Scientifically Backed Copywriting Tips & Scientific Method to avoid Invisible Copywriting Mistakes

We know that our Dream Copy won’t just slip into our laps…

When worn old copywriting “tricks” fail us, we end up frustrated, embarrassed, scared of wasting time, and deadened by the fear of being stuck. 

Chartbeat studied the behavior of over 2 million web visitors over a whole month and discovered that 55% of visitors only spend 15 seconds actively on a website. They pulled out the most clicked topics and compared them. It showed that web visitors are more moved by newsworthy content as opposed to evergreen content. Users who read a blog post for three minutes were 3x more likely to return to that site than those who only read for one minute. In other words, visitors who read more of the post are more likely to return.

If you want your readers to convert, you have to conserve their concentration. It implies that throwing up 3,000 random words won’t make your website visitors engage. That’s why your tool had better be cleared and swift. Otherwise, your copies are not going to get read. Remember, there is too much cyclic content out there to get through it all. 

What will you get in this Copywriting Tips article?

In this article, you will get insider information hundreds of copywriters have already used to get out of a “rut”, get raises, find your Dream copies, and take control of your future, including:

1. Scientifically-Backed Copywriting Tips
2. Invisible copywriting mistakes that affect the audience
3. A simple word for word copy that can save you from wasting your future times

First things first……….

Who is a Copywriter?

A copywriter creates a distinct and compelling copy or sales copy to sell products and/or educate and engage consumers. They increase brand awareness, scribe blog posts, product descriptions, email blasts, banner advertising, e-newsletters, white papers, PSAs, articles for social media platforms, and vice versa. 

In other words, the person who does all the writing chores for any individual or any marketing campaign.

What does a copywriter do?

If it’s a business, then it is always about profit, not charity. It needs to be a sales-worthy business to maximize profit, and that requires customer targeted marketing. Because if you promote your product with generalized content, it will hardly influence the actual consumers. 

Now, If you are asking, “HOW TO DO THAT?”

That is confidential.

However,

If you are asking, “WHO CAN DO THAT?”.

A copywriter.

“WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?”

Boom, sales!

Finally, “AM I SURE ABOUT THAT?”

Patience, breathe.! 

No one can defeat a copywriter when it comes to convincing a reader through written content.

The Want Effect

Customers do not buy stuff because they NEED it. They purchase anything because they WANT it.

And this “WANT” effect is created by copywriters.

Who hires a Copywriter?

Agencies that have nothing but copywriters for the evident interest of advertising and marketing hire copywriters. Car dealerships, department stores, internet websites, and so many more companies need the assistance of copywriting because they have to have the advertisements to maximize their profit. 

These might be for a new set of phrasing for their websites or writing the product descriptions for the new items they are adding to their online stock or print catalog. Alternatively, it could be a regular or ongoing commission for blog posts, customer newsletters, or email campaigns.

Copywriter Required Skills

No formal qualifications are needed. However, they do require some fundamental skills, and then they are good to go. It is important to understand whether you are ready to become a copywriter or not.

• A high level of English language skills is necessary for a copy with the correct sentence structure, punctuation, spelling, and so on. Comprehensive lexical resources are essential for a sturdy headline.

• They understand how to proofread and edit their copy by themselves. Each copy needs to be error-free and compatible as per your requirements before being sent to you.

• Persuasive copy demands curious minds to write about it. A copywriter will always try to discover more about the product features, advantages, and freakish selling points. They will develop new outlooks to address the campaign from their inquisitive perspective and knowledge.

• Once a wise man said, “Research, Research, Research”. Grasping excellent research skills by using the internet will make the cooking copy process more agile and more apparent.

Finally, they will hear you out utilizing their Great Listening Skills to find the best angle to write your copy.

Why follow Copywriting Tips

Copywriting exercises are like warm-ups, but instead of plunges or jumping jacks to get you moving, they are short prompts to help soothe you into writing. By giving you a head start at producing or planning your copy, these prompts will help you focus before you even dive into the project at hand or reset when you hit a snag.

Scientifically Backed Copywriting Tips

Neuroscience studies and behavioral psychology can assist you in enhancing your copywriting skills. But, going through a pile of dry research papers and statistics to find some useful chunks is definitely not our thing.

Don’t worry. I am here to save you from all the hassles. 

