features — you’re selling benefits.
Since people only care about themselves and not your products, focusing on benefits and what’s in it for them if they move forward is what will get them to take action.
Subconsciously, every person that lands on your page will be thinking: What’s in it for me?
It’s your job to answer that question.
And benefits do a great job answering it.
Now, to use this in your copy, there’s a few steps you want to take:
- Identify Key Features: Start by listing the main features of your product or service.
- Translate Features into Benefits: For each feature, ask yourself, “How does this help the user? What problem does it solve or advantage does it offer?”
- Lead with Benefits: When crafting your copy, prioritize benefits over features. If you mention features, always tie them back to the relevant benefit & why that feature should matter to them.
Take a look at the example below to see what it looks like:
While becoming a Certified Funnel Builder may be a feature that entices people to take action, seeing the benefits of becoming a Certified Funnel Builder is what seals the deal.
Learning how to decrease ad costs, improve conversion rates, and fulfill their calling by serving more people are the benefits that people reading this message want to receive.
To help you understand this principle even more, let’s turn an example for a fitness tracker from features into benefits that matter:
- Before: “Our fitness tracker comes with a 24-hour heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, and a 10-day battery life.”
- After: “Monitor your health around the clock, enjoy peace of mind knowing your heart’s well-being, achieve better sleep with personalized insights, and forget frequent battery changes with a battery that lasts up to 10 full days.”
You can see the before focuses on the features while the after speaks to the benefits of those features.
In your own copy, you want to make sure you’re placing as much emphasis as possible on the benefits so your readers understand what’s in it for them and why they should care about the features they get.
Principle #3: Social Proof
After you’ve focused your message on one perfect customer and translated the features of your offer into benefits, the next principle revolves around social proof.
With copy, one of the best ways to get people to trust what you’re saying is to provide proof that other people like them (or people they look up to) trust you, too.
Since, if someone else has bought it and benefited from it, that means it must be good, right?
Social proof helps capitalize on our inherent need to belong or to not miss out on what other people like us may be experiencing.
In terms of writing copy, social proof can be anything from testimonials or press endorsements to user numbers, reviews, badges, case studies, you name it.
Any element you can add to your page that provides proof other people are benefiting from your offer can be a great way to get people off the fence and into taking action.
Take a look at this example:
You can see in the example above that testimonials are sprinkled throughout the message.
They aren’t just randomly tossed in, though.
Each of the testimonials is based around the section of copy that they follow.
For instance, the copy in the first section talks about how to make more money, and the testimonial speaks directly to going from food stamps to becoming the CEO of a multi 6-figure company.
The second section talks about decision making while the testimonial speaks to the growth that she experienced after making those decisions.
But here’s the deal: presenting social proof is not just about throwing in a quote or two.
It’s about strategically integrating this principle into your online assets, especially landing and sales pages, in a way that feels genuine and helps move the sales conversation forward.
When it comes to making sure your social proof is being used in the most effective way possible, especially if you’re not sure where to put it right now, one of the best tools you have at your disposal is ClickFunnels templates.
Take a look at the example below:
These templates are professionally designed with conversions in mind and are focused on helping you inject the right principles at the right time — even if you’re not a designer or programmer.
You’re able to click, drag, copy, and paste your social proof directly into the template so you can quickly deploy landing pages and sales pages without second-guessing whether or not you’re doing it right.
They’re also designed with aesthetics in mind so you’re able to establish trust and drive action with a sleek, user-friendly experience — for both you and your audience.
With dozens of templates available, it’s easy to find one that matches your goals and can be fully customized to match your branding, too.
If you’re struggling to build and design pages or you want to make sure the right elements & principles are included in the right places, click here to give ClickFunnels a try.
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Principle #4: Urgency
The next principle is designed to get people to take action right now.
Urgency helps simplify the decision-making process so people avoid overthinking and move forward.
Whether that’s due to having a limited time to purchase, a discount only being offered for a short time, or the offer only being available in limited quantities, using urgency in the right way is powerful.
The key here, though, is making sure you’re using it in the right way.
Using words like “now”, “today”, “hurry”, “last chance”, or “ending soon” are quick ways to start implementing urgency into your copy.
Ultimately, though, you want to make sure that whatever urgency you’re using is legitimate or your audience will see through it and feel manipulated — instead of taking action now.
To see what legitimate urgency looks like, check out these examples:
In the example above, you can see that the Limited Offer is the first thing visitors will read.
To make this even more effective, an explanation around WHY it’s a limited offer would be something to split test against this version of the page.
Explaining to people why the offer is limited helps add legitimacy and credibility to the statement.
To see what that looks like, check out this example:
With this email, you can see exactly WHY people need to act right now.
The doors will be closing on the deal in 2 short hours and the product won’t be made again until 2024.
If people reading this message were on the fence about whether or not they should purchase, having such a short window to buy and knowing they won’t be able to buy again until next year is a great way to get them off the fence and into taking action.
It provides an explanation for why they need to act now rather than just saying “Limited Time”.
Here’s another example that provides a great explanation:
In this email from Russell, readers know that the limited time offer expires at midnight.
They also get reminded that it means they only have a few hours left to purchase and that this message will be their last chance to get in before the offer disappears.
It ties it all together by saying an offer like this has never been made before and will probably never get made again.
Those are incredibly powerful statements – especially because they’re true.
Now, take a look at the example below to see more subtle urgency being used:
In this example, users are reminded with a countdown timer that the offer will be expiring.
Watching the timer tick down helps trigger their fear of missing out which can be incredibly powerful for getting people to take action now.
Like the next principle we’ll discuss, though, the key to making urgency work is making sure it’s legitimate so your people don’t feel manipulated & lose trust in you.
Principle #5: Scarcity
Along with urgency, properly using scarcity in your message helps get people off the fence and into taking action.
The key here, though, is using it properly.
Used in the wrong way, scarcity can (and will) backfire and have your audience feeling manipulated and pulling away from your offer instead of leaning into it and moving forward.
But when people perceive an item as more scarce, they tend to place more value in it.
This perception of limited availability helps trigger a fear of missing out (FOMO), making the product or service more desirable in their eyes.
In your copywriting, two of the most common strategies you can use to build scarcity in your offer is limited quantities or limited time.
Check out how this example uses limited quantities to get people to take action:
Now, if your offer isn’t truly limited to 12 people, like the one in the example above, don’t use scarcity in that way. It will backfire on you and cause your audience to lose trust.
Instead, you’ll want to get creative to show how the offer may be limited in some way — or actually make it limited so you can be honest when you use scarcity.
This is an incredibly powerful principle when used in the right way.
Another example of scarcity is making your offer available with exclusive access, like this:
To help get your creative wheels spinning and make sure using scarcity doesn’t hurt your conversions, here’s an example of a message before and after using this principle:
- Before: “Tickets for our annual tech conference are now on sale.”
- After: “Hurry! Early bird tickets for our tech conference are running out. Don’t miss your chance for discounted access.”
As long as what you’re saying is legitimate, using scarcity in your message will help increase your conversion rates and is one of the best copywriting principles you can use.
Final Thoughts
Copywriting is part art, part science, but with the proven-to-convert principles in this guide, you’ll be able to influence more of your readers to take action.
Whether that’s subscribing to your email list, downloading an asset, purchasing a product, or getting behind a big, bold new idea, make sure each of these principles is baked into every piece of copy that you write.
And if you want to make building and designing the pages you place that copy on even easier, click here to grab your free ClickFunnels trial now.