For certain types of marketing copy writing, there are more factors to consider than just the benefits of the product and what it contains. Those are important factors to get customers interested in what you’re selling, but they won’t always close the sale. Your product’s competitors will also talk about their benefits, so your product has to have something that sets it apart. They have to have something that calls the buyer to the immediate action of buying.
Incentives to Buy
One of the best ways to create a call to action is to give the buyer an immediate, time-sensitive incentive to buy. If your marketing copy is good, you’ve already told the buyer why the product should be bought. However, if the buyer walks away, all of that information can be forgotten quickly. Taking time to think about the purchase leads to abandoned shopping carts and a convenient purchase from the competition later.
An incentive to buy gives the buyer an immediate urge to whip out that credit card. The incentive can be a sale that won’t continue for long or a free bonus if you buy immediately. Other incentives include points that can be redeemed for something later or even the threat of the item being bought out. If you’ve ever shopped on Amazon.com, you’ve seen “Hurry- Only 1 Left in Stock” at the top of many of the items. Is there really just the one left? Will all of the DVDs of Mama’s Family really be gone if you don’t buy now? How many items have they sold by creating that urgency?
Giving Them What They Need
Another way to create a call to action is to tell buyer what they will lose by not buying now. The Shamwow guy tells you how much money you will lose by buying hundreds of paper towels if you don’t buy the Shamwow. Think of all the paper towels! Breaking it down for customers by telling them how much money it could cost them to walk away from the purchase can be a big incentive. People don’t mind spending money if they know that spending it will save them money down the road.
Did You Create Urgency?
Look at your current marketing copy and think about how it urges people to buy. Does it let them know that they will suffer from not buying? Does it make them want to buy right this second? If not, use a buying incentive in your marketing copy to get them to whip out that card and end the no-great-product suffering.
Lizz S is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
