writing copy for a landing page

How To Write Landing Pages That Turn Traffic Into Paying Customers

writing copy for a landing page

When working with a growth marketing agency like Tuff, you can expect that we’ll tackle all kinds of growth marketing strategies, from CRO and SEO to Social Media Ads and PPC.

But none of those strategies can happen without the help of the simple landing page!

Whether it’s using one to collect email addresses, encourage downloads, make an order, or set up a demo, landing pages are an essential building block to every marketing funnel.

And while there is no perfect formula to writing landing page copy that converts, I’m going to share some of the key elements required to write landing page copy that will make your Stripe account sing. 

Let’s dive in!

1. Know your audience.

It’s one of the basic tenets of marketing: know your audience. 

But instead of talking about whether or not your target demographic is a mom between the ages of 35-40, with a preference for lattes, bulldog videos on TikTok, and drives a minivan, I want to talk about understanding what’s going on in her mind—specifically, her stage of awareness.

Touted by the copywriting great, Eugene Schwartz, your prospect’s stage of awareness refers to how much they know about a problem they’re experiencing, what options they have to solve it, and why your product is the one they should pick. 

The 5 Stages of Awareness are:

  • Most Aware: At this stage, your prospect already knows everything about your product and is 100% ready to convert. They just need to be told where to punch in their credit card number so that they can buy.
  • Product-Aware: At this stage, your prospect has a clear idea of what you sell, but hasn’t decided to go for it. They’re on the fence and need a bit more information to help them over the line.
  • Solution-Aware: When your prospect is solution aware, they know what kind of result they want, but have NO CLUE that your product can help them achieve it. 
  • Problem-Aware: When your prospect is problem aware, they understand that they have a big problem, but they have no idea how to solve it or that a solution might exist.
  • Completely Unaware: At this point, your prospect has no idea who you are, what you sell, or that there’s even a problem that they should worry about.

So when it comes to writing landing page copy that converts, take time to consider what stage of awareness your prospect is in when they land on your page. 

What do they already know? 

What do they need to know in order to make an informed decision? 

What are their hesitations about buying and how can you speak to them directly?

The more you can understand the stage of awareness your prospect is in—by asking questions like the ones above—the higher your chances of hitting the conversion rates you’re looking for. 

2. Limit your requests

The internet (and life!) can be full of distractions. Going back to our bulldog-watching, latte-loving mom from earlier, let’s say that you sell a jitter-free coffee alternative and want to create a landing page that will drive her to opt-in and request a free sample. 

If you use your landing page as an opportunity to also barrage her with “download this free report on the negatives of coffee” or “sign up here for a 10% off coupon” or  “learn more about our company” or “check out our latest arrivals,” you run the risk of:

1. Overwhelming her into INaction 

…and…

2. Could drive her away from your landing page altogether—distracting her from doing the original action you hoped for.

If you were to thumb through a stack of high converting landing pages, you’d see that most stay very focused.  Because trying to do otherwise will leave you with an overwhelmed prospect and a conversion rate that falls flat.

Which leads me to…

3. Make your Calls to Action (CTAs) strong & clear

You’ve experienced it before. You see an ad while scrolling through Facebook and you click through to its landing page. Except, as you start to read down the page, you can’t figure out how to order because they’ve buried the “Buy Now” button and their messaging is more clever than clear. So what do you do? You leave.

The reality is, confused people don’t buy. 

In order to write landing page copy that converts, you’ve got to make it crystal-clear what you want your prospect to do. You can’t expect them to just know, so feel free to spell it out for them in detail. 

Consider your own CTAs. How can you make them more specific? How can you make the path from point A to point B, even more clear?  

Pulling it all together

The secret to writing landing page copy that converts is that it helps lessen friction and uncertainty in your prospects. By joining the conversation already taking place in their mind, you can create a solid bond and increase that know, like, and trust factor that’s an essential part of conversion.

Then, drop in a clear and strong CTA and get ready—it won’t take long before your pipeline is flushed with paying customers.