Sales Copywriting: 10 Steps To Write A Landing Page That Converts

Selling your product or service is more than just explaining features and pricing. Your words must educate, inspire, entertain and persuade.

In short, your landing page copy is a performance and you’re the showman.

But how to put those words on the page and ensure that your sales copy drives your prospects to action? That’s what this guide is about.

Writing Landing Page Content

In the following sections, we’ll take a look at the essential steps you need to write a sales copy that sells. These are actionable landing page copywriting strategies you can put to use right away. So let’s begin.

Know Your Audience

When it comes to writing a sales copy, empathy is everything. You write for your readers. That’s why you need to write like your prospects talk.

Professional copywriters don’t put the proverbial pen to paper until they research their target audience.

When writing a landing page copy, get in your readers’ shoes. Ask yourself: Who is going to read this? What do they need? Also think of words to describe how your reader may feel about this topic.

Then use the same words and phrases they use when talking about the problem that you solve for them.

There are several ways you can use to dig deeper into the lives of your audience, identify their problems and get a deeper sense of who they are.

Image Source: CustomerThink

For example, let’s say you just launched a new gaming headset, and you want to see what type of language your target audience uses when talking about gaming headsets.

So you can head over to a website like Reddit, and more specifically, to the gaming subreddit. Then search for the term headset.

Then check out the conversation threads in the search results to see what kind of words people use to describe what they prefer or dislike in gaming headsets. For example, here are a few things I picked up from one of the threads.

This is valuable information that will help you create content that your readers relate to. So your landing page content can say something like:

Gaming Headset With Built-In Microphone, Surround Sound & Strong Bass – All In One, For Under $50.

Assuming, of course, that all these things are true for the product you are writing a sales copy for.

To learn more about identifying the needs of your potential customers and how they talk, see my guide on analyzing your prospects. Then use this information to personalize your content so it speaks directly to them.

Have A Clear USP

Unique selling proposition (USP) is the answer to your prospect’s No.1 question: What’s in it for me?

For example, this is not a USP:

We’ve been a market leader in producing high quality laser photo printers since 1876.

When reading this line, a prospect would probably go, “So what?” A good USP is all about the customer. For example, this is what it’s supposed to look like:

Our printers deliver the sharpest quality photo, each and every time, to preserve your most precious memories.

USP is the main benefit that a prospect gets from your product or service, and one that separates your business from the competition. It’s also referred to as the main value proposition (MVP).

This benefit may be the fastest delivery, reputation for best price/quality, guaranteed results or something else, depending on the nature of your business. For example, see this Facebook ad from Brandless.

It clearly conveys why prospects should buy from them. Bonus points if you can convey the benefit clearly in the shortest way possible, like Dropbox:

If your product or service has nothing unique to offer, then you have bigger problems than sales copywriting.

Write An Amazing Headline

Your headline and introduction paragraph are the most important components of your landing page copy. That’s because they determine whether a prospective customer will read the rest of your landing page content or not.

Be Specific: To write an awesome headline, the first rule of thumb is to be super specific about your USP. Tell your readers exactly what you’re offering. What’s the main benefit they’re going to get?

For example, see this sales copy headline:

Lose Weight The Easy Way

The problem with this headline is that it’s too broad and vague. Now consider an alternative:

Lose 10 Pounds In 30 Days Without Starving Yourself

See how specific it is, and how better it sounds as a result. In addition, notice what I did to make it more specific.

I used numbers. Numbers are the best way to add specificity to your headlines. A research by Moz revealed that headlines with numbers get 327% more clicks than those with questions.

So whenever applicable, try to see how you can make your headlines more specific using numbers.

Use Emotional Words: The best headlines invoke some kind of emotion in your readers. To make your headlines more emotional, see if there’s an opportunity to add an emotionally charged word or two.

These words include: Now, Mistake, Crazy, Breakthrough, Fast, Amazing, New.

In addition, you can run your headline through Emotional Headline Analyzer. It will then give you a score ranging from 0 to 100%. If you’re scoring at least 30-40%, that’s decent enough for a headline.

To learn more about headline copywriting, see my guide to write catchy headlines.

Master The Intro

The introduction paragraph is easily overlooked, but it’s right up with the headline in terms of importance.

The headline will get prospects to your landing page, but it’s the first few lines that will dictate whether those prospects will continue reading your sales copy. So you really need to grab their attention, from the very first sentence.

Here are a few ways to hook your prospects from the beginning:

• “Now you can now get [benefit] within [duration] without [common pain]” – Expand on your main benefit promised in the headline.
• “Does this sound familiar?” – Show them that you know exactly what they are going through.
• “New study finds [shocking result]” – Reveal a surprising fact or statistic related to the problem you’re addressing.
• “You won’t believe what just happened!” – Tell a really short, interesting story of no more than 4-6 sentences.

