13 Ways To Write More Persuasion Into Your Copy

Writing persuasive copy can be a tough gig, but it’s also very rewarding. If you manage to get your reader to take action based on the words you write, then it means that you’ve done your job correctly and that you are a good copywriter! 

In this article, we’ll show you how you can make sure your writing is as persuasive as possible using some simple tricks and tips. So sit back, relax and get ready for a nice long read about writing better persuasion!

Key Takeaways
1. Understand your target audience deeply.
2. Craft compelling headlines that grab attention.
3. Incorporate storytelling to make your message memorable.
4. Use social proof to build trust and credibility.
5. Create a sense of urgency to encourage action.
6. Address objections and concerns preemptively.
7. Make your copy relatable and empathetic.
8. Use power words and emotional language to evoke emotions.
9. Provide clear benefits and value to your audience.
10. Use scarcity to create a sense of exclusivity.
11. Employ persuasive formatting, such as bullet points and subheadings.
12. Use data and statistics to support your claims.
13. Craft strong and compelling calls to action (CTAs).

Know Your Audience

Knowing your audience is key to writing persuasive copy. Whether you’re writing a persuasive email or landing page, knowing the target market is the difference between a successful message and yet another failed attempt at selling something.

When we know our audience, it helps us write to their needs, in their language, for their emotions and situation.

In other words: we need to understand what they want from us as marketers before we can persuade them into buying from us (or even taking our call).

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Get To Know Them First

To write compelling copy, you need to know your audience.

But how do you go about it?

Here are some ways that might help:

Know their problems. If you can identify the problem your audience is facing, then writing persuasive copy for them becomes much easier because you’ll automatically be speaking their language and addressing a topic they care about.

Know their language. Do they say “I’d like to make more money” or “I want a bigger paycheck”? Do they use words like “lazy,” “slacker,” or “idiot?” What words do they use when describing themselves or others whose lives they admire? 

You may think these things don’t matter but trust me: They do! When you speak in similar terms as those who are reading what you’ve written (or listening), they’ll feel more comfortable with what’s being said and thus be better able to understand where it’s coming from and why it may be useful and important to them. 

This will also help establish rapport between writer/seller and reader/buyer so that both sides feel confident working together toward reaching common goals

Make The Benefit Clear

Before you start to write, it’s important to define the problem. You can’t solve something if you don’t know what it is!

To sell your product or service, you need to identify the problem and how much of an issue it is for your audience. In other words, what does this person need? Then outline the benefits of solving their problem. By doing this in advance, you’ll be able to communicate those benefits more effectively when writing later on in your copy.

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Make It Personal

Personal stories, examples, and anecdotes can be a simple way to inject your copy with persuasion. Rather than simply stating how things are or how they should be, you’re giving your readers a glimpse into the world as you see it.

Personal example: “I was once fuming in line at the grocery store when I realized that there were only two registers open and 10 customers in front of me and no one else was waiting at those counters! 

It took me 15 minutes just to get through checkout because everyone had decided they could throw their groceries on the conveyor belt like they were playing Tetris or something. Instead of complaining about my wait time (which would have gotten me nowhere).

I decided to take action. I walked over to one customer who was being served by an employee at another register and asked if he’d mind checking out his items while I waited in line for him.”

Describe His Or Her Specific Pain

To write a persuasive copy, you must describe your audience’s pain in terms of the specific problems, goals, situations, and needs that they have.

For example: If you’re selling a weight loss program for women over 30 who want to lose 20 pounds by the end of next month because it’s their high school reunion and they want to look thinner than their best friend from college who was always more popular than them growing up… Then your ad copy might say something like “Losing 20 pounds by next month? We’ve got what you need!”

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From Action To Emotion

When you’re writing a persuasive message, it’s important to describe what the person is doing and then describe the emotion that result.

For example, in an ad for cars, the action might be “shopping for a new car.” The emotions the writer describes might include happy relief from stress or boredom; excitement about having a fun new way to spend time with friends; peace of mind knowing they can get anywhere safely in any weather.

In an ad for dating apps, the actions may include “swiping right” or swiping left.” The emotions could include joy at finding someone who shares your values; relief at not having to deal with unattractive people anymore; excitement about meeting someone new in real life.

In political ads (and even some consumer ones), ads often start by describing some kind of disaster a bad economy, or war, and then move on to say how voting will solve those problems.

