Copywriting is an integral part of the success or failure of every business.

Because, while it’s often overlooked as “just another marketing piece”, copywriting actually consists of every word that goes in front of your audience – Your website, your social media content, your emails, and even your videos (yes, videos are a form of copy).

Each of these are key pieces that help in communicating with and speaking to your ideal clients on a daily basis. No matter what kind of business you have, you cannot develop a growth strategy without also looking at the role your copy and brand messaging will play. 

So, with effective copywriting sitting as a key ingredient in your marketing plan, you must decide if you’ll utilize it as a tool for your sales in your business – or just as a passive, block of filler text that doesn’t make your audience do or feel anything.

I know the choice seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how, if you look closely, many websites fall into the second category.

However, if you’d actually like your copy to be more than just lorem ipsum filler for your beautiful design, read on to learn more about the Queen of all copy – Conversion Copy.

What is ‘Conversion Copy’?

Conversion copy is the specific type of copy that deals with causing action – Nurturing readers, watchers + listeners from where they first meet your content towards your endpoint, usually a sale.

If you’ve had to DIY your copy up until now, or yours isn’t converting like you’d hoped, let’s dive into the key components of compelling conversion copywriting.

3 Steps to Effective Conversion Copywriting:

1. Research, research, research

The first, critical oft-overlooked step is conducting research and discovering your key messages. 

You want to speak to your audience in their language – Using their particular vernacular, phrases and patterns of speech.

The way to do this (and to be effective in your messaging) is by conducting Voice of Customer research. 

This is taking the exact words and phrases from past customers and ideal clients so that you can ensure that you’re really speaking their language. You can look at past surveys you’ve sent out or application forms that people have completed.

This isn’t an area to be skimped, so unless you have sufficient data, you can even consider interviewing past or current clients to ask them key questions about where they were before working with you. 

Some questions you can ask in your VoC are: 

• What led you to working with me? 
• What surprised you the most about our experience together?
• What made you choose me over another service provider? 
• What were you really hoping to achieve? What do you feel like you achieved? 
• What’s the biggest takeaway that you have? 

It’s important to ask questions that are open-ended and give the respondent an opportunity to paint a picture of their journey and experience. 

Remember, you want THEIR language, so don’t lead them into saying anything, even if you would like a little pat on the back for past work.

Once you’ve gathered enough data, copy and paste those answers into a Google Sheet, and notice which key messages crop up. Then, highlight the ones that are the strongest, so while you draft the copy, you can easily go back and pull key messages out. 

2. Familiarize yourself with the Phases of Awareness

Another pillar of effective conversion copywriting is getting to know your audience’s stages of awareness.

The Phases of Awareness break down like this:

1. Unaware
2. Problem Aware (aware of problem but not of solutions)
3. Solution Aware  (knows solutions exist but not specifically)
4. Product Aware (aware of products, including yours, but not ready to buy)
5. Most Aware (when they are ready to buy)

Familiarizing yourself with these phases will help you with taking your reader on a journey and ensuring that your copy resonates with the exact phase they’re in.

Trying to rush customers through the phases e.g. hard-selling a product to someone in the ‘Problem Aware’ phase will just lead to disappointment (and frustration with your brand on their part) – You need to bridge the gap of understanding before trying to sell.

I break down the Phases of Awareness in a lot more detail in Episode 6 of the Freedom Found Podcast, so head over there to learn more.

And a small, final disclaimer: Be careful with how you navigate the Problem Aware phase. Old copywriting practices taught us to really hone down on our readers ‘pain points’ by poking and prodding at them before shifting into their goals and desires.

I encourage business owners and other copywriters to approach this with more care, because while it’s important to speak to your audience’s struggles, you don’t want to leave them distressed. Be mindful to talk about those pains and those struggles in a way that feels good. 

3. Test and implement

Copy is not a one-and-done process: it’s important that you continue to test and optimize as your business continues to grow. Even if you have a piece of content or a sales page that performs well the first time, there are always ways you can continue to optimize and hone your copy further. 

Start noticing where your copy is performing well by paying attention to engagement metrics such as open rates and click-throughs on your emails, shares, saves, and profile visits on Instagram, and where people are landing on your website.

And notice where engagement perhaps isn’t working as well. 

Paying attention to these kinds of metrics means that you can experiment with different hooks, calls to action, subject lines, copy length, emojis…  test different things, and continue to see it as a process of speaking to and subsequently guiding your ideal customer from where they are to that final point of conversion. 

Above all, be patient.

Crafting good copy that connects with the reader takes time, and as long as you’re coming from a place of integrity, providing value, and creating genuine connection with your reader – that is how you create great conversion copy.

If you’ve had enough experimenting with copy yourself and are looking for an expert conversion copywriter to help you hit your next big goals, inquire with the KC Copy Studio.

We specialize in personality-driven and research-backed Emails, Sales Page, and Website Copy for entrepreneurs that are looking to stand out and sell.