5 Things to Remember When Writing Landing Page Copy

Most people in online marketing are pulling double duty. It could be managing social accounts, designing ads, setting bids for digital advertising, but, usually, it includes copywriting.

But, it’s difficult to become a copywriting expert in a day. Below, I’ve outlined 5 tips you can use to polish up your copy. After all, copy is one of the most important pieces of any landing page!

1. Remember, Context Matters!

Before you build a landing page, you should have already defined your marketing goal. Your marketing goal determines whether your page is successful. But, it also dictates the context for your entire user experience.

For example: imagine our goal was to gather more emails for our nurturing campaigns. That goal determines what kind of traffic we’re looking for, and how we should treat those leads after we’ve gained them. We’re not going to bring people to this landing page if they’re looking for a way to buy our services.

Before you compile or write any copy, draw your marketing funnel out. Label each step. Consider where the users are coming from and where you’ll send them next.

Then, as you build your page, consult that funnel and ask “is this where this copy belongs in this step of the funnel?”

Pay Attention to Your Call-to-Action

If you’re reading this post, you’re probably beyond using “submit” for the call-to-action on your forms. Just like designers love to hate on Papyrus, marketers love to poke fun at those who are making the common mistake of generic buttons.

And yet, generic copy in call-to-actions still prevails.

“Get Started,” “Next Step,” and “Finish” are just as common as the dreaded “Submit” button. Not only do these provide zero motivation for users, there is no clarity about what happens next.

Consider context again:

• What is a user expecting when they click that button?
• Why are they filling out the form to begin with?
• Is there any fear or hesitation associated with clicking your call-to-action?

It’s important to make it clear to users how completing your form is going to impact their life. Usually you’ll want to emphasize the benefits of that action,and tell them what’s going to happen next.

So, instead of using “Get Started” for a free consultation form, try “Let’s Talk About My Business” or “Have an Expert Contact Me for a Free Consultation.” These CTAs might be a bit longer, but they offer the kind of clarity and benefit to users that they need to actually convert.

Get Rid of the Jargon

In university, I learned that I didn’t truly understand something until I could teach it to someone else.

When it comes to digital marketing, I’d like to add—you don’t know your product or service until you can explain it WITHOUT jargon.

The etymology of Jargon comes from Middle English. It was synonymous with “chattering” or “gibberish.” That’s not something that belongs on your landing page.

Explain how your product or service works in the simplest terms. Get rid of meaningless buzzwords or confusing acronyms. Unbounce has even created a tool to help you catch these words and replace them with more specific terms.

There are a few situations where jargon is appropriate, but that will be determined by the context (see how important context is?!).

Steal Copy from Satisfied Customers

If there’s anyone who understands the benefit of your product or service, it will be your customers. They know what is really useful for people in their situation and they don’t care about any of the fluff.

Take pieces of your testimonials and turn them into your copy! This will create incredible copy that resonates with potential customers.

Let me show you what I mean. Here are two testimonials that Disruptive Advertising has received:

Even though both of these are fairly short, there are quality pieces of copy for marketing employees:

• Disruptive Makes You Look Like a Hero
• We’re Dedicated to Your Company’s Success
• Take the Drama Out of Decision Making
• Let Your Marketing Data Speak for Itself

These are just the low hanging fruits. Every review from a TRULY satisfied customer will have at least one gem and tell you exactly what resounds with your customer base.

Inject Your Page With Urgency

You’ll often see marketers do this in the most generic way, such as “This is a limited time offer!”

No one believes that. You have to be specific.

Customers have been exposed to the same marketing ploys for years and recognize them as just that: ploys. You have to create REAL urgency.

Here are a few ideas:

• If you have a sale that’s ending, tell them a real world reason why.
• Tell them your deadline for getting a shipment delivered by Christmas.
• Tell them that an exterminator can be there the same day if they call before noon.
• Tell them how many products you have in stock, and how long they’re going to have to wait if they don’t act now.

You can even bring urgency to a page by telling users exactly what their life is currently missing. If the benefits of your product or service are as great as you say they are, then they won’t want to live another day without it.

Conclusion

Great landing page copy can really improve the effectiveness of your marketing. In many cases, your copy will be the difference between a ho-hum landing page experience and a “I gotta have that” experience.

By the way, if you’d like me to take a look at your current landing pages and give you some recommendations on how to improve your landing page copy, let me know here or in the comments! I’d love to help.

Got any tips for improving landing page copy? Share them in the comments!