Tip-1> Create a “Tantalized Headline”

A tantalized headline will get any reader to click without giving away the entire story. Let’s look at the example from an Upworthy story about Mitt Romney:

Example 1: “Mitt Romney Says Something Bad, Again”

Example 2: Mitt Romney Says, “I Want The Middle Class To Be Tied To The Roof Of My Car.”

Example 3: “You Will Not Believe What Mitt Wants To Do To You” 

The first example was excessively obscure, so readers were not interested. The second one was too precise, and therefore readers already perceived the complete story. The last example was quite connived to boost click-throughs but illustrates enough mystery to inspire the readers to read the entire copy.

Tip-2> Use numbers in the headlines

The Takipi research discovered that numbers serve well in headlines, and especially digits are more shareable. For example, “9 steps to…” works better than “Nine ways to…”. This happens because our brains can concede numbers more easily. 

Many professional copywriters use this trick, and higher-numbered lists (e.g. “100 ways to…”) are shared more by the readers, as were headlines that began with a digit. It is not shocking that for a persuasive copy, you have to make them concrete using numbers and precise points rather than ubiquitous statements.

Tip-3> Narrate with the Audience

When crafting a compelling copy, you have to learn about the stuff that makes your potential reader heed. It may be simple for you to write out, but you have to discourse to a feeling that is already there and never seek to force one on your reader.

Imagine you are watching a match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, and Messi gets banged with a bone-crunching tackle and clasps a rib. Don’t you experience wincing at the thought?

Scientifically, it is the influence of mirror neurons and their effect on the human mind. These neurons stimulate when you “observe” something happening and then shift some of the feelings (if it’s compelling enough) on to you. They are plausible biologically useful for certain evolutionary traits, such as empathy.

The current research showed that great writers convey strong emotions through words. Utilizing this knowledge about mirror neurons and how to transfer the craved feeling onto readers is efficient, but it will only work if you understand what causes them to tick.

Tip-4> Authentic Copy means Business

Research by Melanie Green and Timothy Brock reveals that stories that have explicit imagery, suspense, or metaphors, and irony work excellently. It is an old tip, but it serves so well because applying stories can assist you to flare up your audience’s imagination better than anything else. It can make them sense your copy and let down their guard. Many people nowadays are loath to copy but will react favorably to well-pitched stories. Therefore, it will give you an open window to influence them.

Tip-5> Present it as Infrequent

The Takipi examined a collection of tech blogs to see which posts were shared more on social media than others and what they had in common. They noticed that using negative, dark, and aggressive words in titles lead to more shares. For example, including the terms no, without, and stop led to more shares than more positively-framed titles, using words like do or start. Also, aggressive or violent-sounding terms rallied more social shares, and words like kill, dead, and fear appeared to be more shareable.

Let’s compare two popular headlines:

Example 1: “Oracle makes more moves to kill open-source MySQL.”

Example 2: “Oracle is bleeding at the hands of DataBase rivals.”

Example 3: “For Oracle, it’s about the machine, not the fantasy of a new world.”

The last headline had less than a third of the number of shares than the others. However, writing about negative notions or trying to make things negative is not a great way to help people commence a happier life. Thus, to utilize this method is to focus on the positive but turn it inside out. 

Tip-6> Asking to Compare Prices is a Bad Idea

New research from Stanford University has unveiled that selling “Time” is considerably more efficient than vending money, and urging customers to compare prices is a wrong idea.

The experience a person has with the purchase of a product aims to cherish feelings of personal connection with it, which shows that time drives towards more favorable attitudes and hence more purchases.

Professor Mogliner said, “Ultimately, time is a more scarce resource — once it’s gone, it’s gone — and therefore it’s more meaningful to us.”

We know that consumers are ready to spend higher for outstanding service, which means if you speak to them in a way that shows you value what they hope to achieve, they will pay any prices. It is notably more genuine than proposing them on bottom-dollar prices. In fine, you should write the kind of things that matter to your buyer, and that is their time, concerns, and desires.

Tip-7> Write Precise Details

If you intend to sell something or convince people to do your bidding, then there is no other choice for you than to be precise in your copy.

Example 1: “We are the best in the industry. We have been in business for a long time, and our customers trust us. You can find all kinds of woodworking tools in our store, and they are priced reasonably.”

Example 2: “We have been in business for 25 years, and we have been able to serve more than 100,000 customers in our locality alone. All our woodworking tools are priced below $90, and you will typically respond to customer’s inquiries within 24 hours.”

