So, you want to write sales copy that converts? Good on you – that’s a step in the right direction. But wait! Isn’t that what EVERYONE is trying to do?! Unfortunately, yes – they’re all at it. So how can you stand out in an internet of businesses who are all trying to convert more people than the Catholic Church during the Crusades? One way is to A/B test your sales copy before you present the proverbial holy water.
Improve Conversions With Sales Copy
Sales copy is your holy grail (yep, we’re sticking with that religious metaphor). It’s the one thing that you want to focus on more than anything else – yet ironically, many people choose to slap it on at the end of the website design process, believing that because their website is dressed up in pretty colours and sleek fonts, the actual words don’t matter much. These people are wrong and you should throw rocks at them. Joking, of course! (About the rocks – we’re deadly serious about them being wrong.)
Let’s be very clear here: simply getting the general gist of your business across isn’t enough. Your sales copy needs to be a finely honed blade. You need to inspire trust, confidence and goodwill with your copy. It’s the only chance you get to present the person behind the business.
But how do I know if my sales copy is converting at all, you may ask? Luckily, you have an edge over the fanaticism of the Holy Knights of Rome here.
No, no, that’s EYE testing – we’re talking about A/B testing!
What Is A/B Testing?
To fully optimise your copy, you need to test it. Sure, you might be one of the lucky ones who gets it exactly right the first time…but you probably won’t be. Testing can help you feel confident in both your copy and the overall image that you’re presenting to those precious potential customers.
A/B testing is a marketing strategy that compares two different elements against each other. So when it comes to sales copy, you may have one set of copy with a lighter, humorous tone and another with a more formal, knowledgeable style. You’d then pit those two against each other and see which one is more successful in converting customers.
That’s exactly why this kind of testing is important: there is a tangible result at the end of it all. It’s not a subjective process! One option WILL work better than the other…and in a land in which every business is trying to convert customers, the optimised site is king.
How to A/B Test Sales Copy
So how do you A/B test your copy? Short answer: ask your friends which they prefer. Long (and correct) answer: put the work in! If it’s short-form copy, whack it up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or launch a campaign on Google, then tally the results. If it’s long-form copy, gather a trusted focus group together (who are representative of your target market), or create a survey that you can send around to a big enough pool of people. As long as the process involves testing two variants of your copy against each other and is targeted to wards the type of people who will be engaging with your business, any testing is better than no testing.
Take The Engine Apart
Conversion is the ultimate goal. Everything should be wired towards achieving it. Think of your copy as an engine – mmm hmm, we’re throwing in a curveball metaphor at the end to keep your attention! – if one part’s broken, the rest won’t run.
Your CTA sounds good but it’s not quite connecting? It could be a problem with your opening paragraph or the lead-in copy. Having trouble crafting perfect headlines? You might be trying to cram too many topics underneath them. The solution? Test, test and test again.
Our philosophy here at PepperStorm is to make sure all the individual pieces are working optimally, creating copy that’s more than the sum of its parts. We make sure to pay attention to each and every word on your site, each and every component of the engine. And just to bring our two metaphors together at the end: We’ll make your site run like the popemobile. (Mic drop, bow, on to the next show…)