Speak Their Language

Speak their language. If you’re writing for an audience that’s familiar with the jargon, buzzwords, and acronyms specific to your industry, use those words!

Get specific. If you have an audience of experts who understand exactly what you’re talking about when referring to a certain type of product or service—and they’ve already expressed interest in learning more—then don’t hold back on the detailed descriptions.

Be authentic. Your writing should feel like it comes from someone who truly believes in what they’re offering and isn’t just trying to sell something to anyone at any cost (even if that happens sometimes).

Make It Clear And Simple

When you’re writing copy, avoid using long words and complicated sentence structures that make it difficult for your reader to understand what you’re trying to say. Instead, use simple words and short sentences to keep your readers engaged in the content.

Feel free to write with a conversational tone—after all, you’re talking directly with them and not writing an essay or academic paper!

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Knowing Who Your Audience Is Is Key For Writing Persuading Copy

This can be a difficult thing to do, as often you’re not quite sure who will be reading your copy or if they are even ready to buy. However, knowing their age and gender maybe will help you write a more persuading copy. For example, if you know an elderly man is going to read your sales page, then perhaps using the words “grandpa” or “grandma” would be a good idea!

Empathize With Your Reader

You can create a strong connection with your reader by using words they’re already familiar with. For example, if you’re writing copy for a dog-training app, use words like “puppy” or “doggy” instead of “canine” or “pet.”

If you have their name on hand, use it in the copy. If not, find out what they like to be called and use that instead for instance, how about calling them “honey,” “sweetie,” or even just their first name? You’ll make it feel more personal and less like an email blast.

Get specific about what kind of person they are by mentioning their hobbies and interests in your copy: Are they into fishing? Do they love gardening? Do they enjoy long walks on the beach? (Okay, maybe not this one.) Mentioning these things will give readers an idea of who’s reading and why those people would want to read your content!

Substitute Examples For Explanations

When you find yourself writing a sentence that has the word “because” in it, try to substitute an example. When you’re explaining how something works or should be used, show it through an example. This can be as simple as illustrating with a real-world example of how your product works or suggesting realistic scenarios where the reader might use your service.

Examples are powerful tools because they give readers a way to understand concepts that they may not have encountered before and help establish credibility by demonstrating expertise on the subject matter.

Speak To Their Emotions

You cannot use emotion in your copy if you are not feeling it. If you are not feeling it, then make yourself feel it by writing down a list of words or phrases that describe the emotions you want to evoke in your audience. For example:

Create An Emotional Reaction With Your Words

Words like “cause” and “effect” are not going to get the job done when it comes to persuasion.

Instead, use emotionally evocative language like “feel” or “experience.” If your message is going to cause an effect that leads people to take action, explain what they will experience when they follow through on that action. Let them know how this decision will affect their lives as well as how making this decision will make them feel about themselves.

Repetition Makes Your Message Stick

Remember the last time you saw a commercial for a product that would “change your life”? It probably made you want to go out and buy it, right?

That’s because repetition makes your message stick. If you repeat something enough times, people will start believing it even if they know it’s not true. 

The more often they hear something, the more likely they are to believe it. That’s why advertisers use this technique so much: by repeating their key messages over and over again, they’re embedding them into our brains!

Repetition can also help make certain points stand out in your copy. For example, if I were writing an article titled “20 Ways To Improve Your Writing Skills” and wanted to emphasize the importance of grammar in my copy (which I do), I could use repetition by saying things like “Grammar is important” or “You should pay attention to grammar.”

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Start With The Big Picture And Then Drill Down

The power of storytelling is a well-documented phenomenon. It’s why books like The Alchemist and Harry Potter have sold millions of copies, and it also explains why your Facebook friends will share every single dumb meme without even reading it: 

People like stories. And when you’re trying to get your readers to act on what you’ve written, whether that’s for sales or education or just for fun, you want them to relate to that story so much that they’ll act accordingly.

In this case, we’re not talking about writing an entire book just a paragraph or two at the beginning of each post. Storytelling can be a great way of introducing yourself as an expert in your field (even if it’s true) because people respond better than statistics do. 

If I told my readers “I’m going on vacation,” they might be mildly curious; but if I started by saying something like “After a year spent working 14 hours per day with very little free time…” they’d probably be more interested in hearing about how my summer went!

