Content that converts. This is wonderful article that devknob loves that speaks about writing content that leads to conversions. When attempting to increase your sales online, testing your design is one thing, split testing your content and messaging is another.

1. visualwebsit eopt imizer.com http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/landing-page-copy-that-converts/
How to Write Compelling Landing Page Copy that Converts
What is it that makes the visitors brain tick? That makes them overcome that “browsing” phase and become a
lead or a sale? While I wouldn’t say that all the credit f or conversion goes to the copy, but it certainly
inf luences visitors’ decisions to a great extent. Af ter all, words make people relate and understand things
better.
Consumers are getting smarter by the day. The moment it seems like you’re trying to sell them something, they
are put of f in an instant. In such a situation, how can you convince them to complete the conversion goal of
your website?
Even if it’s as small a thing as submitting their email address to subscribe to your blog, or as big as paying f or
a product or service on a website – subtle persuasion is the mantra you should f ollow to convert your
prospects.
Having made this clear, given below are a f ew actionable tips that allow you to play the game right and write a
compelling landing page copy f or higher conversions:
Let’s start with the basics…
Know Your Primary Goal
Blog subscription, request a quote, product sale, f ree trial signup… what is it that you want to accomplish on
your webpage? Figure it out and any sentence (or even element) on a webpage that doesn’t contribute to this
goal should be removed.
KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid!)
Clichéd, yes. But very valuable nonetheless. Use short sentences and stick to simple words. Don’t write to
show of f your vocab. Keep that complicated industry jargon to yourself and the creative word play f or your
next poetry book. That won’t impress anyone here but it can sure cost you conversions.
Express yourself in a way that even a 5-year old can understand. If your copy lacks clarity, persuading visitors
will be an uphill task.
Remember that the right ego massage here is increased conversions and not people raving about how
amazing your copy sounds.
Conversion Evangelist, Michael Aagaard, tested a rather simple and non-creative headline (check out the image
below) in the challenger f or his client, Fitness Gym, and noted 38.46% increase f or their gym membership
signup.

2. Be Specific
Avoid vague sentences and claims. So XYZ Company increased sales with your product. Great! Tell me exactly
how much sales did they increase? What’s their business model like? Mention some details, please? Will you?
Here is an example of a very f ocused web copy and call to action text:

3. Address Prospects’ Pain Points with Benefits
Features are a passé. Communicating benef its are a great way to answer the typical visitors’ question –
“what’s in it f or me?” And when you use these benef its to settle your prospects’ pain points, you def initely
score some extra points.
Apple executes this brilliantly in its EarPods ad where their copy mentions:
New noise-canceling technology reduces background noise. So when you hold iPhone up to your
ear in a loud room, you hear what matters most: the voice on the other end.
So using earpods when your background noise is too high is plain annoying. But Apple’s earpods copy
emphasizes how these earpods eases this pain point and allows you to shut out all outside noise with its
noise-cancelling benef it.
Appeal to Their Emotional Side
Create urgency, excitement, whatever reaction you want. But don’t f orget to pack that emotional punch in your
copy.
Use your words to make people visualize themselves with the product/of f er. I get these amazing mails f rom
one Girls-on-the-go club to book trips with this random group of adventure-loving women. Below is an except
f rom one of their mails:
“Live a gypsy’s life in a camp site on the banks of the exotic, high altitude Pangong Lake.

4. Get that ‘Me’ time you were craving for, in one of the many little coves on the island.
De-stress with relaxing ferry rides on the clear blue sea and some great sea food.”
When I read these mails they really transport me to an altogether dif f erent world and I seriously have to resist
myself f rom clicking that “Book Now” button too f requently.
Give Them a Story
You can even convey emotional value of your of f er by incorporating it into a story. A study conducted by
Carnegie Mellon University in 2007 proved that stories indeed work better than hard-core f acts to convince
people to take action.
Three groups of people in the study were sent separate donation appeals (one donation appeal f or every
group) over the email to contribute f or people suf f ering in Af rica.
The f irst email included all statistics and data that talked about millions of people getting dislocated and their
suf f ering because of f ewer rains and f ood shortages in the country.
The second email elaborated the story of some girl who hadn’t had anything to eat since days. The picture of
the girl was also sent in the email and people were asked to contribute f or her directly.
The third email combined both the approaches and contained both the story and also the statistics f rom the
f irst email.
While the f irst and the third email got people to donate an average of $1.14 and $1.43 respectively, the second
email got the highest donation average of $2.38.
Although you might be expecting that the third email that combined both the approaches should have got
maximum donations, but it seems like people were not too keen to help in the third email because they saw
their contribution as a tiny drop in the sea.
Make sure that your visitors f eel special and valued in your copy.
Write in Second Person
When you keep the f ocus on visitors rather than your product, the perceived value of your of f er increases. It
helps visitors relate more and f ocuses on what they are getting out of the whole deal without you scaring them
of f with a sale-sy pitch. Here’s an example f rom Unbounce:
Please note that this is not a rule per se. And you can always tweak things and test them to see how it works
better f or your conversions. Sometimes a copy written in f irst person may work better than the one written in

5. second person. You never know. A/B test is always the best way to go.
Testing Your Web Copy for Different Landing Page Elements
Now there are various elements on your landing page where you can test your web copy to improve
conversions. While the basic rules remain the same as above, you can tweak the copy of these elements easily
in VWO Editor and set up your AB tests in just a f ew minutes.
Headline - Nail it! Yes. It should be simple and yet hit hard. Let it talk about your best benef it. The headline
below f rom Kissmetrics is just the perf ect example:
The above headline drives home the point f or its visitors in an instant by comparing it to Google Analytics,
which is a tool almost every visitor on their site is f amiliar with. Simple and ef f ective.
Or, I love how one of our customers used their testimonial as the headline to set up a case f or them, which
increased their newsletter signup by 24.31%.
Form Copy – Use your f orm copy to clarif y inputs f or a f ield that may require additional cues to f ill the right
value. Like you can see in the example below:

6. Ideally, I would want to include a link with all ZIP codes (next to the zip code f ield) to avoid conf usion, if there’s
any. The point is, make sure that there’s no room f or prospects to wonder or f eel conf used about. Sometimes
even the most obvious things that you expect everyone to know can be the reason why your f orm copy f ails.
You may even address anxiety concerns by including privacy policy link with your lead generation f orms. But be
caref ul about the words that you use. A recent case study showed 18.7% drop in conversions f or a Betting
website with the statement, “100% privacy – we will never spam you” in the Challenger when no such line was
added in the Original f orm copy.
Apparently, the negative connotations of the word “spam” was not taken well by visitors and made them even
more concerned about it than the control version that had no such statement. The context seemed to be
ignored by visitors.
Call to Action (CTA) Button Text
The point is, you should never leave your visitors wondering what they are clicking the button f or. Generalized
CTA texts, like download now, sign up, and others are better replaced by CTA text that is a little more specif ic.
Here’s an example f rom Mozilla:
You may even address anxiety concerns in your CTA copy. You can read f urther about high-converting call to
action buttons here.

7. As long as you f ocus to help your visitors achieve their goals, they will help you achieve your marketing goals.
Writing compelling web copy that converts is all about understanding your customers and their concerns. When
you have this f igured out, it won’t take long f or you to write copy that strikes the right chord and gives you the
record-breaking conversion rate of all time.