“This is the best copy you’ve written for us. Really excited to test this out.”
A couple years ago, I started writing a bunch of advertorials for a client who does dropshipping.
Every few weeks, these guys would launch a new product. I’d write the advertorial and the Facebook ads that would drive hapless moms and grandmas to my advertorial horror story.
The first advertorial I wrote for this client did well, and beat the copy they were using.
So they had me write a few more. Some of these offers did well. Some not.
But overall, my approach to writing advertorials during this time was much the same in each case. The client was satisfied enough, but never made any special comments on the copy.
But then I changed something up.
At the time, I was re-reading Joe Sugarman’s Adweek book. And somewhere around the middle of that book, Joe suggests a small, almost cosmetic change you can make to your copy to get readers hooked on reading more.
So I started making this change in my advertorial copy. It took all of 5 minutes after the copy was done.
Did it make a difference?
Well, the client was happy. That quote above, about the best copy, was what he said after I delivered the gussied-up advertorial.
As for sales, the offer ran successfully on cold Facebook traffic for a few months.
The advertorial still does well for us as a back-end product, and converts at around 6% on email traffic.
I’ve been making this same change with all the advertorials I’ve written since. I can’t be sure what it’s doing for sales, but I suspect it helps a bit. And as long as it doesn’t hurt, but it keeps my client happier, that’s a win in itself.
So what is this small, cosmetic change?
Like I said, you can find it in Joe Sugarman’s book.
But if you don’t want to go hunting for it there, you’ll also be able to find it in my upcoming book on wisdom handed down by A-list copywriters.
If you want to get notified when this book is out and available, sign up for my daily email newsletter, where I write about persuasion, marketing, and copywriting lessons won on my own skin.