As an affiliate, you need to convince people to convert, but you can’t do that without killer copy! In our next article, we’ll introduce you to some of our top copywriting tips for 2021.
Creating engaging copy is crucial for any serious marketer. The words you use can make or break your campaigns at nearly every level. Whether it’s ensuring that people find your pages in the first place, or that, after seeing one of your ads, people are interested enough to click, copy will be one of the main reasons for your success or failure. That’s why we want to help you to discover what constitutes great copy, so that you can create it for your campaigns.
Here are the cornerstones of creating copy that converts!
Emotional Appeal
When you think about emotions, you most likely jump to the more black and white ones first. Happiness, sadness, excitement, boredom etc. However, there are a lot of other emotions that you can evoke in your marketing, and it’s worth testing them out.
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it certainly won’t do your campaigns any harm, especially at the top of your funnel. The aim of the game when it comes to making people curious is to give them some information, but not everything. The easiest way to do this is by asking questions and then answering them in your next step.
Here are a few examples:
- Why are people going crazy for the GU24?
- What makes the GU24 the best gadget of 2021?
- Think you know what the GU24 is capable of?
Another way to make people curious about your products is to use clickbait headlines. However, you should deliver on the information that you hint at. For example:
- You won’t believe what the GU24 can really do!
- Man makes incredible discovery after buying a GU24.
- 12 things you never know your GU24 could do.
If you use leading clickbait headlines like these, they get people interested and they open you up to being able to highlight all of the features of your product. Just be sure that if you offer 12 features, you deliver 12 features.
Here is a list of other emotions that you can try to use. However, always follow the advertising policies of the platforms you use.
Admiration
Adoration
Aesthetic Appreciation
Amusement
Anger
Anxiety
Awe
Awkwardness
Boredom
Calmness
Confusion
Craving
Disgust
Empathetic pain
Entrancement
Excitement
Fear
Horror
Interest
Joy
Nostalgia
Relief
Romance
Sadness
Satisfaction
Sexual desire
Surprise
Mainstream platforms like Facebook, Twitter etc. have advertising policies that will make it difficult to target certain emotions. Sexual desire, anger, horror, fear or disgust can not be targeted by showing shocking words and images that don’t adhere to guidelines, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be targeted. It just means that you have to think outside of the box.
Take fear/horror for example. You can’t show violent or gory images, but that doesn’t mean you can’t scare people a little. There are tons of phobias out there, and you can play them to your strengths. One of the most famous examples of this came from the iPhone 11 Pro. When it was first released, people claimed that it was upsetting. Why? Because the triple camera lens triggered their trypophobia (an aversion to the sight of irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps.)
Now, it’s probably not a good idea to scare your customers without reason. However, if you have a product that provides a solution to something people fear, then try using it to your advantage.
Here are some of the most common fears:
Acrophobia - fear of heights
Aerophobia - fear of flying
Arachnophobia - fear of spiders
Astraphobia - fear of thunder and lightning
Autophobia - fear of being alone
Claustrophobia - fear of confined or crowded spaces
Hemophobia - fear of blood
Hydrophobia - fear of water
Ophidiophobia - fear of snakes
Zoophobia - fear of animals
Of course, there’s also FOMO or the Fear of Missing Out. This isn’t strictly a fear, but people hate missing a good deal, so if you can mix a sense of urgency into your copy, then that can really help. Which brings us onto the next topic.
Call to Action!
If you want people to do something, then tell them. Sometimes it really is as simple as that. The trouble for a lot of marketers is that they overthink things, and then the simplicity of what needs to be done gets lost.
One way to ensure that people know what to do is to have a friend test your flow out. If at any point they aren’t certain which action to take, then the chances are others won’t either.
When it comes to writing great copy, you need to keep it simple. If you don’t, people can get easily distracted and lost. Therefore, after getting people interested/curious, give them the solid details of your product and tell them how they can get it.
Honestly, you can never be too simple and it’s best to oversimplify a flow than to make it too complicated.
Try to avoid vague calls to action like Click Here. Remember, you know why you want people to click on a button, but your visitors might not. Therefore, make sure that your calls to action are specific. E.g. GET YOUR FREE QUOTE, BUY NOW, SIGN UP etc.
Calls to action need to stand out, however, their main purpose is to make it easy for people to know what to do. They aren’t designed to shout at the customer in order to force them into an aggressive sell, so bear that in mind when writing and designing them.
When it comes to leading someone to wanting to click on a button, you should do that by creating in them a sense of desire. This is perhaps the trickiest part, but with a little bit of research and some testing, you can generate some great results.
Persuasive Techniques
2020, and most probably 2021, has seen a shift in the way most of us live our lives. Now, instead of face-to-face interactions, we are largely limited to screen time. One of the results of this is that the internet is fast becoming a more personable space.
Let’s face it, we can’t spend all day communicating online only to be met with online personalities faking it. That might have worked while we were glancing at our phones in the office and could turn to friends and colleagues if we wanted a real chat. Now, we rely on technology to provide that connection, and as a result, we need there to be some level of sincerity.
As marketers, sincerity probably doesn’t come naturally, but one glance at YouTube and you can see that it pays off. As more and more people are looking to YouTubers as their primary sources of entertainment and social companionship, it’s worth taking a look at the channels you watch to see what they are doing and why it works.
If your video watchlist is filled with sensational or aspirational videos of fast cars and jet set lifestyles, then it’s easy to see how or why that works, but it’s very difficult to imitate. However, if you have channels that use a simple set up, without all the glitz and glamour, yet they are still pulling in decent numbers, then those are the ones to look out for.
Quite often, personality can shine and win people over far more than money. This is because people are drawn to personalities they can trust. Owning imperfections is often far more endearing than covering them up and if you can give some grounds of modesty in your ad copy, then people will be far more likely to trust you. But what does this look like in marketing?
You can use imperfections in a number of ways, but the primary tactic is to play them towards empathy. This tactic is probably most obvious in blogging.
You’ve probably seen blogs about people’s triumph over adversity and how they lost weight, learned to manage their budgets more effectively or quit smoking. From the outset, they set out a level playing field between themselves and their potential customers. As a result, they are able to speak directly to their visitors, without having to use any hard-selling tactics.
To do this, all you have to do is present people with a problem and then lead them into the solution. You can do this any number of ways, but one of the most effective is to look for the problems that your product solves, and then use that problem to your advantage.
Real-life examples are brilliant, but if you don’t have one, then try the product or service out for yourself first. It will give you first-hand experience when it comes to creating your copy and you may discover new angles that you hadn’t previously thought of.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to writing for any marketing campaign, it’s important to look at what you write from the customers’ perspective. Keep it simple, create curiosity, and ensure that people understand the problems they face and that your product offers a solution. If you can do all this and remain sincere, then you’ll be well on your way to creating great copy that converts.