Have you ever couldn’t help yourself but click on a link knowing it was a sales page?

Next thing you know, you pull out your wallet and submit yourself to spending money.

You were so convinced of how amazing the item was and how much it would change your life.

In fact, you were so compelled, you couldn’t resist but pay for expedited shipping.

You knew you were on your way to living a higher quality of life.

Sound familiar?

You were a converted customer.

Let’s look into why you made your decisions through the art of conversion copywriting.

What is conversion copywriting?

In a nutshell, it’s sales copy that makes readers click and tick to prompt action.

Conversion copywriting has one main goal. To convert readers by leading them down your sales funnel in prompting a decision. At the end of your customer journey is where your reader makes a monetary decision. And it is your job as a copywriter to maintain your relationships in bringing more profit.

Examples of customer conversion decisions include:

Buying a product
Performing a phone call
Submitting an inquiry
Clicking on advertisements
Downloading a file from your website
Filling out a form
Attending a webinar
Booking an appointment
Sharing a blog post on social media
Prompting a call-to-action button
Navigating to another page within your website
Subscribing to an email list or newsletter

Conversion copywriting does not focus on optimizing copy on a whole level. Look at conversion copywriting as a strategy to get your readers to the other side of the wall. Whatever that goal may be.

In fact, the content used in conversion copywriting doesn’t even matter. What matters is the right words used in your copy to persuade your readers.

This means writing copy persuading enough that your readers can’t help themselves. That your copy will leave your readers pulling out their wallets waving their bills at you.

In conversion copywriting, always remember the one specific goal you wish to achieve.

Conversion copywriting starts at the headline

After all, your headline the first thing your readers see.

Thus, it’s the most essential element in conversion copywriting.

Look at it this way.

You could be the most outstanding copywriter known to man.

Or, you could have the highest quality content in the world.

And, you could have the ultimate solution in solving world hunger and world peace.

But…

None of those statements are valid if no one clicks your headlines.

In essence, you are invisible until your headlines get clicked.

It’s that important and is the deciding factor to why readers should do business with you.

The secret ingredients How to write a headline that converts

Focus keyword first
Incorporate positive or negative sentiments
Harness power words
Provide factual numbers or data
Quantity of words and characters matter
Brainstorm a bunch

Let’s dive into detail on what makes up a killer headline that sells.

1. Focus keyword first

This rule is for SEO purposes in navigating your readers to your headline. It helps search endings crawl and organize your content by letting them know what your page is about.

Without it in your headline, is like a heart surgeon trying to perform eye surgery on a patient. It’s irrelevant and has no connection.

It also tells your readers first hand what they are in for at an instant. Look at it as a hierarchical signifier of importance.

There is a theory called the ‘primacy effect.’

It’s a psychological bias that places high emphasis on the information presented first. For example, imagine reading a long list of words. You are likely to remember the beginning words of the list better.

What causes the phenomenon?

When we rehearse script, we remember the first text more due to repetition. The words at the front get read more than words at the end.
Our attention spans don’t allow us to remember the ending words.
We don’t have enough room in our brains to store the last words. We place a higher emphasis on beginning content.

So try using this psychological bias of presenting your readers what’s important first.

See some examples of blog post titles with focus keywords placed in the beginning:

2. Incorporate positive or negative sentiments

Headlines with positive or negative sentiment spark an emotional connection from your readers. It urges your readers to click because it makes them feel a certain way. In fact, our brains react to certain words that trigger an emotional response.

Depending on the goal of your copy, positive sentiments convey confidence or assurance. Whereas negative statements can trigger your reader’s senses to act in fear. For example, by implementing scarcity or urgency words can prompt impulsiveness.

Positive sentiment example: “3 Simple Tips To Have A More Fulfilling Life.”
Negative sentiment example: “Why You Should Stop Doing This To Reduce The Risk Of Cancer.”

See how both headlines instill curiosity by setting up the feel of the topic?

There is nothing wrong with either sentiment, as both work well to trigger response.

3. Add power words

Not all words contain the same value. Some words carry more value than others. For example, power words contain persuasive and emotional triggers that feed the mind. These words bring life and sentiment into your copy that tap into your reader’s response system.

Reasons to add power words in your conversion copywriting:

Build confident statements
Persuade your audience
Instill trust and credibility
Tap into your reader’s emotions
Provoke decisive action in your readers

Take a look at these headlines without and with the use of power words. See which ones are more compelling as opposed to the alternative form.

Without: “17 Tips To Conversion Copywriting.”
With: “17 Guaranteed Tips To Master Conversion Copywriting.”

Without: “How To Make Money With Conversion Copywriting.”
With: “How To Earn 6-Figures Through Conversion Copywriting In A Breeze“

Power words pack a punch in headlines by giving them more sentiment.

4. Provide factual numbers or data

Numbers not only stand out from words, but numbers are factual. Humans love anything backed up with specifics.

