The MOST IMPORTANT element of persuasive copy is your headline. Because without a compelling headline, the rest of your copy are useless... and no matter how good your offer is, your readers will never find out.
“On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest...” –
But bear in mind, your headline’s job is NOT to sell.
Instead, it is to grab your reader’s attention and make him/her read the very next line. So how do you craft an attention-grabbing headline?
Firstly, you need to talk about the ONE BIG IDEA.
Is it losing stubborn belly fats without exercising? Is it making $100/day online without prior marketing knowledge?
An important note here: Don’t try to cram your whole proposition into your headline.
Remember, your headline’s job is NOT to sell. It is to evoke your reader’s desire and arouse his/her curiosity to make him read on.
The next step is to focus on a dominant emotion of your reader. Is it fear? Is it pride? Is it anger? The third step is to determine the level of awareness of your reader.
Legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz explained it best:
If your reader is aware of your product, and it can satisfy his desire, your headline starts with the product.
If he’s not aware of your product, but is only aware of his desire, then your headline starts with the desire.
If he isn’t aware of what he really seeks, and is only concerned with a general problem, then your headline starts with that problem and turns it into a specific need.
Brian Clark of Copyblogger wrote a great article on how you can sell to prospects of different level of awareness here.
Last but not least, determine the hook (angle) to grab your reader’s attention.
For the product-aware reader, you can use a direct benefit claim, such as “Get Your Six-Packed Abs
In Just 2 Weeks Using [Your Product Name]”.
For the problem-aware reader, you can highlight the nagging problem, such as “Burn Your Embarrassing Belly Fats Without [Dreaded Action/Sacrifice]”.
For your unaware readers, use the element of surprise or curiosity, e.g. “The 60-Year-Old Ex-Janitor
Who Made $4700 Last Month Just By [Doing Something Simple]”.
So there you go, the 4 key elements in an attention-grabbing headline:
One Big Idea + Dominant Emotion + Awareness Level + Hook
One thing to note though, you may not be able to fit all the 4 elements in your main headline...
That is why you might want to use a pre-head to address your target audience, e.g. 'Attention Frustrated Working Moms Who Are Overweight!'
…
followed by your main headline, e.g. 'Discover How You Can Lose 15 Pounds Easily in Just 7 Days and Regain Your Gorgeous Figure... Even If You Don't Have the Time or Energy to Work Out'...
followed by what A-List copywriter Ray Edwards calls the deck copy, to reinforce the impact of your main headline... 'No, it's NOT another tedious diet... but instead, it's a ridiculously simple 5-minute routine that will help you shed your extra pounds at record speed!'
When writing your body copy, it's important to spend more time crafting a compelling 'lead' (the copy that comes right after your headline).
In fact, your lead is just as important as your headline.
Because if you cannot intrigue or captivate your reader with a compelling lead, chances are they will not even skim your sales page, much less to read the whole thing.
On the other hand, if you can keep your reader's undivided attention right after your headline, they will be motivated to read the next line, and the next... or at least be interested to skim through... and look at your sub- headlines throughout the page for something that might interest them.
In short, you get a higher chance of pitching your irresistible offer to them.
One way to write a compelling lead is to start with a story... and think of the story as a great movie trailer.
Start with a lead that highlights a high point of drama (just like a mind-blowing trailer). Begin right in the middle of a story.
Then pull your reader further in... by explaining that high point of drama in your following body copy with more riveting action and intriguing details -- such as how you (or the star of your story) discovered the amazing solution that solved the pain that your reader is also experiencing right now.
Your Bullets (Benefits + 4Us)
Once you've evoked your readers' dominant emotion with your story, it's time to present your offer. Show them how they can also solve their problems by getting your solution.
Use a list of compelling bullets to present the key benefits of your product... specifically on how they can help your reader solve their specific problem and achieve their aspiration, lifestyle or status they so desired.
One thing to note though, don't give away everything in your bullets. Give them just enough information to make them curious... and the only way to satisfy that curiosity is to buy your product.
Copywriting legend Gary Halbert once revealed to A-List copywriter Scott Haines that the #1 reason people buy a product is CURIOSITY, which is even more powerful than self-interest.
To keep your bullets focused and compelling, always remember the 4Us, i.e. your bullets must always be Useful, Unique, Ultra-Specific and Urgent.
if you incorporate these 4 types of bullets, your reader will be riveted to every single one of your bullets -- and more importantly, be compelled to know how they can get their hands on your product... so they can enjoy all the benefits that you've presented in your bullets.
As you guide your reader further with your useful, unique, ultra-specific and urgent bullets, it is now time to present your irresistible offer and ask for the sale.
It would also help if you can break down the price (especially when you're selling something expensive) into smaller daily or monthly amounts.
This is to show them how little they need to invest to solve their pains and achieve their desired outcome.
I'm assuming you're going to offer a product with REAL value, so you should provide a no-brainer guarantee. At the very minimum, it should be a full refund if your buyer is not satisfied, or not seeing the results you promised.
There is no recommended minimum guarantee period... you could give a 30- day, 60-day, or even a 365-day guarantee.
If you're worried about people ripping you off... be assured that such potential losses are relatively negligible... compared to the amount of sales that you can get with an irresistible guarantee.
If you wish to reduce potential rip-offs, you can include a quick qualifier to discourage the not-so- serious people from getting your product, for example:
'If you're not 100% serious and ready to do some REAL FOCUSED WORK to transform your stagnant business (in other words, if you're just looking for an easy shortcut), then this coaching program is not for you.'
The point is, if your product is awesome, you should not hesitate to give a money back guarantee. Tell your readers that you're the one bearing ALL the risk by offering your no-question-asked money back guarantee.
