Best Copywriting Techniques to Acquire More Leads

When we talk about digital marketing, copywriting seems like an easy thing to do. However, the real challenge is to write an ad that turns people into customers.

A good copy is compatible with the greatest and latest of Google’s machine learning algorithms. Moreover, it reflects the tone your target market is seeking. Your ad copy can be written in a better way if copywriting is data-driven.

Data-driven copywriting uses information from a customer’s profile for creating compelling digital content marketing campaigns.

In this article, we’ll explore the best copywriting techniques that leverage data to help you get more leads.

Introduction to Data-Driven Copywriting

Data-driven copywriting refers to an analytical strategy utilized in digital content marketing campaigns. You create content with data sourced from either a buyer persona or a customer’s profile.

Importance of Data-Driven Copywriting

Here are a few points highlighting the significance of data-driven copywriting:

1. Data allows you to gain an in-depth understanding of what your customer wants and what motivates their behavior. It gives factual insight into how, why, where, and when customers get into action and buy, search, or share.
2. Data also provides you with a clear and detailed picture of your audience. Your creative brief must include demographic, geographic, behavioral, psychographic, even search and purchase data. All of these are of significance when we’re looking at a buyer’s persona.
3. Alter the appeal of your marketing messages. Data informs you about the times when your customers wish to view the messages both online and offline. This information can be used to tailor your marketing messages and ensure that they reach your customers at the right time.
4. Use data, particularly numbers, to tell your story to your customers. For instance, Arabic numerals tend to grab the reader’s attention and are hard to overlook.
5. Data can also assist in uncovering different aspects of customers’ behavior. It helps to determine when your customers are accessing social media so that your posts are accurate and in time.
6. Data-driven copywriting has many other advantages, including increasing your copy’s effectiveness. So when you show a sample to a potential client or ask them for a raise, your work resonates with them. Your case will come off as more convincing when your copy is backed up by response rates, including sales generated, open sales, views, comments, search rankings, and conversions.
7. Data not only allows tracking the success of the content, but it also helps guide marketers throughout the creative process itself.
8. The most significant advantage of having a data-driven content strategy is that it helps brands avoid resource wastage. It saves them from connecting with the wrong audience at the wrong time and place.
9. Data can assist in the identification of your target audience and their trending topics. Moreover, it also equips you with your potential customers’ channel-specific preferences.

Principles of Data-Driven Copywriting

The following are essential principles of Data-driven copywriting.

1. Claude Hopkins’ Scientific Advertising

Anyone who is struggling with ad copy should look into Claude Hopkins’ Scientific Advertising. According to this principle, “The time has come when advertising has in some hands reached the status of a science. It is based on fixed principles and is reasonably exact. The causes and effects have been analyzed until they are well understood.”

Some ideas that Hopkins shared in his writings are:

• We must stay close in touch with people at the grassroots level if we aim to reach people at the same level.
• Advertisement and entertainment are not synonyms. Advertising is all about being able to win hearts and creating awareness regarding the prospect.
• Throwing money around on advertising without actually trying to make it effective is foolish, as you cannot manage what you do not measure.

2. Cialdini’s Principle of Persuasion

Cialdini’s Principle of Persuasion says that power lies in influence. Imagine if influence could be harnessed as a proper skill and utilized according to the situation. Cialdini has introduced six principles of influence that can help you in convincing others.

Reciprocity

Give whatever you receive. This is the simplest and the most fundamental principle related to influence. Put simply, if you wish good to be done by others, you must do good to them. This is the principle of reciprocity and quite a powerful one.

There are various ways in which reciprocity can work. A few ways include giving others small presents, treating everyone around you with respect, doing favors for everyone in need, etc.

Commitment & Consistency

This principle is founded on the premise of voluntary, public, and active commitments, resulting in people sticking to what they say. Convincing people to commit to doing something is just the beginning. However, when they actively commit to it, they will more likely follow it through.

Social Proof

People tend to believe that their peers are similar to them. They depend on their peers’ social cues regarding how they think, act, and feel in different situations. Known as social proof, this is an important point.

So in case you wish to influence a particular team from your department or people that you recently hired, you will first need to buy them in. When they see a colleague or an employee around them taking a particular action, they will be more likely to follow suit.

Liking

The principle of liking entails that people like those who they perceive as their friends or like them. Even though it is simple, it is a strong idea. The principle of liking can be applied in various ways.

One of these is locating a common ground with those whom you meet. When you’re able to connect with their hobbies and interests, it is easier to form a bond with them.

