How to write copy that converts: 1 simple (not easy) tip from a SaaS conversion copywriter

You love your product, you believe in your product, you can’t possibly see why anyone would not want to sign up. Anticipating all the questions, objections, and hesitations that prospects may have can be hard.

Burying yourself in swipe files and best practices is not going to help change that.

That’s an awesome first step. But just following best practices won’t help you break away from:

• Buzzwords that kill interest faster than your prospect can scroll past your hero section
• Copy that follows best practices, but doesn’t answer the most important question: “Should I sign up?” — that includes vision-driven “The future of…” copy
• Generic phrasing that got stuck in your brain when you were checking out your competitors and looking for inspiration (in all the wrong places)

A simple trick to change this: adopting prospects’ point of view

Simple, but not easy.

Here’s what I mean by that:
Founder’s POV: “My product is awesome! Sign up to get {{benefit}} and {{achieve JTBD}}! Click here to sign up!”

Prospect’s POV:
“This product looks awesome!”
“How does it work?”
“What does it do, actually?”
“Will it work for [a small team] / [a specific industry] / [a specific use case]?”
“Who else is using it?”
“Do they love it?”
“How long does it take to start using the product?”
“Will my team love it? How long until they’re ready to implement?”
“What if we hate it? Do we get our money back?”
“Will my data be secure?”
“Can I get a discount?”
…

Of course, your prospects may not be asking themselves all those questions.

But they are asking themselves some of them, and if you’re in your founder’s POV mode, you won’t even notice gaps in your website copy.

Next step: 3 ways to switch to prospects' POV

[1] DIY web copy audit
Now that you know what to look for, you can go through your website pages and see if the usual suspects are creating friction & reducing conversions:

• Buzzword-y, interchangeable headlines
• Short & sweet, high-level copy that doesn’t provide any details
• Blocks of text that are hard to scan

To take it up a notch, check out Copyhackers’ 7 sweeps (start here: https://copyhackers.com/how-to-edit-for-clarity/).

[2] Ask other Indie Hackers for feedback

Let’s start with the easiest way to shift your mindset: asking for feedback. But with specific questions, instead of a generic “Roast my page!” request.

This is why asking specific questions is important: without them, you’ll get back a top of opinions on design, button color, visuals and layout — and maybe copy.

You’re looking for copy gaps.

Questions that’ll help you find them:

• What do you think this product offers? (Is this clear to readers who know nothing about your product?)
• Who do you think is this product for? (Is it clear who the audience is for from your website copy?)
• What is still unclear after reading the page? (Did the knowledge gap get in the way?)
• What would you like to know about the product? (What are the details that you have missed?)
• What, if anything, are your concerns about signing up? (What may be stopping prospects from converting?)

And, most importantly, make sure you take the time to analyze the feedback (because otherwise your Founder Perspective will kick in and all the biases that go with it, from the recency bias to the confirmation bias).

[3] Go forth and mine some reviews (And talk to your market & your customers. Really.)

Now that you know where your copy is currently falling short, the next step is fixing it.

And you’re not doing this with your creative writing superpowers.

Instead, you’re doing it with the power of voice-of-customer research.

(This is the point when I mention customer interviews, and everyone groans a Darth-Vader-worthy “Noooooooooo...” Please bear with me for now.)

If customer interviews are intimidating, start with review mining. Jennifer Havice's awesome book walks you through the steps and gives you templates for finding voice-of-customer copy to convert your website visitors. Take a look: https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Right-Message-Customer-Irresistible/dp/0578648725.

And, if you plan to talk to your prospects, customers, and folks in your target audience, please read The Mom Test (if you haven't already): http://momtestbook.com/

Switching from your point of view to someone else's point of view is hard for everyone, not just founders. But for founders writing their own web copy, being able to do so is a difference between a page that leaves prospects indifferent (or confused) and a page with copy that converts.