It’s best to use methods that have proven themselves many times. Of course, you can rely on momentary inspiration, dazzle or a rush of ingenuity, but if you want to achieve consistently good results, bet on what just works.

Persuasion in sales copywriting boils down to the use of proven principles. Copywriters who are convincing know how to appeal to specific human desires and needs. Their understanding and ability to use this in the texts will allow you to increase the effectiveness of your messages, i.e. the strength of their persuasion. But what are the rules of knowledge? Let me explain!

People value what is not enough

This rule says that people are more willing to buy a product that is (or will be soon) short of. This means that the value of a given item increases as its availability decreases. Some products are bought because of their usability, appearance or capabilities, and others because of their uniqueness.

Sales copywriting uses this dependence for a long time and in various forms. See how you can increase the value of your product or service in the eyes of customers, guided by the principle of shortage.

A. Quantity
“Limited Edition”, “Collector’s Edition” – these are messages whose limitation refers to quantity. They work great in B2C sales. It is used by footwear and clothing brands, producing children’s toys and many others.

Example:
“Only 200 pairs of limited edition XYZ fluorescent shoes will go on sale on Friday!”

B. Time
In the context of this limit, products are sold within a specified time frame. This can be seen great on the online course market. The authors, long before opening sales, intensively promote their product, then opening its sale for only a few days or a week. Time pressure makes people make purchasing decisions faster – they are aware that the offer is not eternal.

What do these messages look like? Maybe you associate mailings like:
“Last 2 hours! We are closing the sale of the XYZ course in a moment ”

C. Threat
If you do not take specific action, the existing privilege or convenience will disappear. This method may be associated with a shortage of time, but here it is about permanently depriving the recipient of a specific opportunity – this is the basis of the message, not the deadline. See:

“The plan to close the local confectionery factory is due to the low number of visitors. So take your toddler there or lose this opportunity! “

D. Targeting
The product or service is directed to a selected, specific group of customers. These may be people who have previously bought a specific item and now you would like to sell them something else. It is worth pointing out that the offer is only available to them because, for example, they have fulfilled certain conditions.

“How is your new coffee machine working? Because as one of the few customers you bought it online from us, you can get coffee capsules 50% cheaper! “

E. Invitation
The service is available only to people who will be invited, e.g. by one of the current users. This not only builds the impression of inaccessibility and exclusivity, but also increases curiosity.

“Our new functionality is currently only available in beta. You must receive an invitation with a link to access it. “

From a psychological point of view, the shortage principle used in sales copywriting is effective because it is based on the loss of some opportunity and fear of regret.

If a product is available all the time, the customer feels confident and at ease – he knows that he can buy it at any time. He has the freedom to choose whether he will do it now or in a week. However, when you suddenly limit its availability, the customer loses this opportunity and reacts against this change by buying a product.

At the same time, people have a strong fear of regret, that is, they are afraid that if they do not buy the product now, when they have the opportunity, then they will regret it. If this fear is strong enough, it is easier for them to spend money – they treat this investment as a form of security.

Traps

When using the principle of shortage in your copywriting, remember to do it properly. If you want it to work in favor of your offer, you must use it in a thoughtful way. Below are three basic rules that you need to keep in mind.

– Deficiency should not be the main advantage / value of the offer – it’s just an add-on that strengthens the basic message,
– If you produce something massively and at the same time try to support sales, e.g. with the slogan “limited collection”, do not count on spectacular effects. Similarly with discounts: if the same “Last sale days” banners have been hanging from store display cabinets for several weeks, people will quickly stop believing in this sale. Your message must be consistent with what you really do,
– Not every product / service can or should be promoted with the support of the shortage principle. The sales model for everyone, without any quantitative or temporal restrictions is also appropriate. Which path you choose depends on the overall brand strategy and the campaign.

Sales copywriting often raises sympathy

We buy more willingly than those we like. Among other things, this is why well-known actors, singers and popular Youtubers appear so often in commercials. People are more likely to follow the directions of the people they identify with, who are familiar, have similar views or are a role model or authority for them.

