Today I’m going to talk about some of the most common blunders you could be making with your copy—no matter if you’re writing an email, sales page, Facebook ad, or any other type of promotion.
These are response-killing blunders I see copywriters and business owners make all the time. In my live copy mentoring programs — where I give copy critiques — I’m able to bring these blunders to light and help people get much better and more confident at writing GOOD sales copy.
(Note: I’m opening the doors today for my Copy Insiders to join my 4-week Summer 2024 Copy Mentoring Sprint that kicks off in July. You can get all the details here — and save $100 off the already-low price when you act by this Friday’s deadline, assuming there are still spots available then.)
Let’s take a look at some of these common copy blunders — and how you can correct them and make your sales copy far stronger…
Blunder #1: Not striking the right balance between specific and general
With sales copy, you’re writing a one-to-one communication. But that particular communication isn’t just going to one person. It’s going to a vast number of different people.
And while they may share some things in common, they’re all unique individuals. So therein lies the challenge.
You need to craft a sales message that seems like a one-to-one communication, but that casts a wide enough net so that thousands of unique individuals can read your message and think you’re talking specifically to them.
You want them to think, “Hey, they’re talking to ME!” or “Hey, they KNOW me.” The trick is to provide specifics—but don’t get TOO specific.
You can future pace, for example, and paint a picture of how much better the prospect’s life will be once they have your product. But things can get tricky.
That’s because you want to be specific enough with your details so your prospect can envision him or herself experiencing what you’re describing… but not get so specific that they say, wait, that’s not me or that’s not what I want.
At the same time, you want to avoid being too general. Otherwise your copy won’t stir your prospect deep down inside and strike that yearning for your product that makes them take action. You’ll just sound like everyone else with heard-it-before vague promises and platitudes.
Okay, here’s another common copy blunder you definitely don’t want to make…
Blunder #2: Insulting your prospect
This next common mistake can end up repelling your prospective customer. It’s when you make wrong-headed assumptions or end up insulting them. A well-meaning sentence or headline that’s too direct can be a turn-off if it doesn’t fit with how your prospect sees him or herself.
It’s much better to pad your sentence with “Maybe” or “Perhaps” or “If” when you’re setting up a problem that your product or service can solve.
Or ask carefully-chosen questions that are likely to get the prospect nodding his or her head. That way you keep your prospect moving through the copy instead of stopping him or her cold.
When you’re getting older, you become much more aware of things like your faulty memory, your increasingly wrinkled skin, your weight, your prostate problems, or your low libido. You’re a little bit sensitive, perhaps in denial, and probably embarrassed.
One must tread carefully and gently when addressing these sensitive topics. Here’s an example of an “empathy” lead I used in a memory supplement promotion I wrote that ended up mailing in various incarnations as a hot control for over 8 years:
Many of us joke about “senior moments.” But when they start happening to you more often, they’re not funny at all. Instead, they’re frustrating, embarrassing, and perhaps even worrisome.
For example, do you ever walk into a room—and forget what you went in to get? Run into someone you haven’t seen lately—and can’t recall their name? Misplace your glasses or your house keys?
It’s ironic. Just when you’ve got all this wisdom and experience under your belt, your brain is no longer “old reliable.” You never know when it’s going to trip you up, frustrate you, embarrass you, or make you wonder if you’re starting to lose your marbles.
By posing multiple scenarios in the form of a question, and providing three different ones that are fairly common, right out of the gate I’m getting the prospect to nod their head and feel like I’m speaking to them.
Then just when they start to feel a little bit vulnerable about these memory problems, I give them a compliment about all this wisdom and experience they have. And tell them it’s not their fault that their brain’s tripping them up.
Always remember you’re writing to an audience of one… even if it’s an audience of thousands. Get into that prospect’s head and RESPECT him or her…understand their pain points… and be sensitive how you talk about them. If you screw this up, you’ll doom your promotion to producing poor or mediocre results.
Now here’s one more copy blunder I see all the time…
Blunder #3: Trying to cram in too many different ideas
Constantly shifting from one idea to another, no matter how good each one is, is confusing for your reader.
It dilutes the power of that initial good idea –and the next one — and the next. You are much better off focusing on that one good idea… that hook that gets your reader reading, and expanding and dimensionalizing it.
You weaken your copy — and may confuse or lose your prospect — when you jump from one idea to another.
You’ve got to stick with one “big idea” in your email or lead copy and run through it in a logical progression — without veering off on one tangent or another.
Another common variant of this blunder is combining too many different ideas into one headline. It ends up diluting the power of your headline, and potentially confusing the reader.
And yet another variant is using waaaaay-too-long sentences, often containing 4-5 discrete ideas… which need to be broken down into multiple shorter, easier-to-digest sentences, each containing no more than 1-2 different ideas.
Chances are, even if you’re an experienced copywriter, you’re making some of these copy blunders. Hopefully this will help you spot them and eradicate them from your sales copy.
Feel free to reply back and let me know if this gave you some new insights!
Yours for smarter marketing,
Kim
P.S. Getting my eyes on your copy and/or seeing me critique other people’s copy — even if you’re watching the recordings later — is something you’ll get to do in my upcoming Summer 2024 Copy Mentoring Sprint. Limited spots are available and you can save $100 off the already-low price if you’re speedy.
Get all the details and grab your spot here. You won’t want to miss it!
