It’s easy to throw together a sales page and write a basic description of the product or service you want to sell on it. But a sales page that’s thrown together in a scramble and features only a basic product or service description usually won’t generate as many sales as it could (unless your audience is insanely hungry for what you’re selling). How do you write a sales page that persuades your audience and maximizes your sales? Use these 9 copywriting secrets.
How you do write compelling sales page copy that your website visitors will actually read (all the way to the end)?
Make your copy so frictionless that it’s like a greased slide.
Download my free list of 100 grease slide copy phrases.
1. Identify the goal of your sales page
It may not sound like much of a copywriting secret, but it’s amazing how easy this is to overlook. Although the overall goal of your sales page will always be to sell something, the specific action you want your visitors to take at the end can differ. If you want your visitors to buy your product or service online at the end of your sales page, your copy will look different than if you want them to sign up for a free trial or contact you for more information.
Always identify the specific goal of your sales page before you start to write it. After all, it’s hard to plan out your visitors’ journey if you don’t know what their destination is.
Related: How to write a strong call to action for your website + free cheat sheet
Example: The Crown Fox’s entire sales page is written to sell her graphic design packages.
2. Understand your audience’s pain points
The goal of a sales page is to convince your visitors that your product or service is the answer to their problems. It’s hard to write copy that does this if you don’t have a clear idea of what these problems are. That’s why this second copywriting secret is about understanding what your audience’s pain points are. That is, what’s frustrating them or holding them back from achieving their goals? For example, are they having trouble designing a website, making healthy meals, or getting out of debt?
When you know what your audience’s main problems are, it’s easier to frame your product or service as a solution.
Related: 13 practical tips for writing insanely powerful website copy + free checklist
Example: The bold text in Kreanille Design’s sales page copy shows an understanding of visitors’ pain points.
3. See your product or service from your audience’s perspective
When you write copy for your website, it’s easy to make the mistake of focusing on what you think of your product or service. This copywriting secret requires you to put your thoughts about your brand aside so that you can focus on what your audience thinks and believes.
For example, consider how your product or service would benefit your audience, which benefits would matter most to them, and what key questions they may want to ask. When your visitors read your sales page, it should feel like the copy on it was written to address these perceptions and beliefs.
Related: 7 characteristics that make your website copy persuasive + free checklist
Example: Check out how Dropbox’s copy feels like it was written to address its users’ needs and goals.
4. Highlight benefits over features
This copywriting secret ties in with the previous one. It also tackles one of the most common mistakes people make when writing website copy: focusing on benefits instead of features.
You may be excited to share the incredible technical specs of your brand’s new tablet. But details about processing speed and pixel density may not mean much to anyone except your most hardcore tech fans. And even for these fans, it isn’t really the features that they’re interested in. It’s what these features will let them do with the product that gets them excited.
Ultimately, your audience cares about what your product or service will help them solve or accomplish. So instead of placing your features front and centre on your sales page, highlight the benefits of your product or service first. For example, mention that your tablet makes it easy to get work done on the go without carrying around a bulky laptop.
Related: The #1 website copywriting mistake most businesses make + free “about us” page template
Example: See how Hootsuite emphasizes benefits over features.
5. Use future pacing
Using future pacing is a great copywriting secret for a sales page. It involves getting your audience to imagine what their life would be like if they no longer had their main problem. For example, if you sell a social media scheduling tool, you could prompt your audience to imagine what their lives would be like if they no longer had to worry about manually sharing posts in the middle of their child’s soccer game or while enjoying a quiet dinner with their spouse.
Future pacing is an effective way to highlight the benefits of your product or service because it helps your visitors envision the results they could experience with it. If you can get them to truly feel what this difference in their lives would be like, it’ll be easier to make a sale.
Related: 8 tips and examples for writing a high-converting services page + free template
Example: Melyssa Griffin uses future pacing to help her visitors see how her course could transform their life.
6. Use an impact table to guide your copy
It’s important to highlight benefits over features. But this doesn’t mean that it isn’t important to mention the features of your product or what’s included in your service. After all, most people will want to know what their hard-earned cash is going to get them.
To communicate the features of your product or service, you can simply list them on your sales page. But if you want to optimize the effectiveness of this section of your sales page, use this copywriting secret from Amy Harrison: create an impact table to guide your copy.
