How to Write Persuasive Sales Copy

38 Articles on Sales Copywriting

What is sales copy?

Sales copy aims to persuade a reader to take a specific action—to buy a product, inquire about your service, join your email list, download a free report, or follow you on social media.

Sales copy is used in emails, on web pages or in sales brochures.

The 5 keys to writing persuasive sales copy

Good sales copy is:

• Engaging: it focuses on reader benefits
• Credible: good copy is hype-free and demonstrates why your product makes readers’ lives better
• Clear: it is easy to read and easy to understand
• Concise: sales copy doesn’t use more words than necessary
• Persuasive: it encourages a reader to take action

Writing irresistible sales copy is the most important marketing skill you can learn.

Best copywriting articles for beginners

Learn to avoid the most common mistakes that make copy come across sleazy, and understand how to engage and persuade your target audience.

The four articles below give you a quick overview of how to write good sales copy:

• 11 copywriting tips: Turn marketing drivel into serious sales copy
• Features vs benefits: Use the “So what?” question to seduce readers to buy
• 21 copywriting examples: Get inspired to write your own sales copy
• A pain-free process: 5 simple questions to ask before you start to write
• Copywriting checklist: 25 copywriting essentials everyone in business must know
• Storytelling in marketing: A brief guide to magical marketing

Sales copy vs web copy: what’s the difference?

Web copy is sales copy specifically written for the web.

Usability guru Jacob Nielsen suggests web visitors are foraging for information like wild animals are foraging for food. But how do you persuade a wild animal to take a certain action? Learn more in this article: 9 Simple tips for writing persuasive web copy

Other useful articles on creating a persuasive website:

• Website paths: Do these 3 website goofs make you lose business?
• New visitors: 15 quick tips to welcome first-time web visitors
• Website checklist: A 61-point website checklist to avoid pesky content failures

Dive deeper into persuasive copywriting techniques

Want to polish your copywriting skills so you can make your copy more persuasive?

The 13 articles below explain specific copywriting techniques in detail:

• True benefits: Connect with your customer’s deepest desires
• Formulas: Why most copywriting formulas stink (and how to really write for the web)
• Bullet points: Turn timid lists into heroic bullet points that sell
• Credibility: Turn maybes into resounding yeses
• Gobbledygook: Stamp out gobbledygook and boost your persuasiveness
• Emotion: 3 ways to use the persuasive power of emotion
• Facts & emotions: Nudge readers to buy … by mixing facts and emotion
• Passion: Write with so much passion that readers beg to hire you
• Curiosity gap: Entice people to click your emails and read your content
• Questions: Can you triple your persuasive powers with this humble writing technique?
• Numbers in writing: This tiny tweak will boost your credibility (and persuasiveness)

Get advice on specific copywriting tasks

Wrestling with a specific piece of writing?

The articles below make various copywriting tasks more doable:

• Home pages: Throw a party on your home page and get visitors to stick around
• About pages: How to write a sparkling ‘About’ page
• Product descriptions: 9 simple ways to write product descriptions that sell
• Landing pages: A no-fail process for writing landing page copy that converts
• Client testimonials: 4 simple tips to snatch more clients with powerful testimonials
• Business emails: Turn blah emails into crisp writing (and get more clicks and replies)
• Sales emails: Write seductive sales emails without feeling icky
• Email sequences: Keep readers hooked with engaging email series
• Taglines: How to craft a meaningful tagline for a small business

Editing tips

Do you ever read back a draft of your writing and wonder how to polish your writing?

The articles below show you simple editing tricks to create a smooth and enjoyable reading experience:

• Be concise: Sculpt concise sentences so your message becomes strong and clear
• Verbs: These 4 subtle mistakes make readers yawn and editors cringe
• Pronouns: Are these 4 common mistakes tripping up your readers, too?
• Adjectives: Jump-start limp copy
• Writing rules: Why you should ignore these 3 rules
• Adverbs: Why adverbs stink (and when they don’t)
• Transitions: Use these 6 transition tricks for a smooth reading experience

Books and Courses on Copywriting

• 

  Enchanting Copywriting

  This on-demand course teaches you how to write persuasive sales copy without selling your soul.

  Start at any time, work at your own pace.

  Learn more »

• 

  A Pain-Free Process for Writing Your ‘About’ Page

  An in-depth PDF guide with practical exercises to write a sparkling About page.

  Instant download.

  Learn more »

• 
  

  How to Write Seductive Web Copy

  Learn to apply a simple 6-step process for writing web copy that sells.

  Learn more »