Tips on using numbers in your headlines:

The bigger the number, the more convincing to readers. But that does not mean you can overwhelm your viewers in a long post of bullets to read. The same goes the other way around, so find the middle ground.
Start the headline with a number first.
Save your reader’s time by using Arabic numbers, as opposed to spelling out the number.
Odd numbers have a high click rate than even numbers.
Make sure the number in your headline matches the number of points in your content.

5. Quantity of words and characters matter

For headlines, 6-7 words and 55 characters have higher click-through rates.

For email subject lines, you have about 20 characters for an optimized headline. Anything after 20 characters, your headline will get cut off.

It is important to keep in mind, not everyone uses the same device when reading headlines. That means mobile device’s character counts vary from computer devices.

6. Brainstorm a bunch

Chances are, you aren’t going to nail your headline on the first shot. And, more than likely your headline will continue to change over time due to shifts in goals. If you test your headlines (as you should always do), you will also find some convert better than others.

It will take trial and error in finding the perfect headline that gets the job done in luring readers in.

Get creative by brainstorming a list of ideas. Write as many headlines as you can, then analyze and choose the most optimal ones that convert.

Your headline is crucial. In fact, most copywriters spend hours generating the best one that serves their goals. All for a simple string of words. It shouldn’t be a surprise if it takes you more time than you expect.

The more headlines you brainstorm, the more options you have.

Audience

What good is your talent if you have no audience to put on a show for?

Your audience is the sole purpose for whom you write for.

And, your job as a copywriter does not exist without them.

Ask yourself this. Do you want to make money and be successful, whether as a copywriter or a business?

You have to dedicate every ounce of your burning soul as a copywriter as if your life depends on it.

In conversion copywriting, you do not write for you because you think you’re the best writer in the world.

It’s not about your spotlight or what you think you should write because it sounds good in your mind.

It’s all about your reader.

With that said, you need to sound exactly like them.

Build the trust they seek.

Ease their uncertainty.

Make them feel vulnerable.

Tell them what they need to hear.

Remind them of their issues.

So, bear your audience in mind in with the lone purpose of fulfilling their goals, desires, needs, frustrations, and problems.

Look as copywriting as the bridge to solving people’s problems, and you have a magical solution up your sleeve.

Research

Research is the most integral element of successful conversion copywriting. And it’s the most critical step before you write any single word of copy.

This is your opportunity to put those detective googles on. You’ll be a nosy raccoon navigating through your resources in gathering information.

Look at research as a tool to equip yourself in giving your readers credible statements to rely on.

Once completing intensive research, you will be a master of the following topics:

Who exactly the customer is – demographics, age, lifestyle, etc.
The product’s unique value proposition
A viable solution to your customer
The customer’s pain points, needs, and goals
What the customer values in their life
Who the competitors are to your product
The fears of your readers
What motivates your readers
How the product benefits your customer
Customer objections and reasons against them

It is to your means to harness your research to position yourself to give readers a basis to prompt action.

Research builds the utmost foundation and structure of copywriting that converts. Without it, is like throwing a dart to a dartboard with your eyes closed. Expecting you’ll land somewhere you want.

Why is research so valuable in conversion copywriting? Because of the ability to understand your readers deeper, and it doesn’t cost a single penny.

Psychology

Curious about what makes consumers buy?

Getting into their heads.

There’s a lot of psychology behind effective copy that makes your readers tick.

According to the Yale attitude change approach in social psychology, people’s attitudes are heavily influenced based on persuasive claims.

What does that mean?

It means people buy based on their emotions and how they feel at a given moment.

Let’s look deeper into the human brain and how it plays an integral part in conversion copywriting.

The triune brain model consists of three areas of focus that influence our decisions. The three exclusive areas of the brain in which impact our behaviors are:

Neocortex – Our rational thinking area of the brain concerned with rational thinking. Logic, decision-making, perception, memory, and language encompass this area. We place value-based thinking on products that are worth more than others. For example, we tend to go for one product over the over because it has better specs or is cheaper than the other.
Limbic brain – The system which involves our emotions and feelings. It also involves storytelling and bonding with others. Brands that tell a story or sell for a good cause influence consumer’s buying behaviors.
Reptilian brain – Responsible for basic survival and instincts functions. Fear, threats, and danger cues trigger our reptilian brain for us to resort to safety. It’s a technique copywriters instill as a tactic to instill fear into readers. For example, when a human sees “limited time sale,” prompts a sense of urgency or scarcity for the brain to buy.

conversion copywriting infographic of human brain psychology

Why does understanding the triune brain model matter in conversion copywriting?

Well, the way we perceive information and read copy triggers one of the three structures within our brain.

Take a look at some of these examples and how they apply to our brain structures.

Neocortex: justify their thinking

The logical part of our brain, or the neocortex structure plays a big factor in the reason why we justify our thoughts and actions.

