So What: Writing Fantastic Website Copy that Makes Your Audience Move

You’re getting traffic to your website! Great! Oh, but you’re getting a lot of bounces too. And not a lot of clicks.

Your design looks good, and you mention all the features. What are you doing wrong?

Your copy’s not hitting the right pain points. You’re likely talking about yourself too much. Or you presented your features without asking one crucial question: So what?

Asking “So what?” makes you dig into what really matters to your customer.

Say you’re a website that sells cars. You don’t just state features like “lane-keep assist.” Most people won’t understand what that is. They’re asking, “So what?” That’s when you go a step further.

Talk about how that feature keeps everyone in the car safe. Instead of “lane-keep assist,” write “Stay in your lane and get everyone home safely.”

What else do you need to know to apply “So What” to your copywriting? We have to start with the fundamental difference between a feature and a benefit.

So What? Features vs Benefits

A feature is a component of your product or service. A benefit tells your customer the positive impact the feature will have on them.

For example, a wide brim is a sun hat’s feature. The benefit of a wide brim is that it offers extra protection from the sun.

Features and benefits work together. Benefits make the promise, but the features show how you can deliver on that promise.

Getting wrapped up in communicating the features can make you forget about the benefits. Because it’s your benefit statements that show them how your product changes their lives. And it’s the benefits that move customers to action.

Asking “So what?” gives your customer an image of their transformation through your service. And that translates into more clicks, more engagement, and more conversions.

So how do you write website copy that achieves all of that good stuff? You have to start by getting to know your customer’s pain.

Get to Know Your Customer’s Pain

It sounds cruel. But you’re not using your customer’s pain against them. You’re using their pain to show that you understand and empathize with them. How do you find your customers’ pain? Here are a few ways:

• Ask them: Reach out to engaged followers and subscribers. Set up a short chat or write a brief survey for them to complete.
• Listen: Read your comments, DMs, emails and pay attention to the questions your customers ask.
• Online Forums: Follow Reddit, Facebook groups, and Twitter threads where your customers hang out. Take time to read about the topics and questions they care about most.
• Reviews: You can get a great sense of your customers’ problem reading reviews. Read your own reviews, of course. But don’t forget to check out reviews from websites related to your product or service.
• Keyword Research: Real comments from experienced customers should be your primary focus. But getting data from Google Keyword Tool or Answer the Public can get your wheels turning.

Next, we need to see what that transformation looks like. It’s that transformation that they really care about. Learning about your customer’s pain points guides your copywriting and directs you where you want to go by knowing where your customers wish to be. And asking “So what?” helps get you there.

What You’re Really Selling: The Transformation

When you find your customer’s pain points, you’ll likely see that they fall under a few categories:

• Conserving Resources: They need ways to save time and/or money.
• Accumulating Resources: They’re failing at ways to save time, earn money or gain knowledge.
• Status: They want to elevate their social status, attract allies or secure a mate.
• The Desire for Meaning: They’re struggling to find meaning in their lives, so they wish to join a movement that’s greater than themselves.

These survival instincts that trigger your customer’s problem give you a chance to connect with them by showing their transformation. How is your customer different after using your product or service?

Here are a few other questions you should ask about your customer’s transformation:

What do they look like after using your product?

Do they walk taller? Do they feel more confident? Do they have more money in their pockets? Do they have more time to accomplish their tasks?

How does your product make them feel?

What words come to mind when you think of your customer after they use your product or service? Are they more confident? Do they feel more secure? Do they feel like they belong?

What is your company’s role in getting to their ideal state?

Which features get your customer to where they want to be? Here’s where the “How” part of the process connects your features to your customer’s ideal state. Make those connections, then start writing your benefit statement.

3 Keys to Writing Effective Benefit Statements

Writing effective benefit statements takes all the work that you’ve done and solidifies it. Now you don’t want to mess it up by making it dull — or worse, incoherent. So here are three ways you can write benefit statements that make your customers stop and think about your brand:

• Write Verbs: Use dynamic action words to describe their transformation. Don’t just write “Feel Confident,” write “Walk Taller.”
• Create an Image: Where does your customer use your product or service? Put them in that context and show them overcoming their challenges.
• Keep it Simple: This is not the time nor the place to use complicated words. You want your reader thinking about how their lives will change, not what words mean.

It’s a lot of work coming from a straightforward question. Writing good copy that makes conversions take work. And testing. That’s how you learn. And that’s how you get website copy that speaks to your customers.

Good luck! But if you don’t have the time to write benefit statements, feel free to reach out to me, and we can work together to give your website copy that makes your customers itching to click through.

Email me at hello@jerichobundac.ca.