Use Simple Language

Use active voice. Make your sentences active rather than passive, even if it means adding “by” or “with”.

Use short sentences. Each sentence should have just one idea and convey only one thought (though sub-points are okay). Don’t be afraid of long paragraphs; they can help break up the text and make it easier for readers to follow along. Just don’t stuff multiple ideas into each sentence so that it’s hard for them to understand what you’re saying!

Use shorter words if possible but not too small! Using shorter words helps keep your message clear so that readers will stay focused on what you’re trying to say instead of getting distracted by strange phrasing or unfamiliar vocabulary choices which might confuse them instead of helping them understand what

Never Dumb Down Your Language, Though 

If you’re going to write for a specific audience, you mustn’t dumb down your language. First of all, do not use jargon or other industry-specific terminology. If not using these words would make your writing more difficult for the reader, then do use them but only in cases where it’s necessary to understand what you mean by something like “big data.”

Second of all, avoid slang and abbreviations as much as possible. These can also be hard for readers who aren’t familiar with them; they’re too easy to overlook when trying to read quickly through an article or email. 

Finally, avoid buzzwords and industry jargon whenever possible these are often used on purpose so that people think highly of the writer (even if they don’t understand what those words mean).

Use Descriptive Action Verbs

Action verbs are the best way to create a strong narrative, and they can be used to make your copy more persuasive as well. When you use an action verb, you are telling the reader what is happening in your story rather than just describing it. 

For example, instead of “I was sitting at my desk,” try saying “I was working.” This gives the reader a better idea of what you’re doing and how it contributes to your story or message.

Use specific details when possible: There’s no need for generalizations when you can use specifics! 

Every single detail in your copy should serve an intentional purpose, so stick with concrete words whenever possible (for example, don’t say “he rushed down the hall” if it was only two steps). This will help keep things clear and focused while also adding some emphasis where it belongs on what matters most!

Be Specific In Your Descriptions

Be specific in your descriptions. This is one of the most effective ways to persuade readers, and it’s also one of the easiest to implement.

Use descriptive language. Don’t just say a product is “great” or “awesome.” Instead, describe exactly why it’s great and why people should buy it this will help you better connect with your audience and engage them on an emotional level.

Use specific examples to support your point and/or argument. If you’re writing about a product, be sure to use examples of people who have tried that product before successfully using it themselves; this will help you persuade readers who might be on the fence about purchasing something new without knowing much about it firsthand yet!

Conclusion

In short, you can do this. You can write persuasive copy by understanding your audience and empathizing with them. You know their pain because you feel it too! As long as you keep these tips in mind and practice them over time, your writing will become more persuasive than ever before and that’s a promise.

Further Reading

Here are some additional resources to help you further enhance your persuasive copywriting skills:

9 Tips to Write More Persuasive Copy Without the “Ick” Factor: Discover practical tips and techniques to create persuasive copy that resonates with your audience, without resorting to unethical tactics.

13 Persuasion Techniques for Compelling Copy: Explore a variety of persuasion techniques that can amplify the impact of your copywriting efforts, making your content more convincing and engaging.

Mastering Persuasive Copywriting Techniques: Learn how to employ effective persuasive copywriting techniques to drive customer engagement, boost conversions, and establish a strong brand presence.

FAQs

How can I write persuasive copy without using unethical tactics?

Creating persuasive copy without resorting to unethical tactics involves understanding your audience’s needs, providing value, and using honest language that resonates with them.

What are some proven persuasion techniques for compelling copy?

Some proven persuasion techniques include storytelling, social proof, scarcity, and addressing objections. These techniques can help you create copy that persuades and resonates with your target audience.

How can I improve my persuasive copywriting skills?

Improving persuasive copywriting skills requires practice, studying successful examples, and experimenting with different techniques. Continuous learning and adapting your approach to suit your audience’s preferences are key.

How do persuasion techniques impact email marketing campaigns?

Persuasion techniques can significantly impact the success of email marketing campaigns. Techniques such as personalization, clear value propositions, and effective calls to action can drive higher open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.

Are there any ethical considerations when using persuasive copywriting?

Yes, ethical considerations are important. Persuasive copywriting should always be transparent, respectful, and aligned with the promises you make to your audience. Avoid deceptive practices that could undermine trust and credibility.