By nature, our sense of logic is a mechanism to live our lives as rational as possible.

As humans beings, we like to think we are rational. We like to think we are logical with a perfect sense of precise reasoning. But because we like to think we are rational, it doesn’t mean we are.

This is where justification comes into play.

When we justify our thinking, we follow through in pursuing our intended goal.

We seek a sense of validation to feel assured.

And, we seek a sense of confirmation to feel safe.

At last, we seek a sense of rationality to feel justified.

Thus, we end up persuaded because it’s right in our logical way of thinking.

Here’s a general formula: “Because of X, then Y.”

Take a look at some logical conversion copywriting examples. These statements justify your reader’s thinking:

“When you buy 3 or more, your savings are bigger.”
“Putting on a jacket will make you warmer.”
“If you buy this pill, all your worries and fears will go away.”
“If you drink milk, then your bones will get stronger.”
“Going to university will make you rich.”
“You should do this, to achieve your goal.”
“The sun makes me happy.”

So next time you want to convert your readers, justify their logic by validating your claims.

It just makes sense to do so.

Limbic brain: Build an emotional connection through perceived value

Humans are empathetic beings by nature, thanks to the emotional part of our limbic brain. We enjoy bonding, connecting with others, listening to stories, and expressing our feelings. After all, it’s the reason why we react to compelling narratives.

Put yourself in this situation.

Would you rather give your money to a charity that believes in a good cause?

Or…

Would you rather give your money to a mega billion-dollar corporation that runs the world?

Now, there is no wrong answer to these scenarios, as our beliefs are subjective.

If you cared about humanity and the social welfare of the world, you would probably give your money to a charity.

If you cared about improving the lives of others through an innovative company, you would probably support the corporation.

Point is, you valued one over the other.

The perceived value theory plays an intrinsic part of human emotion. The theory places more value on things your readers perceive to have more importance.

So, trigger your reader’s emotions by tapping into their biases, favors, and values.

Show your readers the value that your solution provides to their lives.

Reptilian brain: Trigger a sense of fear

Within our reptilian brains, there is one sense we rely on for our survival instincts.

The sense of fear.

In the wild, our fear senses trigger our brain to escape dangerous situations. It’s how we survive to resort to safety and comfort.

Do you ever become fearful over a worrisome situation, you urge to get out of it immediately?

Maybe it’s the fear of failing an exam, so you study more.

Maybe it’s the fear of change, so you stay complacent.

Or, how about the fear of losing a loved one, so you care for them more?

Regardless, your fears motivate you to take action on overcoming fearful triggers.

This is where eliciting a sense of fear in copywriting psychology comes into place.

You can create fear by instilling a sense of urgency to prompt action from your readers.

Here are some words and statements that prompt fear in your readers:

Last chance
Don’t wait
Act soon
Ending
Buy now
Secure yours now
Low inventory
Limited time only
Select choices left
Final sale

Check out these examples that apply the fear of missing out on an irresistible deal.

website using conversion copywriting instilling the sense of fear in advertisement

By having a 24-hour flash sale, instills fear in readers by limiting their time.

website using conversion copywriting instilling the sense of fear in product pages

Here’s a product page. Words like “last call,” “final sale,” and “limited time” promote the fear of visitors missing out on great deals.

It is important to not to manufacture fear in scaring your visitors and readers away. Emotional tactics work at providing a solution that solves your reader’s pain points.

Once you tap into your reader’s minds, you are in full control of the ball.

By implementing psychology in conversion copywriting, you build a human Psychology compliments conversion copywriting. It’s a part of who we are. We are creatures that thrive on the sense of making decisions based on emotion.

Test, re-evaluate, apply

You won’t know how well your sales copy is converting until you test.

Analyze your content regards to what’s working and what isn’t working.

Test your content by diving deep into conversion metrics:

User engagement
Click-through rate
Bounce rate
Exit pages
New visitors
Average session duration
Goal completions
Conversion rate

There is always room for improvement and optimization of your copy.

So your copy doesn’t always have to be perfect the first time around.

Don’t be afraid to reevaluate, revisit, and retest your copy.

Sometimes a small change in wording does the trick in stealing your reader’s hearts away.

Concluding conversion copywriting

As you now know, not all copywriting forms have the same intention or goal.

With conversion copywriting you narrow your strategy in converting your readers.

To recap conversion copywriting strategies:

Write killer headlines. It’s where the conversion process begins. Without it, your content is useless. Try proven strategies like adding numbers, power words, to tapping into readers’ emotions. Make sure to brainstorm a list of ideas too!
Know who your audience is from top to bottom.
Research is an integral part of conversion copywriting that converts readers. Without it is like building a house without a skeletal framework.
When you understand human psychology, you will understand your users better.
Finally, you need to test your copy on a regular basis to see what works.

Once you master this lucrative writing style, you will profit from the rewards that come with it.

What is conversion copywriting?

Conversion copywriting starts at the headline