An impact table is a table that lists the features of a product or service, the results or impact of each feature, and the emotion each result or impact produces. For example, let’s say that you offer a one-on-one coaching service to help people improve their writing skills. Your impact table may look something like this
| Feature | Results/Impact | Emotion |
| An individual learning plan and schedule tailored to your needs | A roadmap that breaks down all of the tasks we’ll complete to help you achieve your goal | More focused, less overwhelmed, and less confused |
| Weekly 1:1 sessions with a writing coach who has more than 10 years of experience | Master the basics of writing so that you have the foundation you need to write well | More confident and proud of your writing. Less confused. |
| A package of 100+ writing exercises and personalized feedback | Hone your skills by putting them into practice. Know where you’re on the right track and what you need to work on. | More certain and confident about your writing. |
Explicitly connecting your features to their results (i.e., benefits) and emotions can make your sales copy incredibly compelling. It gives your visitors everything they need: the details, a vision of what they can accomplish, and a sense of how they’ll feel when they do it.
Example: This copy about Crazy Egg integrates info about features (“A/B testing and conversion tracking”), benefits (“easily define goals and conversions”), and emotion (“can be a nightmare” and “simple and easy”).
7. Make your copy a greased slide
This copywriting secret is all about getting your visitors to stick around and actually read your sales page. How do you do this? By making the copy on your sales page like a greased slide.
Grease slide copy creates transitions between paragraphs that are so smooth and persuasive that your visitors feel compelled to keep going. Just as it’s difficult to avoid sliding all the way down a greased slide, people can’t help but read all the way to the end of a page with grease slide copy.
Here’s an example of a sequence of grease slide phrases:
- But wait—there’s more…
- And as if that’s not enough…
- We’re not done yet…
Example: This subheading on Melanie Duncan’s sales page is a grease slide phrase.
How you do write compelling sales page copy that your website visitors will actually read (all the way to the end)?
Make your copy so frictionless that it’s like a greased slide.
Download my free list of 100 grease slide copy phrases.
8. Be specific
Sometimes a good copywriting secret is all about the details. And this one is no exception.
If you’re on Pinterest (and if you’re not, you should be), you’re probably used to seeing pins that make claims like “how I gained 10,000 followers in one year.” Using numbers in claims like these can be compelling. After all, gaining 10,000 followers in just one year is pretty impressive. On the other hand, it can also be hard to believe.
A claim about gaining 10,000 followers may be met with skepticism, but not entirely for the reason you think. Sure, the sheer size of the number may make it hard to believe. But what also breeds suspicion is the fact that it’s a perfect 10,000 (not 9,976 or 10,021). How likely is it that this person increased his or her follower count by exactly 10,000 people in one year?
To make the numerical claims you make in your copy more believable, be specific by using the actual number. Don’t round up or round down because you think it looks better or cleaner. It’s more believable to say that you increased the size of your email list by 297% than by 300%.
Related: 7 characteristics that make your website copy persuasive + free checklist
Example: Take a look at the specific numbers in this testimonial on Melyssa Griffin’s sales page.
9. Get rid of the roadblocks
The goal of your sales page isn’t just to make your visitors believe that your product or service can help them. It’s also to make it as easy as possible for them to make that all-important decision to take the next step. If your copy leaves too many questions unanswered or is difficult to read, your visitors may decide that your brand isn’t worth their time. After all, the last thing they need when trying to solve a problem is another problem.
Make it easy for your visitors to take that next step by removing all of the roadblocks that could stand in their way.
Here’s how to put this copywriting secret into action:
- Answer key questions
- Address objections
- Get rid of unnecessary and distracting information
- Make your copy clear and scannable
- Remove links that take visitors to an irrelevant page
Related: How to write scannable blog posts people actually read + a checklist
Example: Look at how MintSwift tackles roadblocks by answering key questions on her sales page.
Try these copywriting secrets today
There’s no exact science to writing a great sales page. And not every copy template will work for every brand, product, or service. But the secrets I’ve shared in this post are tried-and-true strategies that will help you write copy that resonates with your audience and generates more sales. Give them a try today to transform your sales pages and make them work for you.
How you do write compelling sales page copy that your website visitors will actually read (all the way to the end)?
Make your copy so frictionless that it’s like a greased slide.
Download my free list of 100 grease slide copy phrases.