Once you have hooked your reader with a strong introduction, you can jump into the rest of your landing page copy.

Translate Features To Benefits

This is one of the essential principles that most copywriters swear by: Focus on benefits instead of features.

I don’t disagree with it, but I prefer a slight modification. Of course, benefits are more important, but the best landing page content covers both. For example:

Feature based copy: This lock is made of unbreakable, stainless steel.

Benefit based copy: This lock keeps your family safe from intruders.

Best of both worlds: Keep your loved ones safe and secure with this unbreakable, stainless steel lock.

This is the age of the internet and any information is just a click away. As a result, many consumers are smarter and more diligent than others.

Benefits do a great job of connecting the dots and conveying the value of your product to everyone in your target audience.

But benefits alone may leave some consumers unsatisfied because they want to know what attributes of your product or service make those benefits possible.

So making sure to use a combination of features and benefits in sales copywriting solves this problem. Here’s another great example from Skype:

As you can see, Skype starts its CTA with the main benefit, followed by features which contribute to this benefit.

• Benefit: Catch up and quality time with friends and family
• Feature: HD video calls, one to one, or as a group

By combining both these elements in call to action, Skype doesn’t just highlight the benefit it is providing, but also answers how.

Use Social Proof

Social proof plays a big role in your prospects’ decision to buy or enquire about your product or service.

That’s why you must pack your sales copy with case studies, testimonials and other statistics like number of users, awards or following on social media.

For example, see one of Zoosk’s landing pages. It’s just full of social proof:

The first social proof is the number of users in the headline. And the second is the use of testimonials on the left.

However, showing social proof is difficult when you don’t have any. If you have launched a new product or service, for example, you may not have many users to begin with.

In such cases, you’ll have to gather social proof by offering some kind of incentive to your prospects which persuades them to try your product or service. For instance, you can offer a free trial, sample or introductory discount.

Reduce Risk By Addressing Objections

By now, you may have taken the time to understand your target audience or have been selling in the field.

So you’d probably know some of the biggest concerns or objections your prospects have when it comes to buying.

Addressing objections and minimizing risk can make a huge difference to your landing page copy. And nobody does it better than Netflix.

Users can try it free for a month and cancel anytime. So they know that they can take the action without any risk. Moreover, it shows how confident Netflix is about their product.

Invoke A Sense Of Urgency

Your offer should have some kind of limitation that triggers a feeling of urgency in your target prospects. In other words, you need to invoke the fear of missing out.

This limitation could be in the form of a limited time sale (like doors close on Thursday, Nov 20, 12 pm), limited quantity (like only 34 left in stock), or something else (like 50% off for first 10 buyers).

For example, see this ad from Hubspot.

Needless to mention, these limitations shouldn’t be taken lightly. If you want your prospects to take them seriously, you’ll need to do the same.

For example, don’t go around promoting something as a one time offer, if you’re going to give your prospects the same offer again after a few days.

Embed Strong CTAs

Your prospects are busy. They don’t have the time to read or analyze too much to figure out what they should do. The easier you make it for them, the better your sales copywriting.

So don’t make them put effort to understand what your copy is about and what you expect them to do.

When writing your CTA, you don’t have to be fancy. Just tell your readers what to do as plainly as possible. Here’s an example:

The benefit is clear: get more return on your ad spend. And so is the action that a prospect should take: start a free trial.

For more information, here’s my article on the best ways to write a strong call to action.

Make It Easy To Read

One of the most common copywriting mistakes is making your landing page content difficult to read. This happens when you assume your audience already knows something, or when you use big, complicated words, sentences and paragraphs.

Complicated words and terminology slows your readers down. And that can result in them getting distracted and leaving the page.

So make your copy as plain, simple and easy as you can. This means using simple plain language, presented in short sentences and paragraphs. In addition, use subheading and bullets whenever you can to improve the flow.

If you must use a complex term or phrase, explain it the first time you introduce it in your sales copy. The best case scenario is, of course, to avoid using such words altogether if you can.

The point is to do everything you can to minimize the reading effort. In fact, keep your writing simple enough to be understood by a sixth-grader.

To do this, you can use a tool like the Hemmingway App to help you check your content’s reading level.

To use Hemmingway, simply open the app in your web browser then copy and paste your content into the editor. It will then show you your readability level and how you can improve it.

For more solid tips on making your landing page copy more readable, see my guide to content writing style and readability.

Summing Up

So there’s your free guide to sales copywriting to maximize conversions and write highly persuasive content.

Whether you want to sell products, offer services, or promote affiliate programs, the ability to write great landing page content is among the most important skills you must have.

Once you have learnt to capture the power of words to grab attention, generate interest, and stimulate desire, you’ll get the outcome you want. So get started today and write a sales copy that sells.

Did I miss anything? Did you try these tips? Do you have any questions or comments? Share your thoughts below in the comments section.