Authority

Another important principle is the establishment of credibility and authority. It is evident that when people perceive you as an expert in some area, they are more likely to listen to you. It is because those who are experts can offer a shortcut to great decisions, which may take a lot of time otherwise.

Scarcity

As a general principle, people value that which is scarce. It is a matter of basic supply or demand. When things start becoming less in quantity, people begin valuing them. This principle can also be used to convince others. Offers that indicate limited supply, limited time, or merely a one-time offer naturally ignite a sense of scarcity.

3. MECLABS Conversion Sequence Heuristic

The MECLABS Conversion Sequence Heuristic is used by the research scientists to assess the elements present in a sales funnel that is blocking or hindering conversion. This framework constitutes five factors:

• Motivation – The basic premise of your pay-per-click (PPC) ads during creation should be to motivate others. After looking at your ads, people should find within themselves a motivation to act. Your ads should include a prompt, encouraging others to take action. The best way to encourage curiosity in consumers is to offer value to them.
• Value Proposition – Does your consumer gain a convincing enough reason to purchase from you? If not, then the value proposition is something that you must work on. Your product or company should be able to offer a unique value proposition to the consumers.
• Friction – On your web page or landing pages, sometimes, there are a few unwanted distractions that may be distracting your visitors. You need to identify these aspects and eliminate them if they are not aligned with your goals or calls-to-action.
• Incentive – Incentives are a great way of generating conversions. This tactic can involve providing users with promo codes or free shipping on certain purchases.
• Anxiety – Consumers do not wish to spend a lot of time reading ad copies, doing research, and shopping online. It can trigger FOMO (fear of missing out), in the same way, you may feel when your friends are going to a summer barbecue, but you are stuck in the office doing overtime.

All of these principles bring about rigor, discipline, and consistent success to marketing departments. The MECLABS Conversion Sequence Heuristics framework will enable you to determine what, where, and how to test with a data-driven approach.

Key Steps for a Data-Driven Copywriting Strategy

The following are some critical steps for a data-driven copywriting strategy:

Understand Your Audience Intent

The initial stage of any data-driven copywriting is to analyze which type of audience looks at particular content pieces, which content types they’re going to respond to, and what content they’ll seek to achieve. Content needs to motivate the reader to “do” something and act. This type of content is goal-directed. This is where data can prove to be truly useful.

Audience research tends to take up several forms. For example, it can help analyze which particular channels resonate well with specific age groups, genders, or geographical locations.

Moreover, specific promotional content may work well on Twitter but not on Facebook. It is vital to consider which consumers look into your blog, organic search, or social media for inquiring about your services.

Leverage Data to Optimize the Visibility of Your Online Assets

The next stage in utilizing data for fine-tuning your content creation strategies entails an audit of your website and social media channels. This audit ensures that they have been rightly calibrated for achieving the maximum amount of visibility.

Until your digital assets have not been properly structured, it will not make much of a difference even if you have deeply researched your audience. The same remains the case if you fail to tackle the strategies being employed by your major competitors.

You can begin by carefully analyzing the general traffic coming to your various channels and sites in this stage. Paying particular attention to branded keywords specific to the products that you are selling is also significant. In case these are not performing well, it may pose a serious threat to your digital marketing campaign and needs to be addressed immediately.

Branded keywords hold the center of your digital identity. They refer to the specific terms which the consumers use to find your website. If they send people somewhere other than your website, it will take a considerable toll on your potential traffic.

In addition to all this, it is also imperative to pay particular focus to whatever your competitors are doing. It is important to remember that you are not the only one owning keywords and certainly not the only one to deserve high page rankings.

Other competitors in the market are also aiming towards dominating the search space just like you. Under such circumstances, it is extremely vital to know which methods are being used and which ones are coming out to be successful.

Use Data to Analyze Keywords for Every Piece of Content Properly

The last stage in utilizing data for improving digital content strategies is related to keywords. Keywords have a central place in the realm of digital advertising. However, they can impact you negatively if they aren’t used correctly.  Keyword research is important to process to meet the end customer intent.

By efficiently utilizing data, you’ll locate the exact keyword that can bring your content up in the Google rankings. They may even tap the areas which may have surpassed your target audience.

Recall your audience analysis over here. You can utilize the data that has been collected regarding your consumers and website visitors. Also, remember your tailored keywords, particularly for different sections of your audience.

The better you know your audience, the easier it will be to create relevant content, which is also Google-friendly. This process can help you arrive at a smooth combination of relevant keywords and engaging content.

Why isn’t Data-Driven Copywriting More of a Thing?

