Best practices for effective copywriting
ARTWORK BY Chezarit Mattie
Copywriting often feels hard. After all, it’s an equal mix of marketing, psychology, and clear communication. Especially in tech marketing, it means writing about complex, technical topics and somehow still sounding like a human. But it doesn’t have to be all that confusing or difficult. Here are my top 5 best practices for writing clear and compelling copy for product messaging, blog posts, webpages, and ads.
1 Know your audience
Knowing who you are writing for is the first critical step. Is your audience technical or not? Do they understand the complex terminology and jargon that you use internally? Will adding these words confuse them?
Successful copywriting begins with knowing who your audience is and how to communicate with them. If you haven't already done so, I recommend spending some time developing personas.
Personas are archetypal representations of your real users that help you better understand their experiences, feelings, behaviors, and goals.
With this work done upfront, you will be able to speak to the right people with language that resonates with them.
2 Start with clear and compelling headlines
Research shows that the average internet surfer will read 80% of headlines, but only 20% of those surfers will read your writing. What does this mean?
Headlines are more strategic than you think — they’re your first chance to hook your readers and show them the value of your content. The headline you choose is extremely important and determines if your audience will actually read your content.
The key to crafting great headlines is to be direct. The headline can almost be thought of as an overview of the piece. A tip here is to describe the value of your content in eight to twelve words (or under 70 characters). What value will your audience get from reading your content? At its core, that value can be boiled down to just a few words. And if you’re finding it’s impossible to do that, try again (I promise you can, it just takes a bit of thinking).
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3 Use simple language
It’s hard for us writers, but it’s important. When copywriting, it’s important to tone down the fancy language and write naturally or the way you speak. A rule of thumb I like to use is if I wouldn’t say it to a friend, I don’t write it.
Adding words like “superfluous” and “frivolous” never really add much value since they don’t usually relate to your key user or target persona. Rather, you can be so much more impactful by just being clear and using easy-to-understand language. This brings me to my next point...
4 Get to the point
Nobody wants to read lengthy, overly detailed, or tangential content. And as copywriters, we sometimes fall into the trap of believing that long content means higher search rankings and better results. But that’s far from the truth. If the content isn't truly valuable to your reader, they won't interact with it and ultimately won't take action.
That’s why after I write my first draft, I always ask myself these three questions as a quick pulse check:
Is it relevant?
Is it really needed?
Is it providing value to my readers?
If the answer to any of these is “no,” then it’s time for me to cut.
I go through and start to highlight the key themes and concepts I want my readers to pay attention to. Any fluff around those ideas that aren’t adding direct value is immediately scrapped. By the end of this exercise, I usually end up scrapping 30-40% of my original copy (and this works every time).
5 Read what you write out loud
The things we write often sound good on paper, but they don't resonate quite as well as we thought they would when we read them aloud. I recommend always reading your copy aloud to ensure it’s readable and makes sense.
Maybe there’s a tongue twister, a spelling mistake, or even an idea that you thought was great but now sounds absurd; reading your writing aloud will help you hear if your thoughts connect throughout your writing.