How can a copywriter use the crush principle as a form of persuasion? After all, he does not meet his recipients face to face. Only words are available. Or maybe a word?

Usually, sales texts focus immediately on the benefits of purchasing a given product or service. However, if you want to arouse sympathy at the beginning, you can start the content with a skillfully written compliment. See an example:

“If you work remotely, you know perfectly well that it doesn’t mean all day in bed with a laptop on your lap. If you work effectively, you probably already have a great time management or avoid distractions. To make 100% remote work you need to solve only one problem … “

Such an introduction shows that you understand the situation of the recipient, identify with him and at the same time appreciate how much he has achieved on his own. In this way, as a copywriter, you will find a common language with the reader from the very beginning, thanks to which he will be more eager to find out what you have to say to him.

The principle of sympathy, like any technique, must be used skillfully. Its foundation is proper knowledge of the recipient – his needs, everyday life and expectations. It will be difficult for you to create an effective text if you set too broad a target group. The narrower it gets, the easier it will be to personalize your message.

Write also about the disadvantages

Copywriters very often focus only on the benefits and benefits of the products or services they describe. They try to show them in superlatives, which often creates a seemingly unreal image of the offer. Because are there ideal things? They may exist, but people rarely believe in them – especially when they have to buy something.

Much faster and easier you will gain the trust of the recipient and arouse credibility when you also write about the disadvantages of your product or service. In this way you can also position it for specific clients.

Someone is looking for the cheapest solution and you offer it, but at the same time there is a doubt about quality? Explain to the customer what the lower price is for.

“Our product is cheaper because we gave up several functions almost unused by customers, and instead we focused on refining key functionalities. Thanks to this we have obtained optimal quality in relation to the price. “

Why is such a description more effective? Because it contains a logical explanation and at the same time an assurance that the basic functionalities (i.e., most likely the reason why the customer wants to buy it when it comes to the bottom price shelf) will work flawlessly.

Show the specifics

By accessing websites you can find many terms saying:

“You will achieve success with us”
“We respond quickly to any requests”

Do you know what connects them? That they actually say nothing and do not inform about anything. Because what does “success” or “quickly ” mean? Probably something different for everyone. General statements and assurances do not sound credible and poorly sell, because the recipient does not see in them specific values for themselves and their business.

By adding specific information, you can easily increase the persuasive power of your messages:

“With us you will increase your revenue by up to 30% in 6 months”
“We respond to all requests within 24 hours”

Do you see the difference? Which message would inspire your trust faster? Similarly with the customer – specific information increases the credibility of the content.

Rely on authority

Do you remember that people are more eager to buy from the ones they like? But not only from them. They value and are ready to succumb to the suggestions of those whom they consider to be experts in a given industry.

Therefore, use authority as an argument. Include in your texts expert statements (e.g. scientists in a given field), links to research or statistics. Make sure that the information you provide is well-founded.

Remember that the authority you refer to is to be an authority primarily for the recipients, it does not necessarily have to be for you. Ads very often use images of teenage stars to promote cosmetics for young girls. Of course, actresses usually have no idea if the compositions of these products are good and they themselves, e.g. pleasant to use, because they do not use them.

However, the involvement of female fans is so great that it is enough to remove their pretty face with a given cosmetic and a short description to convince the girls to buy. This is an excellent way to show how persuasive authority can be, even unjustified.

Summary

The above techniques will help you relatively easily increase the effectiveness of your sales copywriting. You don’t have to use all of them – at first, get to know your target group well, then think about which methods will be most effective in your case. Often more is not better.

In what order should the information be arranged? – is one of the most common questions about writing expert articles. There are many answers. Unfortunately, none of them will ever be the only right one. Because what we want to say affects how we arrange the content.

For example, the rule of the inverted pyramid (consisting of the fact that we start with the most important information and end with irrelevant details) will work in the news, but it is unlikely to be useful in the scientific text in which the most important conclusions are drawn at the end.