The second example is more powerful and will probably persuade more than the first one. Writing precise details makes the reader trust the business more and it will eventually convert shrimp consumers. You must take the time to scale, develop, and trace the success of your copy. Prominent writers today have no reasons for not examining their work, so make sure you are exerting the small stuff and maintaining tabs on how it performs.

Tip-8> Tell a Story

Story-telling is the most useful way to stimulate our brains. You can generate the same emotions that you had when encountering a situation in the other person if they are listening to your tale. This Neural Coupling model explains it properly:

“The same emotional areas of the brain get activated in the listener that the speaker endures as he narrates an event.”

Takipi’s research revealed that tech blogs, posts including the words announcing, wins, celebrates, or grows dropped near the bottom of the most-shared list. On the other hand, applying “lose” berthed a post in the top 50% of the list. Since we know that announcements can be boring hence create a story for your copy instead.

According to the research from social psychologists Melanie Green and Timothy Brock, it is troublesome to realize how scary Mordor is without Tolkien giving you detailed descriptions of the barren landscapes, the looming presence of Mt. Doom, and the horrifying screams of the Nazgul. Therefore, detailed imagery paints the picture for the story. 

However, Many good stories introduce metaphors and irony (a hidden tale) so that readers will have “Aha!” moments, which enables them to follow the author’s message. Also, it is essential to include some suspense in every type of story. Because it is tough for us to ignore things that seize our attention, and it is beneficial for every copywriter to begin with something exciting first, not later.

Tip-9> Use power words

Certain words are just more compelling than others. If you notice from the opening of this article, you will observe that I have applied the term “You” several times (presumably more than any other word in this article). It is a mighty word that assists you to connect with your reader on a unique level.

A study has revealed that observing your name on-screen/copy makes you more perceptive to information. When your name arises in a message, you become trusting and more involved, as if a mate is talking to you.

Dan Ariely, in his book Predictably Irrational, unveiled a comparison between chocolate truffles and Hershey Kisses. People preferred the truffles when the Kisses were just a penny, but when the Kisses were advertised as free by the merchants, people picked them over the truffles by 38%.

According to several MRI studies, few terms ignite up our mid-brain considerably & bids a sense of fast reward. If you can persuade the consumers that you can resolve their intricacy in no time, they will be more inclined to buy your services.

Tip-10> Surprise the Audience

If you present something unexpected or break a pattern, this will assist you to seize attention, according to Chip and Dan Heath’s research.

It operates in two parts: 

• Surprise seizes our attention initially
• Curiosity holds it

As per Dr. Gregory Berns, 

“This means that the brain finds unexpected pleasure more rewarding than expected ones, and it may have little to do with what people say they like”.

In other words, unexpected premises have incredible influence over us. Therefore surprises are more intriguing for us and will receive our attention spontaneously than something we already understand quite well.

Creation performs a valuable role in stimulating our brain’s reward center, and it keeps us satisfied with our acquisitions. A study showed that anticipated “newness” is paramount for a product but can be degrading for a brand because people esteem brands that have been around for a high time.

Tip-11> Embrace your devilish side

Every copywriter should put a lot of effort to be authentic. Instead of striving to paint a picture of a perfect offer, point out general concerns that consumers may have, and then convince them with facts and proof that they should not bother about anything.

While hearing a compelling argument, you think to yourself that the orator will address your problem. And, you are much more likely to be influenced if the orator mentions anything about your issue. It will happen because your concerns were put in the limelight by the orator, rather than never being summoned.

Research by social psychologist Charlan Nemeth reveals that arguments framed in the “Devil’s Advocate” style were more likely to influence audiences to support the original one instead of quarreling with it. “Devil’s Advocate” magnifies the influence of the original argument!

In fine, build a powerful copy that discusses the audience’s objections head-on.

Tip-12> Verbs are Harder than Adjectives

According to the Harvard MBA admissions director, “Verbs get specific and are harder to ignore, especially in a vain world where everybody describes themselves with the same trite adjectives.”

In the review of effective admission letters, verbs knockout adjectives more frequently than not. Verbs can get you leverage over your competitor since their copy will be fluffing up with adjectives they found in a dictionary. You can persuade people over by defining what you do.

Tip-13> Write First, Optimize Later

Boring stuff can veet your writing spirit, and to dodge that, use your writer instinct and write your heart out. Copywriters have no simple way out because they must prepare themselves for composing copies on less appealing stuff. Even if you are not enjoying writing on it, believe in your writing talents and write it down for your readers. Seldom recognizing the boringness of material can damage the writer’s writing spirit along with the content.