Carolanne Mangles M IDM explained very well in her post, you must convert your qualitative consumer research data into quantitative data. Unless this is done, anything you do would be similar to throwing wet towels on the wall hoping for them to stick. This can be achieved by employing pivot tables and message mining to create UVPs (unique value proposition) and message hierarchies.

Reasons to Use Data-Driven Copywriting

Good copywriting holds great value when we talk about marketing your business online. Its significance cannot be underestimated. Here’s why data-driven copywriting is important:

Google Needs Text to Rank Websites

If you’re trying to get your business ranked and found in search engine results, you’re going to need a lot of online text. Sure, pictures and videos are important too, but research shows that the best-ranking websites in some of the predominant industries have an average of 1000 or more words of content per page.

Google Wants to Connect its Users to High-Quality Information

Google is always active at work to ensure that it’s able to provide its users with the best possible experiences. It’s continually tweaking its algorithm to connect searchers with the most authoritative and relevant version of the information they’re searching for.

Many websites today are getting removed from the search page’s first results for engaging in the following activities to get their website ranked.

• Keyword Stuffing – This refers to the constant repetition of the same phrases or words so often that it begins to sound unnatural.
• Thin Content – Thin content refers to non-original content found on your website. It can be something like product descriptions taken from a feed found on many other sites, or can simply be a page with little content on it other than things like navigation.
• Scraped Content – It refers to the content which has been taken from another website or any other source.
• Duplicate Content – This penalty is when substantive blocks of content within or across domains either completely match other content or are significantly similar.

Web Content is About More Than Just Getting Ranked

Having good content on your website has several advantages. Not only does it place your website high up in the SERPs, but it also converts your website visitors into potential leads.

You can use your site to attract links from the outside. For many consumers, your site may be the only representation of your business they’ll ever view. So keep it relevant and updated with good content.

Website Full of Informative Content Acts as a Virtual Sales Rep

Regardless of which industry you may be in or which target audience you serve, those consumers have issues for which they’re seeking quick solutions. Your website is where they will look for answers.

Your potential clients will most likely have thousands of questions regarding your services and products, and your website should be able to answer all of them. An advantage of doing so is that when they finally contact you, you wouldn’t have to sell as your website would have pretty much achieved that for you.

Evaluating the ROI of Content

Data is actually what lets the marketers know whether people can resonate with your website content. Your content’s primary goal is to give value to your target audience and build a healthy relationship.

To achieve this, you will need to select key performance indicators (KPIs) that can help you gauge your engagement and value while ultimately tying the metrics to business results and tangible return on investment (ROI).

9 Data-Driven Copywriting Tips

The following copywriting tips can make a world of difference in how your work performs.

Bring Peer Pressure

What is the most effective way of convincing someone to do something? Telling them that all of their friends are doing the same! This can be done indirectly through social proof or directly through showcasing your consumers to attract their peers.

Use Visual Content to Your Advantage

Effective copywriters are aware that image placement can make a difference in getting people to pay more attention to the text. If images are intelligently used, you can direct your audience’s attention towards whatever you want them to read.

Stand Up for Something Important

Is your brand standing up for something significant? A social cause? A charity for a misplaced and unfortunate society segment? If not, then you must do that immediately. Nearly 64% of consumers believe that they can form lasting relationships with brands that have shared values.

People Love Competition

Create a contest. People love winning things, and many enjoy competing with others. Have a contest for the cutest dog or the most beautiful dish or the most creative picture. Make sure you give the winner a chance to show off. It works!

Consider Interpersonal Attraction

The interpersonal attraction also works well as people tend to listen to those who they resemble. Consider having a spokesperson for your company that looks like your perfect customer. It’ll make your business more relatable, and will help you target your content more effectively.

How is AI Transforming Copywriting?

Content creation is a challenge that every organization has to face at one point or another. As the requirement for content increases and more channels are emerging, brands are now turning toward artificial intelligence (AI) for assisting with the process of content creation.

AI is already making a significant impact on online experiences. Brands are under increased pressure to create relevant and personalized digital experiences that can only be possible through AI.

Consider AI as your new creative assistant. Machine learning will further enhance the analysis and marketing of customer data.

Wrap Up

A transition toward data-driven copywriting isn’t exactly a simple process. This is why savvy companies take help from third-party content creation agencies for implementing the best copywriting techniques.

By embracing data-driven strategies, you can incorporate valuable customer data to create messaging that is more relevant for cross-selling. This approach will help you focus on customers’ interests so that no time and resources are wasted.