It never feels good to realize that your sales page, website, marketing email, or ad isn’t converting as well as you want it to.
After all, you’ve spent hours developing your product or service, you’ve worked late into the night to create promotional materials for it, and you may have even paid someone a small fortune to help you make it a reality.
But now that it’s finally time for someone to buy your product or book your service, all you hear is crickets.
If you’re not getting the results you had hoped for from your copy—whether it’s a sales page or webpage, an email, an ad, or even a social media post—you might think there’s something fundamentally wrong with it. And you may believe that you need to scrap it and start all over again.
But here’s the thing: you don’t always need to make a big change to get big results. Small changes can be powerful too—as long as you choose the right ones to make. In fact, data shows that just tweaking a headline on a page or post can affect web traffic by up to 500%!
What kind of simple copy changes will give you the best bang for your buck? I’m sharing 5 of the best ones below.
These copy changes are more about swapping out words or changing how you format your copy than they are about actually writing copy. So they’re super easy to implement even if you hate writing or can’t string more than a few words together.
Scroll down to check ‘em out!
Need help finding the right words to make your copy persuasive and compelling?
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1. Use “you” and “your”
Looking for an incredibly easy way to instantly boost the impact of your copy? Use the words “you” and “your” in it. In other words, write in second person.
Why is this simple copy change so effective?
First, it makes your copy seem more relevant to your audience. This helps you communicate why your audience should care about your brand and your products or services.
Second, it helps you keep the focus on your audience instead of on your and your brand. This is important because one of the biggest copy mistakes you can make is to write copy that’s all about how great your business is.
Of course, you want to showcase how awesome your products or services are. But you want to do it in a way that shows your audience what your brand can do for them. What problem can you solve for them? How can you make their life better? That’s what your audience ultimately cares about.
So by putting your copy in second person, you signal to your audience that you’re focused on them and their needs, not just your own ego.
And third, adding “you” and “your” to your copy makes it feel like you’re talking directly to your audience. When your copy feels more like a conversation than an information broadcast, it’ll engage your audience and help you form a relationship with them. They’ll also be less likely to disregard your copy as “just another sales pitch.”
Relevant: 9 copywriting secrets to write better sales pages + free list of 100 copy phrases
Example: Melyssa Griffin uses this simple copy hack in her marketing emails to make her copy seem relevant to her audience, keep the focus on them, and give her emails the feel of a personal conversation.
2. Switch to contractions
Another incredibly easy way to make your copy sound more like a conversation is to write the way you would if you were actually having a conversation with your audience.
I know, that sounds kinda circular.
But what I’m talking about with this simple copy change is using contractions (for example, “It’s the fastest way to get to Paris” instead of “It is the fastest way to get to Paris”).
When you were in school, your English teacher may have told you to avoid using contractions in your essays. And so if you still write like this, I don’t blame you.
But remember that writing copy isn’t like writing on essay on Hamlet. You don’t have to follow the rigid rules that you learned in school (many of which aren’t even rules at all).
And there’s actually nothing “wrong” with using contractions anyway. They may be too conversational for English essays, but they’re perfect for copy. After all, we use contractions when we talk to people in person. That’s why they make copy feel more casual and, therefore, more accessible.
Just take a look at these examples:
“I have helped over 1100 people grow their email lists.”
vs.
“I’ve helped over 1100 people grow their email lists.”
Not only does the second example sound more like something you’d say in a conversation, but it also takes up less space. This helps you make your copy nice and tight, which is especially helpful when you’re working with a word or character limit (for example, for social media ads).
Related: How to cut the flab and write tight copy that sells + free landing page copy template & example
Example: Notice how the contractions in Amy Porterfield’s email make it sound more like a conversation than a promotional email.
3. Incorporate numbers strategically
It’s strategic to use numbers in your copy.
Why?
Numbers help you provide concrete evidence for the benefits of your product or service (for example, “Sarah’s revenue grew by 137% when she started using Product X”).
