Structure, Format and Style of Your Copy

Your company should routinely run landing page optimization tests to improve conversion rates. One of the components you need to test is the sales copy. Often, changing your approach to writing can lead to a considerable increase in conversion rates. This doesn’t have to do with “persuasive” copywriting, or specific words to use in your headline; most web writing should be viewed at a much more fundamental level.

Jakob Nielsen, a web usability expert, wrote in 1997 : “How users read on the Web: they don’t.” The vast majority of Internet users scan web pages rather than actually reading them; they focus on individual words, phrases, and sentences. They don’t know who you are or how much you should be trusted, they are used to being barraged with promotional material and will disregard much of your excruciatingly thought out attempts to market to them. Most are trying to accomplish something specific on your site, and will be much less impressed with your strategies than you yourself are.

The adaptations that you must make to your writing have a single purpose: you need to significantly reduce the visitor’s cognitive load. Don’t force them to pay attention to how the information is presented – this distracts them from their goal and yours – the conversion. They have come to your site to get their intended task accomplished. Don’t get in their way!

By stepping back once they arrive, you enable them to be faster, more efficient, and highly effective. This will produce higher conversion rates for you, as higher satisfaction is attained on their end. They still need information, but it should be presented as an aid, not a hard sell. In order to accomplish this, you need to consider the structure, format and style of your writing. Today we will concentrate on structure and format, as they are connected.

Structure and Format

Most readers won’t read very far down the page without becoming impatient. You need to put your conclusions and key points first, with less important and supporting information last. This is very similar to newspaper and magazine writing; the headline grabs the attention, a short teaser engages further interest, and then the story can unfold. Headline size and the positioning of the article on the page can signify its importance.

You have to assure them up front that you have what they need. The how and why can come later, after you have convinced them to stick around. You can always put the less important information ‘below the fold’ or use a hyperlink to jump them to an inner page. Remember that the visitor may have arrived from any of your inbound links and may not even know what your site is really about. Page titles let them know what is going on; any page you use as a landing page should instantly send the message that they are in the right place.

Don’t include more than one main idea per paragraph. A second idea buried lower in a block of text will probably be bypassed as the reader jumps down to scan the opening of the subsequent paragraph. Bullet points should be set up with the most important information first, and no more than five to seven should be used per page; more make it hard for the visitor to remember.

Your pages should be short. This allows them to be absorbed in small segments that correspond to the average surfer’s attention span. Studies show that significantly shorter text results in higher retention and recall of information. The format of your writing should support this type of rapid scanning behavior. When you can connect with your customer through the bite sized servings you offer up, your conversion rate should increase!

Tomorrow: Your Copywriting Style