Texts on the site, in mailings and instagram should sell. But shouting “Buy this best product in the world right now” is not enough – on the contrary, there is a great chance to cause rejection in the audience. How, then, should you write in order to both sell and not annoy?
Let s figure out together what a selling text is, what its tasks are, and how to write a good one. There are many examples for inspiration in the article.
Selling text: what is it and why is it needed
Sorry for the tautology, but this is the text that sells. This is a block that includes an advertisement for a product or service and motivates users to buy.
Selling text tasks:
- inform about the existence of the product;
- show his dignity;
- process objections;
- explain that this particular product or service will cover the client s pain, solve his problem.
Thus, the sales text is needed to make people want to use your goods or services. The main idea of the block should be customer benefit.
Important: If you want to work happily ever after, don t be fooled. It is very easy to lose your reputation, but difficult to restore it. For example, if you produce mass-market cosmetics, there is no point in writing that it will solve all skin problems, from wrinkles to acne. The user will buy your product one day, will not see the promised result and will leave. He will also talk about bad experiences in social networks.
Also important: Even the best copy in the world, written by the world s best copywriter, does not guarantee sales. The purchase decision is also influenced by visuals, cost, site usability, customer mood and another 100,500 factors.
Selling text formats
- Landing page. Informs about the product, reveals the benefits, contains a call: buy, subscribe to newsletters, share contacts, etc.
- Home page. Represents the company. Includes information about a brand, value, product or service. Encourages you to learn more about the product and make a purchase.
- Blog article. Shows the expertise of the authors, increases loyalty and interest in the product.
- Card Product. A brief description of the characteristics, features and benefits. If the product has flaws, they are also worth mentioning – honesty wins.
- Presentation. Forms brand image and demonstrates its benefits.
- Email newsletter. Heats up interest in the product, increases loyalty, creates a need and encourages a purchase.
- Post on social networks. Reveals product benefits, engages in dialogue, builds trust, demonstrates expertise, and sells.
How to write a selling text?
Preparatory stage
Before you can create a genius copy that will explode sales, you need to gather information. Who are you writing for? What is the purpose of the text? What data should I use? Let s take a look at these points.
Target audience, needs and objections
Twilight or ladies of the balzac age? Businessmen with an income of over a million rubles a month or housewives? Having defined the target audience, you will understand how to express thoughts and what language to use for communication.
Divide your consumers according to the following criteria:
- age and gender;
- hobbies, interests;
- geographical position;
- fears, problems, desires;
- motivation to buy;
- income (if possible to establish).
For example, SETTERS has determined that the audience is dominated by millennials and buzzers. Texts in social networks, email newsletters are written in the language of their target audience.
Purpose of the text
Why define a goal:
- understand what data to look for;
- not deviate from the topic;
- to select information valuable for users from the stream of consciousness.
There can be many goals. If you need text just to fill the broadcast, don t write anything better. Your task is to attract the attention of customers: to motivate to go to the site or to the product card, call, fill out an application, engage in communication. This means that the goal must be clear. For example:
- invite to the conference, tell about the cool speakers and knowledge that the participants will receive;
- draw attention to the course: what learners learn about, where to apply new information;
- to tell about the new material for clothes: it does not stain, it does not wrinkle or tear.
Important: after reading the text, the user should have a concrete impression. For example, after reading your applied article on the blog, he should understand: aha, these guys are professionals, how cool and accessible they painted, I will also come to them on other issues.
Information you can rely on
Before you write the text, collect the data. Where to get information:
- experts in your field. They provide up-to-date data, statistics and professional opinion;
- personal experience. Try a product or service and share your impressions;
- competitors. Information in their social networks, on the website will help to create your own proposal;
- audience of competitors. See what problems they are talking about and think about how your product can solve them;
- additional sources: mass media, opinion polls, analytics, tests in independent companies.
Important: check the relevance. First, people love numbers and hard data. Secondly, it is better to do without statistics altogether than to use false information.
Production stage
So, we have decided on the target audience, the goal and the information. It s time to write the text! But how to do that? Models will help to create selling texts. There are many of them, but in the article we will consider the most popular.
Selling text models
AIDA
This is a classic formula that is used to create texts in B2B and B2C: product cards, email newsletters, commercial offers, landing pages. The abbreviation stands for:
- A – attention, attention. Headline and lead that arouse interest in the product.
- I – interest, interest. Product characteristic.
- D – desire, desire. Features, benefits of the product.
- A – action, action. Call to action.
