Regardless of whether your small business is selling products or services copywriting is important, there’s one question that the majority of your customers want you to answer.
“What’s in it for me?”
When you’re writing content for your website, keeping this question front of mind will help you produce website copy that generates sales.
The reasons people buy things
Sometimes people shop for the sheer joy of acquisition. Other times, it’s a grudge purchase they can’t avoid. But, whatever your customers’ motivation, by knowing what encourages them to part with their money, you can help them decide to buy from you instead of your competition. Here are the main reasons why people buy things:
- Make money
- Keep money
- Save time
- Avoid effort
- Be more attractive
- Avoid or relieve pain
- Prevent stress
- Get praise or recognition
- Protect family
- Gain peace of mind
- Be clean or comfortable
- Improve health
When deciding whether to buy your product or service, a customer will want to know, “what’s in it for me?” The answer is likely to come from the above list.
How do you put this into practice when writing copy for your website?
First, think about your target market and what problems they need you to solve. Next, consider your product and how it solves those problems – in other words, consider the product’s benefits. Then write about them!
Let’s say you’re selling toothpaste for sensitive teeth. In this case, your audience is anyone with sensitive teeth, and the problems they need to solve relate to keeping their teeth clean and healthy while neutralising tooth pain.
The features of the product are that it includes fluoride, has a whitening agent, combats tooth sensitivity, and has a minty fresh flavour. But, simply listing the features does not show your customer how the product helps them. You should explain the benefits, too, it’s all in copywriting. Here’s an example of the benefits these features provide.
Contains fluoride: Helps to prevent cavities, so teeth are stronger and healthier and require fewer fillings (save money, save time, avoid pain, be clean or comfortable, improve health).
Has a whitening agent: Keeps your teeth sparkling white for a great-looking smile (be more attractive).
Combats tooth sensitivity: Less tooth pain when consuming hot or cold food and drink (avoid pain, prevent stress, be comfortable).
Minty fresh flavour: Tastes great and leaves breath smelling fresh (be more attractive, be clean or comfortable, gain peace of mind).
By including a product or service’s benefits in your website copy, you’re not leaving it up to your customer to imagine what your product does for them – you’re giving them multiple examples of “what’s in it for them”. Not only is that great for helping your customers decide to buy from you, but it helps to improve your site’s SEO because Google prioritises sites with helpful, high-quality content. Copywriting doesn’t need to be complex but needs to be informative.
If you need a website to sell your products or services, check out MoreWeb’s small business website design service.
