…or “Help! The copy isn’t performing! What do I do now?”
Got an email from Michel Fortin (well, his autoresponder, really!) yesterday about a post on his blog titled…
“Are Bottlenecks Clogging Your Sales?”
I was a little surprised because…
…I recalled seeing this post before.
Indeed, it was originally published some time ago.
So, perhaps a “glitch” in the autoresponder…
…but taking this as a sign of synchronicity I decided to take a look at the post again.
Now, conventional wisdom holds that the headline is the first thing to test in an ad.
Michel begs to differ somewhat and he explains what testing a headline really tells you in the post.
Well worth reading the whole thing.
Now, this must be something of a “Topic du Jour” because what do I find on Clayton Makepeace’s blog today but a post from Derek Gehl…
“10 Questions You NEED To Ask If Your Website Isn’t Making Any Sales”.
Problems aren’t always to do with the copy, of course.
In fact, in most cases it’s either a strategic problem (wrong market or wrong offer) or a traffic problem (you simply don’t have enough of the right kind).
However, as a copywriter your job is…
…to fix problems!
So you need to be not “just” a copywriter but a marketing expert as well.
Perhaps I should do an interview with David Garfinkel or someone like that on “Marketing Essentials Every Copywriter Needs To Know”.
Post a comment if you think that would be a good idea.
Finally for today, we have a real “live” case study of what to do to fix a problem.
The great Clayton Makepeace had a confession in his blog on Monday.
He got his butt kicked in a recent test!
Hard to believe, but true.
Hey, it happens to the best.
But Clayton didn’t take it lying down.
No Siree!
After licking his wounds he went back and analysed the piece…and the letter that beat him.
After rigorously dissecting the letter and a rewrite…
…results were vastly improved.
(In fact, the new copy performed 2.7 times better than the first version and beat the competition by 50%).
And now he has posted a “Before and After” case study “The Eye of The Tiger – A Study In Persistence”.
Can’t believe Clayton published this. Grab it before he changes his mind.
The original post is here at “The Eye of The Tiger” (better called “Learn From Your Mistakes For Bigger Winners” – now there’s a BIG mindset lesson).
Michel Fortin says
Hey Kevin,
It’s not a glitch. It’s an update. When there’s a change to the post content, whether the content has been edited or updated, even as simple as a link change (to remove linkrot), the autresponder sends out an update notice.
That said, thank you for the mention!
Just to be clear, the headline is one of the first things to test. But what I wanted to focus on is the way we should look at testing headlines.
Testing a headline is not so much to see how it can increase conversion but to look at it as potentially being a bottleneck. And poor headlines are indeed bottlenecks.
My point was to first test removing the biggest culprits in copy — bottlenecks — before moving on to testing elements that boost sales from existing, high-converting copy.
Hope that makes sense. 😉
(From your friendly neighborhood, sleep-deprived copywriter.)
drsuccess says
Hey Kevin,
It’s not a glitch. It’s an update. When there’s a change to the post content, whether the content has been edited or updated, even as simple as a link change (to remove linkrot), the autresponder sends out an update notice.
That said, thank you for the mention!
Just to be clear, the headline is one of the first things to test. But what I wanted to focus on is the way we should look at testing headlines.
Testing a headline is not so much to see how it can increase conversion but to look at it as potentially being a bottleneck. And poor headlines are indeed bottlenecks.
My point was to first test removing the biggest culprits in copy — bottlenecks — before moving on to testing elements that boost sales from existing, high-converting copy.
Hope that makes sense. 😉
(From your friendly neighborhood, sleep-deprived copywriter.)
Kevin Francis says
Hi Michel,
Thanks for your post and clarifying that point about the update email!
Glad it gave me the opportunity to draw attention to your excellent article.
Yes, your point makes perfect sense and it’s something that most people probably wouldn’t have thought about that way.
(A Bit “Zen” – less is more!)
Thanks again and best wishes to Sylvie and yourself.
Kevin Francis
Kevin Francis says
Hi Michel,
Thanks for your post and clarifying that point about the update email!
Glad it gave me the opportunity to draw attention to your excellent article.
Yes, your point makes perfect sense and it’s something that most people probably wouldn’t have thought about that way.
(A Bit “Zen” – less is more!)
Thanks again and best wishes to Sylvie and yourself.
Kevin Francis