Copy that sells in your online shop

Copy that sells should make it easy for customers to understand why your product or solution is relevant. You need to describe the problem, show why it matters to the customer, explain your solution and tell him how to buy it. Fancy words will not do the work for you.

The video is from April 2009 and introduces the chapter on sales copy. I talk about my own development as a writer and the sales principles I use in my newsletters at that time.

Copy that sells is crucial in an online shop

Being able to write well is incredibly important. If you are not good at it or do not enjoy writing, you need to find someone who can help.

You can sell goods with bad copy. But there can be a big difference in sales between really bad copy and really good copy. In the video, I use a possible doubling of revenue as an example of the difference between the two extremes.

That does not mean all copy automatically delivers the same improvement. It means you should not underestimate how much the words can matter.

I learned to write by keeping at it

I was not a star writer at school. I got sixes, sevens and eights for my Danish essays. It was only as an adult that I began to enjoy writing.

When we started Cybernet in 1995, someone had to write the newsletter. Nobody really wanted to, so I got started. And then I kept going and going and going.

Later, I took a two-day writing course. One thing I learned was that using big, fancy words does not make you sound cleverer.

You need to write simply enough for people to understand you. Use imagery, remove weak words and try breaking apart the phrases you otherwise automatically put together.

Also look at whether the text could be shorter. Good copy is not necessarily long. It is well written and a length the customer is willing to read.

I recommend the thinking in Hypnotic Writing

I recommend Joe Vitale’s Hypnotic Writing. I am far from agreeing with him on everything. In the video, I call him a nutcase and also criticise The Secret, which I associate him with.

But I think there is something to learn from his work on copy. It is an American book with American examples, so you should not simply copy everything directly.

What is interesting is the thinking behind it. Start with a good headline. It can make an enormous difference to whether the rest is read at all and whether the copy sells.

In the video, I say that the difference between a bad headline and a good one can, in some cases, increase revenue from a newsletter fivefold. That is my assessment of the potential, not a guarantee for every headline.

Make the problem relevant to the reader

After the headline, explain the problem you help with. Next, the customer needs to understand why that problem is of interest to him.

I use the example of saying that many online retailers sell too little in their shops. Then some of the recipients start listening.

If I make it more specific and say I can help anyone selling less than 5,000 kroner a day, it becomes personal for a particular group. That amount is part of my sales example in the video.

Now the recipient can think: That’s me. And then I have created a connection between the problem and the person reading the text.

Show the solution and the path to purchase

Then I explain that I have written a book showing how to sell more. In other words, I present a solution to the problem I have just made relevant.

Finally comes the invitation: Buy it by clicking here.

The order matters. Describe the problem. Explain why it affects the target audience. Show what you can do about it. And explain how customers buy your solution and what it costs.

You should not stop just before customers get the chance to act. There needs to be a clear next step.

Try the principles on your own copy

I have experimented a lot with these principles myself. My experience, as I describe it in 2009, is that revenue from my newsletter has grown roughly fivefold since I began working this way.

So I encourage you to read the chapter, read Hypnotic Writing and go through a couple of your own pieces of copy.

See whether the problem is clear, whether customers recognise themselves, and whether the solution and purchase are easy to understand. Then you can see for yourself what it does for your copy and your sales. Also read E-pusher about my experiences of selling online.