In the “Writing about knowledge” series I stick to the assumption that an expert article resembles a lesson. Therefore, knowledge should not only be clearly laid out, but also easier to remember. If so, it is good to know a rule governing memory that can affect both the structure of a good lesson and a successful expert article.

What effect on remembering takes place in a row

Almost 150 years ago, psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus began researching memory. He created over 2,000 meaningless syllables (such as RUL or HAL) and created lists of them, consisting of 7-36 elements. Then he memorized each list by heart and wrote down how many times he had to repeat the syllables to flawlessly recreate the whole.

He came to the conclusion that it is easier to remember the items beginning and ending the list than those inside.

For example, if the list contains 9 words, a person will remember on average 70% of the first three words, 40% of the three middle and 60% of the last three words.

But the order of reminding will be the reverse. Now, if someone would give you a list of vocabulary to teach, and then ask you to say or write down the words you recall, you would probably be the first to think of the words at the end of the list. It’s an effect of freshness. Then you recall the words that appeared at the beginning. This is a priority effect.

Why does the place in the row affect the ability to remember? There are many explanations.

We devote more attention to what is at the beginning, and therefore there is a greater chance that we will repeat this information and transfer it to long-term memory. However, the last words for a moment after reading the content remain in short-term memory and can be quickly extracted from there.

Please note that what is at the beginning and at the end is not remembered the same. The difference is in how you remember. The priority effect benefits from the benefits of long-term memory, while the effect of freshness – short-term.

Conclusions for writers?

What will appear at the beginning of the text has a chance to be saved permanently in the memory of the reader, while what at the end may briefly, but strongly, influence him. The effect of freshness appears just after reading the content and does not last long.

It’s good to start the expert text with the most difficult issues and end with an effective punch line or emotional appeal.

How to start with what is most important

Suppose you are writing a text about motivation. To emphasize the main thought, you can start e.g.

Motivation consists of two feelings. First of all: the belief that what you are going to do is useful. Second: faith that you can do the job.

Specialists from the Nielsen Norman Group, an organization that has been dealing with user experience for over 20 years, advise you to start the online text with a summary of the most important information.

Articles on nngroup.com are preceded by a short paragraph, announced by the word highlighted in red. An example summary reads, e.g .:

Users expect the “About Us” page to be transparent, authentic and understandable. They compare its content with the opinions of clients to create a full opinion about the company before proposing business cooperation or applying for a job.

Even if you fail to formulate the lid in this way, you still have the chance to take advantage of the priority effect. Why? Because the most important beginning for the reader is not the beginning.

The authors of one study divided the articles into 5 parts and checked in which of them the focus is on the most. In the case of articles considered later useful, the participants devoted the most attention not to the exact beginning of the text (0-20% of the content), but to the next part (20-40%).

Readers expect to find the most useful content here. To convince the reader to read, it is necessary to get to the point as soon as possible (but not immediately), and not just to tempt and encourage.

The beginning influences which pattern is arranged in the mind of the recipient, and therefore what he will expect. So, if the beginning of the article is not very substantial, the reader will be afraid that the rest will also not meet his expectations.

In the article you are reading now, I devoted the beginning of the text to research because, in my opinion, they are the most difficult part of it, and they are also supposed to convince the reader that the text is reliable.

The priority effect applies not only to the beginning of the entire text, but also to specific paragraphs or sentences.

In one study, each of the two groups received one sentence about Steve’s traits. The features were the same in both cases, but in a different order. How would you rate Steve if you found out he was “smart, urgent, critical, impulsive and jealous,” and how would you know that he was “jealous, impulsive, critical, urgent and smart”?

Does he seem more sympathetic after reading the first sentence, and more antipathetic after reading the second? Although the results of this study are more complex, one of the experiments proves the existence of a priority effect, resulting from the place of the word in the sentence.

How to manage the rest of the text

We’ve established that we start with what is most important and the most difficult. And what about the part that most often escapes memory, i.e. the middle of the text?

After what is important and difficult, go to what is simple and less new (in this article this is the part you are reading now). Then a cutscene may appear, e.g. a movie, an image.

