Sonia Simone says, “What makes people almost buy? What makes them get most of the way there and then drop out of your shopping cart at the last second? What makes them stare at your landing page, wanting what you have to offer, and yet, ultimately, close the page and move on to something else? It turns out there’s a hideous troll hiding under the bridge. Every time you get close to making a sale, the troll springs out and scares your prospect away. Get rid of the troll and your copy will start converting better than it ever has before. The ugly, smelly, dirty, bad-mannered troll is prospect... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “From a traditional marketing standpoint, the answer to the question in the headline above is simple. Content marketing means creating and sharing valuable free content to attract and convert prospects into customers — and customers into repeat buyers. Copywriting gets a reader to take a specific action. Sometimes that’s making a purchase, but it can also be subscribing to your email list, signing up for your content library, or calling you for more information. Content marketing is blogs, podcasts, and email autoresponders. Copywriting is sales pages, ads, and direct... [...]

Daniel Burstein says, “It’s our fourth annual copywriting contest, and this year the MarketingExperiments blog has partnered with the Convince & Convert blog to find the most effective copywriter or marketer to help a nonprofit organization that has spent the last 80 years battling in the public and private sectors for safer products and fair market practices. Take a few minutes to write your most effective email copy expressing one of the Value Focuses that would resonate with donors of our nonprofit partner, Consumer Reports. Leave your most brilliant copy as a comment on this blog... [...]

Ken Bowen says, “Throughout 2015, MarketingExperiments.com has published extensive new research taken from discoveries made by our parent company, MECLABS Institute. We have discussed branding, personalized messaging, subject line sequencing and copy, just to touch on a few topics covered in the last 12 months. On the blog, we covered a wide range of subjects, from optimization and email marketing to testing strategies, and provided actionable takeaways on topics as varied as designing for user experience, cryptic marketing, the psychological effects of font and cart abandonment. As you... [...]

Paul Cheney says, “Writing a value proposition is a lot like drawing a jellyfish in a game of Pictionary. Let me explain. I was at a party recently where several people were playing a fiery game of Pictionary. One person who was particularly bad at the game started drawing a cylinder with a label on it. Thick befuddlement settled on the guessing team. After several wild guesses, the team rightly guessed that it was a jar of jelly. Then, much to the team’s dismay, the artist began to draw another picture. This time, luckily, his drawing clearly depicted a standard fish. The word he held... [...]

Stefanie Flaxman says, “Do you ever catch yourself romanticizing earlier time periods? Thoughts like, “It was so much easier to establish authority with ebooks when they weren’t as common” or “I wish people still had longer attention spans.” Before you get too bummed out, remember that digital content creators are currently well-positioned and previous generations had their challenges as well. Even way back when long-form, romantic love letters were all the rage, a hastily scribbled note was the equivalent of today’s cursory, ambiguous text message. But let’s see what we can... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Unless you’re a reactionary, as a marketer you probably understand that automation is creating more jobs than it makes redundant. Automation, for all the scale it enables, requires human mastery of technology, process flows and customer lifecycles. Increasingly personal communications also entail the creation of more content, to suit each segment and event you identify. But as much as marketing continues to be a balance of science and art, it seems that automated copywriting software could be about to polarise the world of content. Read on to find out more, but if... [...]

Andrea Johnson says, “Great copy isn’t about writing beautiful prose; it’s about knowing what to say to your prospects, when to say it and how to say it so they immediately become engaged, stay engaged and ultimately buy whatever it is you’re selling. Pretty words and design don’t matter as much as understanding what your prospects are thinking, what they expect during each stage of the buying process and then giving that to them. That’s why MarketingExperiments has dozens of clinics focused on helping you write subject lines, headlines, body copy and more to help you achieve that.... [...]

Sean D’Souza says, “Cartoonists don’t think straight. If you tell them about cars, they think of chewing gum. If you talk to them about dinner, they think of heel balm. In short, they force-fit thoughts that may have no connection to each other. But what’s a cartoonist got to do with the opening paragraphs of your article? When you think about it, most of us get stuck while writing introductions. Let’s say we want to write about “growing tomatoes in a small space.” What are you thinking of right now? Sure, “tomatoes in a small space.” Which is fine to start, but it’s... [...]

Henneke says, “Do you ever read back a draft of your writing and wonder what happened? Red-cheeked, you thought your draft was complete. You felt excited. Brimming with enthusiasm. You knew it … this was going to be superb. Probably your best-ever blog post. Yay! You poured yourself a beer, feeling elated with your success. Any minor editing and proofreading could wait until the next day. But, the next day … you feel disappointed. Your writing sounds bland. Your sentences seem to stutter. What can you do? How can you create a smooth and enjoyable reading experience? How can you make... [...]