If you are doing SEO copywriting, then you have to optimize your copy as per SEO regulations. However, instant optimization can reduce your writing pace and thought process and can be making a tedious topic even challenging to write on. You can always get back to your copy and optimize it after you write it down.

Invisible copywriting mistakes that affect the audience

Made a mistake- No problem at all! All you have to do is admit it, learn from it, and never repeat it!

Mistake-1> No attention to Headline

When it comes to seizing your reader’s attention, nothing serves better than a compact headline. Your headlines must suggest to the reader a purpose to read that first section of your copy.

As David Ogilvy had said, “On average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. When you have written your headlines, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”

Mistake-2> Call-to-action

The study implies that centering on the action that you want your visitors to take blows conversion. A lot of copywriters perform this mistake because they believe in it as the ultimate tool for getting prospects to purchase. 

It is not about the action because it is about the value consumers are going to get as an outcome of taking that action. Understanding that right in your CTA can give you climactic lifts with little effort.

Mistake-3> Saying too much or too little

Depending on where your reader is in their thought process, you need to decide the length of your copy. You could be speaking way too much when all consumers want to take action, or you could be saying way too little while not providing the visitor with sufficient information to make a decision. Telling too much can lead you from a 99.9% to around a .01% conversion rate. Your reader requires the proper amount of copy to get them to decide on the page. Sometimes that takes 30 pages, sometimes a few words.

Mistake-4> Mismanagement of Tones

You should converse positively with your readers as a copywriter. A lot of copywriters make this mistake in their copies. It might not be as dramatic as speaking in baby-talk to paying consumers, but it could mean rubbing them in the wrong direction, even a little with not just what you say, but how you say it.

Each point can be displayed emphatically or adversely to the readers by the copywriters. You can argue about how an item will protect time or how time will be disoriented without the item. These indicate the same information, just one is positive, and the other is negative.

Without examining each narrative in a positive and negative form, it is nearly improbable to know which is more efficient. Most copywriters always use positives by default, but this can be an expensive blunder. Therefore, begin examining what occurs when you flip positives into negatives. It can have fiery results, so it is always worth operating some inspections and discovering what works best.

Mistake-5> Following Blindly

One of the most significant misconceptions in marketing is floundering to understand causality. Many copywriters and consumers believe that Facebook’s or Twitter landing page must be well designed and well written as they are successful. It is a bad idea because Twitter’s landing page is not very constructive, and it relies on people being accustomed to the brand when they visit. So, test other approaches at the same time because it is improbable to be the most prosperous method.

Mistake-6> Consumers are not mathematically literate

In an Atlantic article discussing the research, Derek Thomson offers this advice: “The applications of this simple fact are huge. Vending cereal? Don’t talk up the discount. Talk about how much bigger the box is! Vending a car? Skip the MPG conversion. Talk about all the extra miles.”

According to research proclaimed in the Journal of Marketing, it is much more affordable to offer 50% extra free, and your consumers will see the venture as equivalent to a 50% discount. It means, instead of telling a consumer what they will save, you should always try explaining to them what they will gain for free.

Mistake-7> Not Testing your Copy

If you have ever composed a page of copy longer than 1,000 words, you might have heard this objection from someone who examined it. You should always be cautious with each word and test a long copy, and sometimes it may convert much better. Remember, what bores the reviewer might coerce the consumer.

Mistake-8> Not acknowledging the format

Multi-column layouts can be easier to compose and design, but they seldom convert well on landing pages because multiple columns of text are squeezed onto one row.

If you use a single-column layout, it will demonstrate your expectation from your readers to read every word from inception to end. You should use subheads, graphics, and text boxes to help attract the reader through the page. However, if you desire to use columns, do not apply text columns aligned side by side because you should match them with pictures. If you have only one column of text on each row, readers are more inclined to read everything.

A simple word for word copy that can save you from wasting your future times !

Conclusion

A copywriter was someone who composed ad copy to market a product or service in the past, but nowadays, customers want education, inspiration, and satisfaction from a copy. Modern Copywriters should accommodate all of those while convincing the prospect to purchase. It should present a social experience, as well, and make it simple for people to share effective website content. Following these copywriting tips, you will be able to fulfil all the demands of the consumers, and avoiding provided unintentional mistakes will make you an advanced level professional copywriter.