Remember to always place captions under the pictures in the expert text. Many studies confirm that we read them several times more often than the main text. In addition, which is unique in online reading, we read them carefully, and some even start reading from the signatures.

As you approach the end of the article, you can take advantage of the freshness effect and move on to more difficult information (in this article it is a part about interlacing). It is best to close the expert text with a summary. I ended the article with bullets, but if you want to suggest something more original to the reader, you can, for example, draw a mind map.

Of course, you will not always be able to arrange the information in this way. Anyway, the division into easy and difficult is a subjective matter. An easy-to-follow passage does not have to be such in the reader’s eyes.

Fortunately, you don’t always have to act in line with the row effect. You can also … work around it. To do this, you need to know its limitations.

When the effect of a place in a row loses meaning

The priority effect is less pronounced when the individual elements are presented to the reader quickly. So it may not occur when you scan quickly. We also feel it less when the text is long.

Limited effect also has a freshness effect. If something distracts the reader’s attention right after reading it, this effect may not appear at all.

Unfortunately, the priority effect also makes it difficult to remember later messages. This is because we reject information that is not consistent with the information presented previously.

In other words, if the recipient accepts the first message, he will reject the next ones that contradict him. He finds it unreliable. So if you want to present different points of view, announce it early enough. So I did in this article:

There are many answers. Unfortunately, none of them will ever be the only right one. Because what we want to say affects how we arrange the content.

Above all, however, the effect of place in a row occurs most often when information is not varied. So, to get around it, you need to take care of diversity.

Why interleaving helps to understand

The creators of one study wanted to find out whether interlacing can affect the ability to better recognize the artist’s style. Study participants viewed the paintings of 12 more and less known artists. Half of the students watched the works gathered in blocks, i.e. for example 6 Braque landscapes, 6 Cross and so on.

The other half watched mixed landscapes, so one image of Braque, then one of Cross and others. Then, the subjects were to see other landscapes of the same artists and subordinate them to their names.

The results of the study were surprising. Well, the group that studied mixed works came out a lot better. How is this possible?

“Interleaving examples, skills or concepts helps us, it seems, not only to see the differences between them, but also to better capture each thing individually.” – Benedict Carey.

According to Carey, interlacing, thanks to the element of surprise, prepares the brain for the unknown. It is an adventure. The moment we see something unrelated to the rest, our brain begins to work harder to answer the question Where did it come from?

There is another reason why those who saw mixed images passed the test with a better result. Well, the test questions are usually mixed up. So if we recognize different types of tasks while learning, it will be easier for us to match the solution to them when they appear during the knowledge test. Interlacing teaches you to choose from various problems.

The meaning of interlacing is easier to refer to, let’s assume mathematics, but can this be the way to learn history? Of course! Instead of an outline of the city’s history, you can offer the reader a collection of secrets associated with it.

Let’s say you run a Facebook page dedicated to the history of French cinema. Your subsequent entries do not have to relate to chronologically arranged events. What’s more, you can mix trivia about actors with fragments of reviews or film riddles. The more content types you mix, the better.

Perhaps one of the reasons for the popularity of Facebook pages is precisely that they actually force the author to such interlacing.

How to use interleaving in an article

However, if you want to use the benefits of interlacing in the article, you must first of all provide diversity to the reader. Just like Neil Patel does. His article on how to optimize the link description could consist of text only.

And Patel is different. About once every 400 characters, an image appears in the article. The graphics are varied. These are diagrams, diagrams, charts, screenshots, fragments of infographics. In almost each of these paintings we see a trace of the author’s interference, and thus arrows and explanations.

To make the content even more attractive, you can go a step further and prepare a visual note.

If you place the movie more or less in the middle of the text, it will act as an interlude.

And if you do not plan to include images or movies in the text, because they simply do not match your content? Then you can interweave not so much types of content (e.g. text, image, film) as types of statements (e.g. story, commentary, example).

However, in order for this diversity not to overwhelm the reader, you need to prepare something for him …

Prepare a cream cake

A strange headline, right? But because it stands out, you will probably remember it better than the others. I do not mean dessert, but the most effective way of reading on the internet.

