7 copywriting mistakes that will lose you business

Hurray! Your customer has visited your website. Job done! Or is it?

If potential leads aren’t immediately sold on what you have to offer then you might as well wave goodbye to their business. Using engaging copy in your company brochure, mailshot and website is essential for grabbing your customers’ attention and informing them about you. So what’s the key to copywriting success?

Here are seven of the common mistakes businesses make and some copywriting tips to help you avoid them:

Copywriting Mistake 1: Forgetting your audience

Before you put a finger to the keyboard it’s important to identify your audience and what motivates them. Are they looking for a brand they can trust or the cheapest deal? Customers are more likely to be persuaded if you show them you understand their needs.

Tell them a story to pique their interest. Remind them of a happy moment or invite them to try out their dream lifestyle with your help.

Copywriting Mistake 2: Not adapting style

Think about your brand and have a tone of voice that reflects your brand values. You need to use a very different copywriting style when you create a webpage or blog post compared to a brochure or advert. You must build in SEO – Search Engine Optimisation as well as making your text engaging.

Copywriting Mistake 3: Poor headlines

Your headline is your first opportunity to capture your customers’ imaginations. Make it count. CoSchedule’s headline analyser is a fantastic tool for helping you craft headlines with the right sentiment, balance of words types and number of characters. Use words that conjure up emotion.

Copywriting Mistake 4: A lack of focus

You should always have a set of key messages in mind when you start writing. These are the most important points you want to get across and you should repeat them several times to make sure your message is heard.

Also, add a clear call to action at the end of your copy so that customers know what they need to do next.

Copywriting Mistake 5: Writing without vigor

Your readers are less likely to respond to passive sentences than active ones – fact! So, out with ‘the car was being driven by the flamingo’ and in with ‘the flamingo drove the car’. Find out how emotion copywriting can bring energy to your copy too.

Copywriting Mistake 6: Beating around the bush

Get to the point. Don’t leave your customer in any doubt about what you do by using jargon or flowery descriptions. Less is more.

Copywriting Mistake 7: Making it all about yourself

Writing in the second person will keep people reading. Ditch talking about ‘we’ and ‘I’. Make it all about ‘you’ – your customer. Make them feel like they are the only person that matters.

If you want more copywriting tips or need an expert to do it for you, get in touch. We offer copywriting services for on and offline marketing projects including web pages, newsletters, email marketing and prospectuses.