One of the most important aspects of creating your site is how you showcase your products or services to your clients. This can make or break a business and most of the times you can see a huge increase in sales only by slightly changing the wording.
Here are 9 common copywriting mistakes that could make your sales plummet. Don’t worry though, once you know what this is about there’s an easy fix for them. Let’s get started:
1. Assuming that the copy’s sole purpose is to make your product and website look “upscale” and nice.
This is one of the biggest mistakes most startups make. Thinking that you just have to launch a nice looking product with a slick website and people will come to buy it.
The role of your copy is to make your customers take action, not to make your product or service look good.
As a business owner, you need to find out what’s the most important action that you want your readers to take. You want them to buy your product, to click on a link or subscribe to your newsletter? Consider 1 or 2 actions that you want your target audience to take and that is what your focus should be on when writing your message.
2. Confusing the features with benefits is another common mistake that might kill your sales.
The problem with trying to sell the features of your product is that the customer must do the extra work to figure out the benefits. And if they fail to realize what’s in it for them, they will not be motivated to make the purchase.
It’s in your best interest to make your readers’ life easier and tell them upfront why they can’t live without your product. Think about the results they get from using your awesome product.
Remember this simple rule: the features describe your product and the benefits are the results. Always focus on the results!
3. Writing copy that doesn’t “connect” with your clients.
If you are not in tune with your customers’ problems or needs, they might turn to another source. They need to feel that you understand them, that you know what they’re dealing with before selling them something. Like you’re able to read their minds.
Sounds impossible, right? Not that preposterous as you might think if you do your research. There are several resources at your disposal to help you find out your customers’ fears and frustrations:
- comments on YouTube videos on a related topic;
- clients’ e-mails or surveys;
- blogs and forums in your industry;
- your customer support tickets and many more.
These are great ways to find out what’s in your customer’s mind. You could even go to Amazon and search for books on the subject. Reading people’s complaints is a great way to improve your own copy and why not, your product or service.
4. Trying to make your customers change their deep-rooted beliefs.
Even if you convince them, they don’t have to like you. It’s like telling a kid the truth about Santa: they will believe you, but you will stop being their favorite uncle for a while.
As a rule of thumb, never debate with your customers, instead try pointing out things they know and understand.
5. Be careful not to over-promise with your copy.
Even if it’s real, and you have every intention to deliver what you promise if it’s hard to believe people might walk away. The best thing that you can do is to start with concepts they understand and gradually reel them into your novel ideas.
6. Another mistake you need to avoid is telling people what they need instead of giving them what they want.
The way this should go is: find out what your audience wants and then give them a product or service that embeds what they actually need.
For example, if you tell people that they need to have a healthy diet and exercise 5 times per week to lose weight, they might ignore you. But if you give them “the best method for losing 5 pounds in a week”, you’ll catch their attention. Even if this method is, in fact, a healthy diet and exercising 5 times per week.
7. Failing to use a personal, conversational tone with your readers.
Stay away from jargon and big words that they might not understand nor can relate to. A passive, academic tone will make you look smart but will chase away your customers to a friendlier competitor. Be conversational and talk to them like you would chat offline.
8. Not placing your audience in the state of mind that they already made the decision to buy your product.
I often see copy like this: “if you get started with our product you will get …”. To increase your conversion rates, you should imply a subtle mutual understanding that they already made the purchase. Everything that’s left for them to do is enjoy all the benefits of using your awesome product.
9. The wrong use of “cute” copy that should express creativity and cleverness but instead ends up confusing your audience.
So instead of “cuteness”, you should have clear and concise copy that gives your costumers exactly what they want. This will match their expectations and motivate them to buy your product.
These are just 9 of the most common copywriting mistakes that companies make when advertising a new service or product. Try to avoid them and make the changes that I suggested and you will be well on your way on the road to success.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: 9 Copywriting Mistakes That Might Kill Your Sales
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