Well, internet readers have long discovered that scanning can be as beneficial as reading, although it costs less time and effort.

And it is not at all cynical, as it may seem. Well, reading on the internet usually serves to perform a task. One reads carefully online, not so much because of laziness but because of the need for efficiency. Recipients want to complete the task quickly and efficiently.

The internet reader is very busy. He wants to get an exhaustive answer and knows that he probably won’t find it in one place, so he opens several pages at once. Yours is one of them. The challenge for you is to facilitate this search.

And what does this have to do with the cream cake?

Well, the most effective way to read from the screen is not at all like the notorious letter F, but a cream cake. The headings are layers of cream, and the text between them – a cake.

The reader’s eye focuses on the title and subheadings. Sometimes the eyes glide over the text below, until you can locate the content you are looking for. From this moment the recipient reads carefully.

Yes, there is also careful reading on the internet. Recipients read carefully when they believe they are in the best place to get information.

To enable the reader to read in the style of cream cakes, you should write concise and encouraging headlines. They cannot announce too much or too little. The headlines should also stand out graphically to increase the functionality of the site.

Summary

– What is at the beginning of the text has a chance to be saved permanently in the memory of the reader.
– What is at the end may briefly, but have a stronger impact on it.
– The most important beginning of the text is not the very beginning, but the content within the first 20-40%.
– From the most difficult it is good to go to what is simple and less new, then serve the reader a break, then take up more difficult issues and end with a summary.
– To bypass the effect of space in a row, take care of diversity and use the interlacing principle.
– You will make it easier for the reader to complete the task if you enable him to read the cream-style cake.

For an advertising campaign to work, the ads must meet Google’s requirements. Below are some of the most common errors that can be an obstacle to the display of Google Ads text ads. At the same time, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that in some cases new ads may be accepted “from the machine” and displayed until Google notes that they are inconsistent with the company’s policy. That is why from the very beginning it is worth ensuring compliance with advertising rules.

Potential errors in the Google Ads campaign

Items that may cause your ad to be rejected or disapproved:

– no editorial requirements met – Google cares about the high quality of advertisements and the message presented to Internet users. For this reason, it may block texts that are not transparent or professional, i.e. texts that:

– they present too short and general ads containing unclear information or abbreviations that are difficult to understand,

– exceed the permissible number of characters,

– they contain too many special characters, punctuation and symbols, e.g. exclamation marks, question marks, etc.,

– contain illegal punctuation in the header, e.g. exclamation marks,

– are a combination of different characters, e.g. 4DID4S,
– use only uppercase letters, e.g. HIGH-QUALITY SILK SHIRTS, RICH COLOR OFFER. BUY NOW,
– they were written contrary to the rules of spelling or grammar
– they contain a too general or mismatched call to action, eg “Click here”,
– they contain emoticons in addition to standard text,
– they have too many or too few spaces between characters / words,
– they have a phone number in the content of the ad,

– no min. 2 headers – Google currently allows (in standard, so-called extended text ads) to use up to 3 headers and 2 lines of text. There is no obligation to use the third heading and the second line of text, but for the advertisement to be accepted it must have at least 2 headers,

– illegal content in advertising text – this is content related to products that cannot be advertised as part of Google Ads, e.g. alcohol, medicines, gambling. Please also note that Google may preventively disapprove content that “associates” with prohibited products,

– illegal content on the landing page – as above, this is content about products that are prohibited from advertising. An example would be the situation of one of our customers who had T-shirts in their offer printed with glasses of champagne. Information about the overprint, which was included in the product description on the page, resulted in the rejection of ads,

– promoting counterfeit products – since Google absolutely prohibits the advertising and sale of counterfeits, all products that only imitate the features of a particular brand will not be accepted or will be rejected,

– shocking, offensive, erotic, promoting hatred, intolerance, discrimination or violence – Google pays special attention to mutual respect and tries not to offend the feelings of Internet users. For this reason, it is not possible to advertise, e.g. firearms, products targeted at a selected ethnic group or use vulgar language in the content of advertisements,