That’s not all, though: Our brains LOVE numbers. So using numbers in all areas of your copy—including your headlines—can help you highlight important info in your copy.
But this simple copy change isn’t just about using numbers in your copy. It’s about using them strategically.
Here are some general tips for using numbers effectively in your copy:
- Use Arabic numerals (for example, 1, 7, and 287) instead of words (for example, one, seven, and two hundred and eighty-seven). Arabic numerals are easier and faster to read. They also take up less space, which helps when you have a word or character limit.
- When you can, use odd numbers (for example, 3, 15, or 21). They’re more believable and easier to remember.
- Use exact (non-rounded) numbers (for example, 4.64% or 1007) instead of rounded numbers (for example, 5% or 1000). Non-rounded numbers are more believable.
What about when you’re writing about prices? Use these tips:
- Use numerals with a dollar sign in front of them (for example, $997 instead of nine hundred and nighty-seven dollars). Like with regular numbers, prices with numerals are easier and faster to read.
- When you’re presenting a weekly, monthly, or annual cost, try expressing the cost in a smaller unit of time too. For example, you can say that an annual membership fee of $599.88 is just $49.99/month or that a weekly fee of $5.60 is just $0.80/day. When you express the cost based on the smaller unit of time, it seems more affordable.
- Add decimal places to make a price seem larger (for example, $10.00) and remove them to make it seem smaller (for example, $10).
Related: The 4 U’s of writing headlines that convert + 72 free headline templates
Example: Take a look at the exact (non-rounded) numbers in this testimonial.
Need help finding the right words to make your copy persuasive and compelling?
Download my FREE list of 476 power words.
4. Break up large paragraphs
This simple copy change is all about formatting your copy to fit the way people actually read text online.
When people read copy online—whether it’s a sales page, email, or ad—they don’t read the copy word-for-word from beginning to end. Instead, they scan it for key information.
For this reason, it’s important to make your copy easy to scan if you want people to “read” and act on it.
One of the easiest ways to make your copy more scannable is to ensure that your paragraphs are short—no more than a few lines or sentences long. You can do this by writing short paragraphs to begin with. Or you can take the copy you’ve already written and simply break large paragraphs up into multiple smaller ones.
Short paragraphs also help the people in your audience who love you enough to hang on to your every word. How? By making your copy feel less intimidating and easier to read.
Related: Scannable copy: How to write for your audience online + free scannable copy checklist
Example: Check out how Nesha Woolery uses short paragraphs throughout this landing page to make it a walk in the park to read.
5. Adding visuals
You can also make your copy more scannable by adding visuals—images, figures, or videos—to break up chunks of text.
Even if you use short paragraphs in your copy, a sales page, a website page, or even a long email that’s all text can be boring and intimidating to read. That’s why high-quality, on-brand images go hand-in-hand with solid copy. By breaking your copy up into small, digestible chunks, they engage your audience visually and make your copy more fun and accessible to read.
But that’s not all. The right visuals can also help you illustrate the benefits your audience will experience if they buy your product or service. They can even help your audience envision how your product or service will change their life.
So if you don’t already have visuals to accompany your copy, make this simple copy change.
Related: The 10 best stock photo sites for your blog or website + 15 bonus sites
Example: The Sculpted Vegan uses images on this sales page to help her audience envision the results they can get with her Sculpt & Shred fitness program.
Simple copy changes can give you BIG results
Your sales page, website, ad, or email may not be giving you the customers or revenue you had hoped for. But this doesn’t mean that you need to scrap it and start all over again.
Instead, first try making the 5 simple copy changes I’ve shared above. They may seem small. But because they make your copy more accessible, engaging, and persuasive, they can work wonders to boost the impact of your copy on your audience and make it convert.
Need help finding the right words to make your copy persuasive and compelling?
Download my FREE list of 476 power words.
