are you missing copy on your page? how adding the right paragraph generated a 36% lift

Are You Missing Copy on Your Page?How adding the right paragraph generated a 36% lift

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Today's Speaker@FlintsNotes

Austin McCraw

Senior Editorial Analyst

MECLABS

Austin McCraw joined the MECLABS research team in 2007 after graduating from University of Florida's college of Journalism and Communications. Since then, he has reviewed over 2,500 experiments, written over 300 hours of training, and developed five professional certification courses on the topics of offer response optimization and value proposition. Currently, he works directly with Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, Founder and Director of MECLABS, on his academic and commercial writing projects. He lives in Florida with his wife and three sons.

An Experiment

Experiment: Background

Background: An organization that offers car repair products.

Goal: To increase overall product sales.

Research Question: Which page copy will generate the highest sales conversion rate?

Test Design: A/B multifactorial test

Experiment ID: TP1700Record Location: MECLABS Research LibraryResearch Partner: [Protected]


Product

Product

This prod. has

Company

this product

Company

Companyis

PRODUCT IMAGE

Specific Car Problem

Car Partfix the specific

car issue you searched

car part.

other specific part issues

car part.

Product is

specific car part problem searched

A central product page template connected to all channels and visited by all prospects making a purchase.

Product Specific Car ProblemSpecific Car Problem


Product

Product

This prod. has

Company

this product

Company

Companyis

PRODUCT IMAGE




car part.


car part.

Product is


The top-performing product template page from multiple A/B test iterations.

Experiment: ControlProduct

Product

This prod. has

Company

this product

Company

Companyis

PRODUCT IMAGE




car part.


car part.

Product is


What copy is missing from this page?

Copywriting

Exposition

Climax

Resolution

Beginning (The Setup) Middle (The Confrontation) End (The Resolve)ACT 1 ACT 2 ACT 3

Climax

Rising Act.

Resolution /Exposition

Falling Act.

SUB STORY

Peoples’ thoughts arrange themselves in a story, therefore understanding your visitors’ thought sequences comes down to understanding the basic structure of a story. Each part of the conversion process can be tied to a story …

Product

Product

This prod. has

Company

this product

Company

Companyis

PRODUCT IMAGE




car part.


car part.

Product is


specific car part

below product.

spec. car part

this product,

Company

Experiment: TreatmentProduct

Product

This prod. has

Company

this product

Company

Companyis

PRODUCT IMAGE




car part.


car part.

Product is

specific car part problem searchedThe additional copy was placed at the top of the page.

It focused primarily on building the problem.

Treatment Copy

specific car part

below product.

car part.

Side-by-Side

Product

This prod. has

Company

this product

PRODUCT IMAGE


Car Part

fix the specificcar issue you searched

car part.


Product is


Product

Company




Product is

specific car part

below product.

spec. car part

this product,

Company

car part.

Control Treatment

specific car part

Conv. Rate % Rel. Change Stat. Conf.

Version A 1.33% --Version B 1.81% 36.1%

Relative Increase in SalesThe new page copy increased product sales by 36.1%

36%

95%

Results

What You Need to Understand

1. Simply identifying a customer need does not inspire the need to act.

FKey Principles

Treatment Copy

specific car part

below product.

specific car part

What You Need to Understand

1. Simply identifying a customer need does not inspire the need to act.

2. To inspire action, your copy must transform a customer need into a customer want. This can be achieved by using one or more of three problem intensifiers.

1. Relevance

2. Importance

3. Urgency

FKey Principles

Today’s Focus

We are going to examine how you can use each problem intensifier to evaluate and

optimize your copy.

Urgency

Relevance

Urgency

FKey Principles

1. Relevance is the degree to which an offer is connected to a recipient’s situational motivations.

2. To enable relevance in your marketing copy, you must identify with at least one of two types for ideal prospects arriving to your page:

• Internal Relevance

• External Relevance

Copywriting with Relevance

Internal Relevance• Personal interests

• Demographics

• Shopping habits

• Personality

• Communication styles

• Level of engagement

External Relevance• Seasonality

• Special discounts

• Limited-time offers

• News events

• Competitive initiatives



The original copy is focused mainly on the solution, but for the average person, they may or may not know if this is relevant to them.

Product

This prod. has

PRODUCT IMAGE


Car Part

fix the specific


car part.


Product is


The additional copy specifically mentions external events that may have recently occurred.

This connects the solution to a potentially relevant problem they have just experienced.

specific car part

below product.

Product

This prod. has

PRODUCT IMAGE


Car Part

fix the specific


car part.


Product is

car part.

From This, To This …

The copy briefly connects to the relevant issue of needing to manage events …

… but then shifts focus to generic product features available to all other event types.

