Persuasive copywriting is a tremendous part of any successful B2B site. This is not surprising when you consider the undeniable truth that 95% of web design is all about typography anyway. In other words, it’s all about the words and text that appear on your site.
Let’s define what copywriting is in the first place. According to Wikipedia, copywriting can be defined as:
“Copywriting is writing copy for the purpose of advertising or marketing. The copy is meant to persuade someone to buy a product, or influence their beliefs.”
When you’re trying to get your site visitors to turn into leads by leaving their personal information, you’re relying on copywriting.
When you’re trying to nurture these leads by moving them down the sales funnel by offering them nothing but highly relevant, high-quality and targeted content, then you’re also relying on copywriting.
When you’re trying to get these leads to turn into the ultimate conversion (purchasing your product or service), you’re relying on copywriting more than ever.
What does this tell us then? It tells us that you had better make sure that your B2B site’s copy is efficiently persuasive. Your bottom line depends on it.
Here is why you should work on persuasive copywriting on your B2B site.
Studies have shown that people on the Internet simply don’t take the time to finish reading all of the content on any given webpage. If they want to take time reading something, they’ll instead curl up with a good book that they can hold in their hands. Therefore, the Internet is not a place where your copy should be long and extensive because people are simply fond of just skimming or scanning the text on a page.
That means that your buyers want to read “skimmable” text instead of text that’s all chunked together into massive paragraphs. So how do you make your site copy easier to scan from the standpoint of your buyers? Simply try these surefire tips:
Perhaps no other figure in the psychology of marketing has analyzed and explained the science of persuasion any more than Dr. Robert Cialdini. His book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, is decades old, but it’s still hailed today as one of the greatest marketing-meets-psychology tomes ever written.
In the book, Cialdini researched and outlined six, specific and actionable ways through which sellers and marketers could make it likelier that their prospects would convert and make a purchase. These six ways include reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, liking and scarcity. To use these different principles on your B2B site to get buyers to convert, you’ll have to rely in big part on highly effective copywriting.
Here’s what you do.
To make your buyers feel like they have to give back to you somehow (reciprocity), first provide them with really high-quality content on your site. This can be anything from a stellar blog that offers nothing but the most useful tips and tutorials to highly informative white papers.
To transform buyers into being committed to your brand, first get them to commit to something small and free, like signing up for your email newsletter. Needless to say, to get them to convert in this way, it’ll take persuasive site copy, but the bigger takeaway is that, after they’ve done this microconversion, there will be bigger pressure on them to be consistent by performing other conversions, such as an actual purchase.
To use social proof to persuade buyers to convert, simply identify various products or services on your site as being the most popular or the hottest with buyers in general. You can award a specific product or service a badge or icon that identifies it as such.
To get buyers to like your company, simply focus on getting your brand to identify with buyers in a very personable way. The easiest way to do this is by creating a very affable “about us” page that makes your team very relatable to buyers. This is where site copy that’s accessible and approachable comes into the picture to really help sell your people to buyers.
To get buyers to want to convert with a greater sense of urgency, you have to use the scarcity principle. You can do this very simply by highlighting a product or service that you’ll only offer at a discounted price for a limited time. Again, to effectively communicate this scarcity to buyers, you’ll have to rely on great copy to emphasize this urgency.
The only Cialdini principle for which you really can’t use great site copy is authority. This is because authority involves using an authority figure to help sell your product or service. Think hiring Andre Agassi to help you sell your tennis rackets, for instance.
Minimalism has taken the world of B2B web design by storm in recent years, as people are increasingly embracing the “less is more” approach. As such, your site copy should be succinct and simple, so as not to overwhelm or turn off buyers who don’t take the time to go through extensive site copy anyway. Having a skilled copywriter on your team to write minimalist text that both promises to solve buyers’ problems and addresses their objections is key.
Check out this exceptionally eye-opening case study about how short copy consistently outperforms longer copy when it comes to conversions. In each and every case, keeping things minimalistic when it came to site copy provided better results.
Your buyers are human beings, and human beings, in general, are susceptible to empathy, as in feeling or relating to what they observe. This especially applies to what they read. In fact, this human phenomenon has been scientifically confirmed in a study about mirror neurons. So what are mirror neurons?
They are neurons that begin firing off when people witness something meaningful. Now, when what they’re witnessing is (to them) powerful enough, some of the feelings that those experiencing the situation feel will actually be transferred to the observers. The roots of this phenomenon can likely be traced back to biology, as in evolutionary traits.
So how does this all apply to crafting persuasive site copy, you ask? Simple.
You have to craft copy that appeals to buyers’ fears and problems. In fact, you have to be so skilled at crafting copy that you don’t attempt to manufacture feelings in your buyers that aren’t there, but rather that you only speak to feelings that are already there.
Let’s look at an example. If you’re selling chocolates and sweet, baked goods, you should create copy that reminds them of the super-intense and pleasurable feelings of biting into all that sugar and the ensuing good times they experienced.
Buyers want to build a relationship with your company before they give you their hard-earned money in the form of a purchase. They are likelier to buy from someone they know instead of a total stranger. As a company, it’s in your best interest to build up this sense of relationship in a relatively short period of time, so just how do you go about doing it?
There are several approaches, all involving writing super-sharp copy, that you should try. These include:
It’s no secret: Buyers have different pain points or problems that they need to solve. If your product or service can solve these pain points for your buyers, then you’ve hooked them. Then it will be that much easier for you to move them down the sales funnel by nurturing them with high-quality content that addresses their paint points. Ultimately, you want them to make the most significant conversion, which is purchasing.
You can use stellar and crystal clear copy to make certain your buyers understand that you feel their pain and can provide solutions to their problems. Here’s how:
Craft a value proposition for your buyers that addresses what motivates your buyers to purchase in the first place. This motivation involves the fear of some loss occurring in their present situation, a perception that their situation is getting worse, and a desire to better their future prospects.
In the value proposition, include messaging that communicates what ultimate benefit your buyers will obtain from your product or service.
Then, empathize with your buyers by making sure that your site copy highlights that you understand why they want to buy. This could come down to duty, self-actualization, a feeling of security, the desire for recognition or simply getting compensated.
Do all of these things when writing your value proposition, and you’ll encounter greater receptiveness from your B2B buyers.
Now you know exactly why your copy on your B2B site should be persuasive. You want buyers who are engaged, responsive and ready to move down the sales funnel with great enthusiasm. Because of the fact that the majority of web design comes down to typography, writing great copy is the key behind making your B2B site a success. Failure to heed this reality means fewer conversions and buyers.
Always remember that everything on your site should be there with the goal of making things super-easy to find and understand from the standpoint of your buyers. Site copy that’s effective and persuasive will go a long way toward making this a reality. The sooner you get serious about putting up site copy that’s persuasive, the sooner you can see more revenue and more buyers.
Persuasive copywriting is both an art form and a science. You can’t come up with your site copy in a rushed or haphazard way because it’ll show in a poorly performing B2B site. Instead, copy should be treated as one of the most important elements of all in the site-building process.
Have you thought a lot about the kind of copy that’s on your site?
Is the current copy on your site indicative of persuasive copywriting?
Can you think of any ways that you can improve the copy on your site to make it all the more persuasive?