Conversion Rate & Web Optimisation Specialists - Click2Conversions

I had the pleasure last week of attending a 2 day course in Writing for Business run by Piers Alder, an experienced freelance copywriter who does some work as a lecturer for professional writing courses. Piers was a pleasure to learn from - his knowledge was clear and he imparted it well without being patronising. Examples both fun and business-relevant were used and he interacted well with his devoted following. Highly recommended.

Given my work in conversion rate optimisation (CRO) I found much from this course to put into practice and wanted to share some of this over 2 or 3 blog posts. So below find some things to think about regarding the ‘Truth’, simplicity of language and personas:

Truth equals conversions

It sounds obvious, but the stretching, distorting or the losing altogether of truth will not sit well with your customers. Don’t try & dress something up as what it isn’t - keep it straightforward and straight talking. Avoid the passive voice, it serves only to confuse or encourage mistrust and you will appear unwilling to be direct or take responsibility. I’m not sure how much ambiguity there is here in terms of current common practice, but I think it’s worth reviewing all your copy just in case.

Be as simple as you can

Why use long words when a short one will do? Personally I often delight when I think of a juicy, long (often Latin) word to replace my pithy Anglo-Saxon word, but at the end of the day it’s pointless showing off what will often serve to confuse or alienate your visitors. Take the following very extreme examples which might appear on an ecommerce landing page:

“Reductions will cease shortly- consequently endeavour to purchase immediately!”

“Sale ends soon - buy now!”

While the first is exaggerated to the nth degree I think the point is illustrated - don’t make people think! The quicker they can read this information the quicker they can make the decision you are looking for. Unless you’re exclusively serving a market of pedantic, 1950s professors I would aim short and not long in your word length where you can.

This is part of a grander philosophy in writing known as “Kill Your Darlings” about the best little chunks of writing that you have often struggled to fit into the grander plan, the overall document. You’ll be so proud of that sentence or 2, and frustrated with the bland filler that surrounds it. Instead of changing everything else, the thinking is simple: Delete your masterpiece. Yep, that’s right, Backspace all the way, it has to be that simple.

I think this is most pertinent in a business context (and online I’m thinking product descriptions here) as your customer is not there to read you showing off how well you use the English language. They might be mildly impressed and may well raise an eyebrow in admiration, maybe even remark upon it casually to a friend. But they’ll then exit to a site where they can understand what it is they’re buying in plain English (and I’m sure other languages, I imagine this is trans-lingual) and convert away their pounds, pesos or roubles. Your loss, not theirs.

Write to your target

Personas are a much talked about aspect of CRO, as they help you to explore buying behaviours and almost have a tangible person you are working towards serving. In terms of writing it also covers the tone of voice and the level of language you are pitching at. The point made was you should imagine when writing copy about your business, products or services that you are telling someone face to face.

As an example, if you’re selling parts for musical instruments targeting the beginner-intermediate market it might be best to pretend you’re talking to a 13 year old boy or his 35 year old mother rather than trying out your copy on your equally bearded, middle aged and leather jacketed business partner. If you know either boy or his mother, or better both, try it out on them, and their friends.

While you don’t necessarily want to become over colloquial, the notion that you have to write in a different way to how you speak is often a big misnomer that causes companies to over complicate their business copy and not address their target directly.

Of course, it comes back to testing, and as with all these things this isn’t something you should do just once, but always review and improve. More to come soon.

Matt Stephens.