– content impossible to verify – slogans such as: “Manufacturer of the best coffee grinders”, “Running shoes No. 1 in the world”, “Most frequently bought dietary supplements”, “The best diet catering – no competition has any chance with us”,

– problems arising from the landing page – Google very much wants internet users clicking on ads to be satisfied with what they will see after switching to the website. The landing page must therefore first of all work and be useful for Internet users. The following page issues may cause your ads to be disapproved:

– targeting ads to a dead landing page,
– no connection between the displayed URL and the actual website address, e.g. “google.com” redirects the internet user to “gmail.com”,
– it is not possible to display the page in standard browsers,
– no possibility to click the “Back” button in the browser.

The great advantage of the Google Ads system is the fact that after rejecting the ad, there is no need to combine and guess what could be the reason for this. Yes, as you can see in the above screenshots, if the advertisement cannot be accepted at the stage of its creation, the system always gives the reason for the inability to save the advertisement. However, if the system rejects an ad that has been running for some time, its status (in the Google Ads panel) is changed to “Disapproved”, and when you hover over the ad approval status, you’ll be given an explanation of the problem.

In addition, on Google support pages you can find a lot of valuable information and tips on editorial and technical requirements related to advertising, which should be taken into account at the very beginning of the campaign.

What determines the price at the copywriter?

The rate for the texts depends mainly on three factors:
– Type of texts – the more difficult the topic and the more demanding the query, the higher the price;
– Order volumes – wholesale orders are cheaper;
– Cooperation time – copywriters usually offer more favorable terms to regular contractors.

To the above variables, there are issues of competence, individual financial expectations and scope of responsibilities (some copywriters offer to put content on a blog or graphic design). The valuation is further complicated by the number of possible corrections and even the possibility of issuing an invoice. This thicket of information makes the copywriter’s price list unique and adapted to each writer-bidder.

Contemporary trends on the copywriting market

Until recently it was said that due to the increase in competition the amount converter for 1000 characters will be consistently falling. Meanwhile, the market has not reacted by falling prices to an increasingly large group of SEO copywriters – contrary to expectations, the range of rates increases, and the financial expectations of copywriters have a wide range.

The reason for this gap is that the creation of substantive content is undoubtedly a difficult task. The work of experts never loses value. Some companies do not want to save on their image, so they can afford more expensive copywriters who create fully professional texts.

What rates are we talking about? How are the “price ranges” currently shaped and how much does good content cost?

Copywriting rates

Below are the average rates that you can most often encounter when browsing cooperation offers.
– Blogging articles: from $ 10 to $ 50 for 1000 characters.
– Back-up texts: from $ 3 to $ 18 for 1000 characters.
– Product and category descriptions: from $ 8 to $ 30 for 1000 characters.
– Content per page: from $ 200 to $ 1000 counted as a whole for the project.
– Leaflet texts: from $ 30 to $ 200.
– Naming and advertising slogans: from $ 100 to $ 5000 per project.

As you can see, the amounts vary and it is impossible to define a universal solution that will prove to be profitable. Each company has different needs, which is why the choice of copywriting prices will always depend on financial possibilities and expectations regarding the quality of texts.

Billing for signs or for the whole project?

There is also no ready answer to the question of how to settle accounts with the copywriter. The predetermined cost of the project is convenient and transparent, although it is not easy to get a fixed length of the text – most often it is referred to the target value around which the volume of content oscillates.

As for the characters with spaces, this converter accurately reflects the price due for copywriting, but it can lead to some misunderstandings depending on which fragments are counted (it is not always known whether tags, meta-descriptions, alternative texts are subject to it). For this reason, when establishing cooperation with a copywriter, it is worth making sure that the settlement rules have been established clearly.

Price for copywriting – summary

Talking about money is never easy and comfortable, so it’s even more important to clearly define what elements make up the final price of copywriting.

The range of amounts is wide, so specify your expectations and budget before you set out to find the perfect copywriter. Remember to clearly specify the requirements for the quality of the texts, as well as the scope of responsibilities and the number of possible corrections.