17 Must-Know Conversion Copywriting Hacks

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Growing your readership is desirable, but it’s not enough. Professional copywriters need to convert that audience into an active customer base. How? Through a mix of effective copywriting techniques and powerful conversion copywriting hacks.

Here are 17 proven copywriting strategies that can help drive up sales and give you an edge over your competition.

1. Make it Rhyme

Yes, really. Rhyming as a copywriting technique helps to create a pleasant connection and makes content memorable. Along with alliteration, a simple rhyme will stretch the effectiveness of a sentence.

2. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Repetition of key points in your copy will help the reader remember them.

3. Add the Human Element

Your readers want to identify with you, so appeal to their humanness to make a positive, memorable connection. Prove that you are “just like them” in that you’ve suffered the same problem, enjoyed the same experiences, or have the same needs or desires.

4. Use the Word “Get”

People want, and if you have something to give, then tell them how to get it. Using the word “get” in copy can be a powerful conversion hack, playing into one of your readers’ main weaknesses — their urge to acquire.

5. Employ the Bizarreness Effect

If your content is cliche and boring, it’s probably not memorable? The unusual and unexpected will surprise your reader and make a lasting impression.

6. Or, the Primacy and Recency Effect

Basically, the theory of primacy and recency states that readers recall the first and/or last parts of what they have seen. When you want your copy to be effective and persuasive, be sure to place the key points at the beginning and end of your copy for maximum retention.

7. Make it Scannable

Blame the internet if you like, but today’s readers could more accurately be called scanners. Nobody is going to sit down and ingest full paragraphs of online copy. Make your copy concise and scannable, with the most important information highlighted at the beginning and end of your content.

8. Speak to the Heart

To make that all-important connection that compels readers to take action, make sure you are telling a story that appeals to their emotions, since that is what will incite them to take action and become customers.

9. Focus on Benefits

In your copy, put emphasis on the benefits of buying your product or service, not the features that it boasts.

10. Knock ‘em Down With Subtlety

With so much information constantly at their fingertips, readers are getting smarter all the time. Subtlety has always been a keystone of great copywriting, but it is more important than ever to convince your reader that they are taking action because they want to, not because you told them to.

11. Be Transparent

Transparency and honesty earn trust, so be truthful about the good stuff as well as the bad. Let your readers know what problems you have had. If you solved the problems, explain how. If you have a problem to solve, ask your readers for help; they’ll appreciate your honesty and will feel a sense of involvement in the process.

12. Ask Questions You Can Answer

Start out asking the reader a question you already have the answer to. This works to build a connection, since you obviously understand the reader, and to establish yourself as an authority once you provide the answer.

13. Back it Up

Back up your claims with specific proof of how good your product or service really is. Don’t just proclaim that rates have increased. Add that they have increased 70% in the last 6 months! This will get the reader’s attention much more than empty statements.

14. Use Testimonials

Share a client testimonial or two instead of just expecting the reader to rely on your own proclamations. Word-of-mouth advertising is one of the most powerful conversion tools, and it can be effective even if the word comes from a stranger.

15. Embed Commands

Use embedded commands to secretly instruct the reader to take action. An example would be: “I am going to let you digest what you just read and think about how beautiful my product would look around your dainty wrist.”

16. Follow Best Practices

This requires continuing education, but staying informed of industry standards, search engine algorithm changes, and best practices for copywriting will help you be more effective and gain both readership and conversions.

17. Use a Postscript

Write a strong and memorable postscript (or P.S.) at the very end of your copy. This is can either shore up repetition of a strong point or serve as a call to action.

There is no one sure path to a higher conversion rate, but using a combination of at least three of these conversion copywriting hacks and techniques can help set you on the path to success.

P.S. – If you would add anything to this list, please let us know in the comments!