Conversion Current 2.1

Hooking your reader. Sparking interest. Engagement-maxing (ew).

Whatever you call it, it’s the most foundational idea in marketing: you words need to grab your user’s attention.

The trap that too many eComm brands fall into, though, is writing in a way that sounds good to them, but not necessarily the target audience. We see this all the time. Brand owners that are so close to the product that they can’t see the forest (compelling, high-level benefits) for the trees (super technical specs that no one cares about). 

So how do we bridge the gap? We use conversion copywriting principles to – essentially – hack the target customer’s brain. We’re all about psychology at BBG. And while we don’t yet have mind control in the bag, we do have some tried-and-true tricks up our sleeve that can make the difference between site visitors who immediately bounce and ones who say “whoa – that sounds like me. Let me scroll a bit more.”

When we develop a user journey for a landing page, we’re targeting several different user attention levels: quick scanners, long readers, etc. But for those looking for a quick-and-dirty way to get a foothold on copy testing, a great place to start is with the largest copy on the page: headers. 

1. The quick way

If you’re going for speed – and perhaps smaller immediate wins – the quick way to optimize your page headers for conversions is to use an action-benefit sentence structure. A consumer psychology classic, action-benefit formatting directly prompts the user to “take X action to receive Y benefit.” 

It’s direct, it’s instructional, and it tells users exactly what they’ll get – a win/win/win for the lazy, benefits-focused human mind (it is what it is!).

Here’s an example of a quick action-benefit optimization:

2. The slightly-more-effort way

Create some FOMO. It’s a basic consumer psychology principle: the fear of missing out/loss is a greater driver than the promise of gain. The good news? This can be as simple as reframing your product’s benefits in terms of problem>solution. For example, the big benefit of a wool sock product is its ability to keep feet warm and dry. 

Flip that, and you have a pain point you can work with to create a little bit of FOMO. After all, you don’t want to miss out on the incredible comfort you could be experiencing if you only had these socks, right?

For example:

3. The truly custom way (greatest payoff!):

Research. Get to know the specific pain points the most common buyers experience and get familiar with the natural language they use when talking about a solution. What language do they use when they talk about their best-case-scenario solution? Reddit is your friend here. So, of course, are user reviews – both for your own brand and for competitors.

Combine this with some action-benefit structure and some light FOMO messaging, and you’re in a really strong position to start A/B testing your page headers (and getting powerful, conversion-driving insights).

In our wool socks case, our primary audience is hikers, and we know they struggle with staying comfortable and dry during all four seasons.

Some examples:

Stay tuned for more conversion copywriting tips & ideas: coming this month!