Product Messaging — Page Teardowns
There’s no magic behind conversion, especially when it comes to landing pages. Just the same way a measured set of food ingredients, added in sequential order makes a nice dish, that’s the same way certain protocols, when followed, will increase the chances of conversion. I must admit, up until this class, I had been going about the business of building landing pages in the wrong way. There’s indeed a science to these things. So briefly, let’s talk about how to increase your chances of conversion through your landing page, using a page teardown.
Mind you, this’s not a guaranteed way to increase your conversion (only listening to customers and prospects will get you that info), but it’s a sure way to tell you what is likely not going to work. While most tear-downs are usually opinion-based, there’s a better approach to persuading people to use your products. Using the following MEClab’s conversion sequence heuristics, we arrive at a sort of formula that enables you to ask the right questions — C = 4M + 3V + 2(I — F) — 2A,
Where,
C = Conversion
M = Motivation: Reason, Expectation — You can’t control these, hence why you need to understand what your prospect motivation is, and make sure messaging is aligned.
V = Value Proposition: What is the payoff, what are you giving them in return?
I = Incentive: What sweetener are you adding to make it easier for your users to fulfill product goals?
F = Friction: How hard are you making it for people to access you/your product? Are people jumping through many loops and hoops, links, forms, just to fulfill the end goal of your product.
A = Anxiety: These are objects and perceived threats. They’re like psychological friction, e.g. product quality, pricing, payment system, etc.
Next is Cialdini’s 7 Principles of Influence. The messaging on your landing page should reflect the following:
· Social Proof: Users want to be sure that they’re not the only ones using your product. Proof that other people are saying “yes” to your product. When people are uncertain about a course of action, they tend to look to those around them to guide their decisions and actions. They especially want to know what everyone else is doing — especially their peers.
· Authority: A form of endorsement by either press or celebrities or anyone who could be considered as an authority. People respect authority. They want to follow the lead of real experts. Business titles, impressive clothing, and even driving an expensive, high-performing automobile are proven factors in lending credibility to any individual.
· Liking: It’s easier for people to say yes to you when they like you. People are also more likely to favor those who are physically attractive, similar to themselves, or who give them compliments. Even something as ‘random’ as having the same name as your prospects can increase your chances of making a sale.
· Scarcity/Urgency: People are more motivated to patronize you when they believe there’s a limited supply of goods or services. Basically, the less there is of something, the more valuable it is. The more rare and uncommon a thing, the more people want it.
· Reciprocity: People are more inclined to do something for you when you’ve done something for them. Reciprocation recognizes that people feel indebted to those who do something for them or give them a gift. The implication is you have to go first. Give something: give information, give free samples, give a positive experience to people and they will want to give you something in return.
· Commitment/Consistency: Getting someone to do a small ask will increase the likelihood that they’ll say yes to a bigger ask later. People do not like to back out of deals. We’re more likely to do something after we’ve agreed to it verbally or in writing, Cialdini says. People strive for consistency in their commitments. They also prefer to follow pre-existing attitudes, values, and actions.
· Unity (Us vs. Them): Can you make people feel like they’re part of an exclusive community, a tight knot group when they say yes to you?
Next, is how to structure your offer and sales narrative, from Claude Hopkins. Claude Hopkins is popularly known as the father of conversion advertisement.
· Be Specific: Often when people write copies for their products, it’s so generic and general. When this happens, there’s usually no attachment on the user’s part, i.e. it doesn’t feel like the message is directly addressed to the user, as the words used could mean every other person out there who’s reading the copy too. You’d want to be very specific with your messaging. But man, who makes specific claim either telling the truth or LIE. People don’t expect the advertiser to LIE.
· Offer Service: Remember that the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interest or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising.
· Tell the full story: People think/say people don’t read on the web, and so, want to make everything short as much as possible. There’s no fixed rule as to how long or short a copy should be. Sometimes, the message could be passed in one sentence, other times, it could be in one whole article. But whether long or short, the advertising story should be reasonably complete.
· Be a salesperson: Whatever copy you’re trying to write, play a role, will that copy convince you to buy that product? If it wouldn’t help a salesperson in a one-on-one environment. there’s no reason to put up that copy.
So, here’s how the structure of your copy should look like:
· First, the attention-capturing copy: This’ copy you use in your ads (Facebook, Instagram, Google, Display Ads, etc.
· Next is the persuasive copy: This’s the copy found on your homepage, landing page, product detail page. This copy is meant to persuade users after they’ve landed on your page.
· Next is the transactional copy: This’s the copy they see before/while making payment. This copy is meant to address the anxiety of the customer — quality, payment security, price.
· Then finally, is your confirmation copy: This copy is to show “order” success, etc.
This article is an ongoing series of the lessons learned from my growth marketing courses, all thanks to the good people at CXL Institute who have made this possible.