You can also give away some free bonuses which are relevant to your core offer to help close the sale. Just don't throw in some random low quality freebies that will cheapen your offer.
Tell your readers about the real value of the bonuses that you're offering… and they would only get those bonuses from you if they buy your product today.
Last but not least, don't forget to include a powerful P.S. Some believe that the P.S. is the second most read part in a sales letter.
Due to our ever-decreasing attention span, many people have the tendency to skip all the way to the bottom (even after reading your captivating headline) -- to check out your offer right away.
That is why you should always end your sales letter with a powerful P.S. - where you repeat the main benefits of your products, state your offer's deadline, and remind them of the potential transformation they can experience by getting your product.
This is just one way of assembling your sales letter. Remember to check out The Ultimate Guide to No-Pain Copywriting (or, Every Copywriting Formula Ever) by elite copywriter and marketer Joanna Wiebe.
The next thing to do is to put your irresistible offer in front of your targeted audience. To do this, you need to learn how to utilize 3 types of online traffic: traffic you control, traffic you don't control, and traffic you own.
Elite marketer Russell Brunson explains in details the 3 types of traffic in his amazing Dotcom Secrets book (you should get this FREE BOOK here if you're SERIOUS about learning the indispensable fundamentals and core strategies of online marketing)
Traffic you control: The traffic you pay for, e.g. Google ads, Facebook ads, banner ads, email solo ads, etc.
Your goal here is to convert this ‘traffic you control’ into 'traffic you own'.
You do that by sending them to a squeeze page (or lead capture page) -- where your target prospects give you their emails in exchange for a lead magnet (e.g. a free eBook that helps them solve a specific problem).
These targeted prospects will then be added to your email list and become the 'traffic you own'... because now you can communicate with them through emails, whenever you want. We'll talk more about effective email marketing in a little while.
Traffic you don't control: This comes mainly from searches on Google, Bing or Yahoo -- so it depends on your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
SEO is a long-term traffic strategy that you should invest in, but we'll not be discussing it here today. You can learn the fundamentals of SEO in this great article by world class marketer Neil Patel here: SEO Made Simple: A Step-By- Step Guide.
Besides Google, the free traffic you get from social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. are also considered the traffic you don't control.
Similarly, your goal should be to convert these prospects into 'traffic you own', by directing them to your squeeze page, offering them your lead magnet, and adding them to your email list.
Traffic you OWN: As mentioned above, you need to direct the right people (from both traffic you control and traffic you don't control) to your offers... convert as many of them into traffic you own (adding them to your email list)-- and ultimately into your buyers and repeat customers.
So how do you convert the people on your list into your customers and repeat buyers? Let's get to that right now in the final section on effective email marketing.
You might have heard some marketers or gurus saying that "The money is in the list", or "The bigger your email list is, the more money you make", or some other variations of it.
What they're saying is only half right -- meaning it's true that you can make money from your email list, and the list size does make a difference at certain point... BUT NOT BEFORE you understand that the money is in your RELATIONSHIP with your list.
Andre Chaperon strongly believes in this.
Andre is the world-renowned expert in lucrative list building who can achieve crazy conversions, generating monster profits from tiny hyper- responsive lists... beating those with big guru lists hands down.
When you focus on giving value upfront and building relationship first, you will not get fake emails from your prospects. Your subscribers would be people who really WANT to be on your list, to continue getting value from you.
So, what should you do to build a hyper-responsive email list?
First, here's what you should NOT do: To put up a shallow squeeze page with a clickbait headline, offering a crappy lead magnet.
Because most of the people who opt in would only be focusing on that freebie and nothing else. They will opt in even if they have no clue (or interest) about who you are.
Instead, you should be offering as much value as possible in exchange for their emails... such as writing an educational blog post, running an informative webinar, or giving away a solid eBook or video tutorial to help them solve a specific problem.
If you do this, your targeted prospects would rush to give you their primary emails, because they don't want to miss your valuable giveaway and future updates.
You can even go one step further by offering them a *tripwire on your ‘Thank You Page’ to segment them into your buyer list.
"The Tripwire is an irresistible, super low-ticket offer (usually between $1 and $20) that exists for one reason and one reason only... to convert prospects into buyers" -- Ryan Deiss, CEO of Digital Marketer
Just so you know, Digital Marketer is simply the BEST (and MOST comprehensive) resource hub for online marketing. But don't take my word for it. Go check it out yourself here.
Now, once you get your genuine subscribers, you need to work on strengthening your relationship (after they get your awesome lead magnet).
The best way to do this is to start with what Andre Chaperon calls a 'soap opera sequence' -- a story- based email sequence with emotional triggers to convey value, entertain, and prime your fellow subscribers for your core offer.
Russell Brunson also explained in details about Andre's powerful soap opera sequence in Secret #7 of his Dotcom Secrets book.
The goal is to create an instant bond with your subscribers, intriguing them with something interesting… and keeping an open loop right from the first email.
So you can hook your subscribers – and make them look forward to your next email, and the next, and the next... before you ultimately close them with your irresistible core offer.
Upon the completion of the initial soap opera sequence, you should continue to keep in touch with your subscribers with daily informative and entertaining emails.
(Ben Settle, the world leader in email copywriting education can show you how. You can also refer to Secret #8 in Russell's book... or when you're more established, sign up for Andre's Autoresponder Madness)
Just keep this in mind: The KEY to lucrative email marketing is to build a long-lasting relationship with your subscribers… and make them your raving fans and hyper-responsive buyers -- who will look forward to your email every single day, and trust you enough to buy every product that you promote.