For example:
A – Introducing a unique project from laminated veneer lumber.
I – House for four million rubles, two floors, eight rooms, a terrace and a balcony.
D – We will build in four months, 50 years warranty, free finishing.
A – Go to the project page, leave your application by the end of March, the price will rise in April.
PMHS
Formula of texts for selling goods and services in B2C: posts in social networks, landing pages, advertisements.
- P – pain, pain. A headline and lead that touches on the customer s problem.
- M – more pain, more pain. What will happen if the problem is not solved right now?
- H – hope, hope. There is a solution, and you will tell me which one.
- S – solution, solution. Solution: your product or service.
For example:
P – Running an email channel, but not happy with the results?
M – Everything was set up correctly, but you see that you are draining the budget and subscribers are leaving?
H – There is a solution: order an audit of email newsletters from a marketing agency, that is, from us.
S – We will conduct an audit, find errors and give recommendations on how to make your email channel profitable.
PPPP
Universal model for B2B and B2C. Contains evidence of the need for a purchase and positive emotions from owning a product.
- P – picture, show the picture. This is what the product looks like. Cool, right?
- P – promise, to promise. The advantages of the product, how it will solve the consumer s problem.
- P – prove, confirm. Facts, research, proof that the product works.
- P – push, push to action. Call to buy.
For example:
P – Vitamin C Serum.
R – Convenient to use, suitable for all skin types, removes fine wrinkles, refreshes the complexion.
R – Conducted such and such a study, 95% of the participants saw a difference, 45% had wrinkles under the eyes, 70% noted that the skin became more hydrated, etc.
R – Order on the official website.
Heading
He, like the theme, performs two functions: information and advertising. It s hard to come up with the perfect headline – I know it myself. It is important that he complies with the following rules:
- was helpful and informative;
- was not misleading;
- attracted attention;
- revealed the essence.
For more information on how to create headlines, see the article “How to write email topics in B2B?”. Tips are useful for B2C businesses too.
Lead
This is introductory text, the first paragraph after the heading. It should attract the attention of the reader, briefly introduce the subject and motivate to read the entire text.
The size of the lead depends on the format of the text. Typically, the introductory paragraph covers the problem.
The basis of the selling text
Sizes and type of text depend on the format. It is clear that a post on social networks is different from an expert article and they all do not look like a product card. There is no single instruction for the design of the base. But there is our article “Have you forgotten anything? Checklist before sending the letter”. It covered texts for email newsletters, but the tips may be helpful to you.
Basic requirements for the text:
- Literacy. Spelling, punctuation, semantic errors annoy and reduce confidence.
- Benefit. An illiterate, useful text is better than one that is free from errors, but empty. Prove that your product is beneficial: heals, makes you more active, saves time, etc.
- Pain and emotion. Dry texts are not remembered, but emotional ones are stored in memory for a long time. Add emotion. But do not overdo it, you are not writing a love story ?
Learn more about the requirements for the text in the article “Email etiquette: how to write letters competently”.
Call to action
The selling text should end with a call: buy, register, view, download, leave contacts, etc. More information about the CTA was described in the article “What is a CTA in a letter and how to make a call that will bring conversions”. Tips are relevant for all formats of selling texts.
Sales text checklist
- Remember who your audience is. You are writing the text not for yourself, but for her. Only by solving their problems will you sell the product.
- Write clearly, understandably, and concisely. But not briefly – it depends on your tone of voice. For example, Maxim Ilyakhov always has long mailings, but articles are short, similar to posts on social networks.
- Create engaging headlines. Don t be fooled: If the subject line is about the top 5 most popular hand creams, don t go into details about the eyebrow gel.
- Collect relevant information and double-check it. Users love numbers and research. But it s better not to rely on data at all than to use irrelevant, unverified, or misleading information in your work.
- Use formulas for selling texts: AIDA, PMHS, PPPP or others.
- Put the most important information in the lead – the first paragraph after the headline.
- Use a call to action – control the attention of users.
- Don t sell head-on. Talk to your readers and write in a way that makes them feel the need for your product. Facts, handling objections, and a sincere desire to be useful will help in this.
What is the bottom line?
There is no single formula for a successful selling text. Each author has his own. And sometimes a model that works for one brand is useless for another. Conclusion: you need to test different filing formats.
To write good sales copy, study your target audience, competitors and their customers, connect with experts in your field, get inspired by advertising and the work of recognized professionals. But never steal content, no matter how you like it. And if you really want to do the same, take the idea as a basis, modify it for your business – do something even more beautiful.