Protocol ID: Pending

From This

From This, To This …Protocol ID: Pending

From This

An entire case study was added to intensify the motivation for the solution.

It did so by connecting directly to the relevant internal drivers of the prospect.

44.1%Increase in conversions

From This, To This …From This

Similar to the previous example, the copy only briefly connects to an external problem.

Protocol ID: TP1560b

From This, To This …To This

The new copy spends significantly more space connecting to an issue of external reference.

In addition, the change in tone and over-emphasis on the issues identifies with their level of situational frustration (internal).

Protocol ID: TP1560b

49.5%Increase in clickthrough

Importance

FKey Principles

1. Importance is the degree to which an offer is essential to a recipient’s livelihood.

2. To enable importance in your marketing copy, you must identify with an underlying need in the recipient. Examples include:

• Being safe

• Meeting expectations (job, family, etc.)

• A feeling of belonging

• Self-affirmation

Copywriting with Importance

Urgency

specific car part

below product.

Copywriting with Importance

In addition to addressing a need to know, the additional copy connects the problem directly to a consequence in one or multiple needs (saving, safety).

car part.

From This, To This …Protocol ID: TP1457

From This

• Most tax situations supported

Do Your Federal Taxes Online For Free

• Step-by-step guidance makes it easy for first time users

• Automatically double checks for errors and

• Easily upgrade if your taxes are more complexguaranteed accuracy

Some points of importance are not entirely clear in the customer’s eyes, and the important points may be de-emphasized because of the sequence.


To This

• Most tax situations supported

Do Your Federal Taxes Online For Free

• Step by step guidance makes it easy for first time users

• Automatically double checks for errors and

• Easily upgrade if your taxes are more complexguaranteed accuracy

We guarantee accurate calculations or we’ll reimburse resulting IRS penalties and interest charges. Learn more

See a full list of tax forms supported by our free product. View list

• Most tax forms supported

• Step by step guidanceOur straight-forward Q&A process makes it easy to start and finish your return online.

• Automatically double checks for errorsOur program automatically double-checks your return and alerts you if it finds any errors or incomplete actions.

• G• Accurate calculations guarantee

95%Increase in conversion

Customer importance is used to simplify and sequence key points. Copy is

added to each point to intensify the connection with the customer.

LOGO

LOGOWeb URL

Web URL

Web URL

procedure

procedure

procedureLOGOLOGO


Get back to

Get back to

Get back to

From This

LOGO

LOGOWeb URL

Web URL

Web URL

procedure

procedure

procedureLOGO


16%Increase in clickthrough


Get back to

Get back to

Get back to

Body

spec. procedure for

Body

spec. procedure for

LOGOspec. procedure for

Body

To This

New copy is added to highlight an issue of extreme importance to ideal customers (safety).

Existing copy is de-emphasized and sequenced after.

Urgency

FKey Principles

1. Urgency is the degree of immediacy associated with an offer imposed by either the recipient’s situation or the nature of the offer itself.

2. To enable urgency in your marketing copy, you must draw from at least one of two types:

• Natural Urgency

• Artificial Urgency

Copywriting with Urgency

Urgency

specific car part

below product.

Copywriting with Urgency

Also, by making ordinary consumers aware of the unseen, the natural urgency to act increases.

The new copy leverages the natural urgency created with the unexpected by stating “ignoring these symptoms can lead to … ”

car part.


From This


To This

Keep using limited basic

Get all of your favorite PLUS features back when you upgrade:

The copy is rewritten to imply a need for immediate action (artificial urgency).

The same style of copy is added for intensification.

42.7%Increase in conversion


From This

LOGO

access to all our content


access to all our contentto all of our content

contentLOGO

To This

The offer page is transformed into a triggered pop-over.

The copy is rewritten to imply a need for immediate action (artificial urgency).


Review

Summary: Putting it all together

1. Simply identifying a customer need does not inspire the need to act. The problem must be intensified so it is properly felt by customers.

2. To inspire action, your copy must transform a customer need into a customer want. This can be achieved by using one or more of three problem intensifiers:

• Relevance: The degree to which an offer is connected to a recipient’s situational motivations.

• Importance: The degree to which an offer is essential to a recipient’s livelihood.

• Urgency: The degree of immediacy associated with an offer.

FKey Principles

See how you can conduct research with us …MECLABS conducts rigorous experiments in the new science of optimization. We apply our discoveries to help leaders optimize the financial performance of their sales and marketing programs.

Learn more about how you may be a fit for a MECLABS research partnership:

• Select Research Partnership Opportunities on the post-webinar survey

• Contact us [email protected]

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are you missing copy on your page? how adding the right paragraph generated a 36% lift

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