How to clarify and optimize your website messaging to increase traffic and conversions?
One of the most important elements in building a business is getting the message right, I mean clear. When you make it clear, you make it right. In this article, I will break down the essential steps that any business owner who’s about to start writing his website messaging needs to follow.
Note: This is not the only way you can do it, but surely the main way to kickstart your messaging creation phase.
- Persuasion, don’t use it unless you have a good reason to.
- What, why, who, and how
- Value propositions
- Anticipate and always address objections
- Create a so-like-a-human copy
1. Persuasion
Do you know how sometimes we try to say something really clever and receive back nothing but clueless faces with flying question marks and (eehh.. What?) moments. Confusion. Sometimes, that’s the only thing persuasion can create, nothing but more chaos that you will later have to clear up. That’s why I say, Do NOT use it unless you have a good reason to and most of all, you know exactly what you’re doing.
Most marketers and copywriters preach the importance of persuasion and how it plays on the psychology of customers. That’s true and one hundred percent accurate, but TRICKY. If done right, it can yield great results, but if done wrong, then get ready for an undesirable, unwanted, and very tough time in your business. However, I am not saying, play it safe, and write the most boring message or copy as we refer to it in marketing, but I will tell you about the most important element in copywriting. Clarity. If you confuse your customers, know that you will be causing your own tragedy by your own hands.
So, the question now is how to create clear messaging for your website/business? This will take me to the second point in this article.
To create a clear messaging and an effective one as well, you need to first make it clear for yourself and your team. This can be done by identifying your business, what, why, who, and how, make yourself and your team familiar with the answers, and then share them with your customers.
2. What, why, who, and how.
- What do you offer?
- Whom is it being offered to?
- What should your customer do to get what you offer?
- How does it work?
- Why have you built this business?
When answering these questions, always keep in mind your ideal customer and niche. Try to answer these questions based on their inner needs and concerns. And always present your brand/business as the solution to their problems. This will push you to do your homework and analyze your customers and industry before you can start creating your website “clear message”.
A practical and actionable technique to execute this point:
- Take a piece of paper and brainstorm all the answers you have for these questions, discuss them with your team, select one answer to each question, and then present them on your website homepage in the most interesting, confusion-free, and consistent way.
- Reinforce your messaging (your answers and solutions) with suitable pictures and videos to help your content stand out more.
On your road to finding answers to the what, why, who, and how, and turn them into messages, you will find yourself in need of creating what we call ‘Value Propositions’
3. Identify your Value Propositions with a clear message
What do we mean by value propositions in the first place?
Well, value propositions are the main qualities or traits of your product or service, paired with an appealing benefit. For example, if you’ve designed a website where people can learn languages easily, then your value props might look something like this:
Trait/quality: Easy
Benefit: less time spent on acquiring a new language.
Value Prop: save yourself time and learn any language fast.
You can create different value props variations depending on your business, your offering, and what would most interest your customers. Seems like too much work right?
YES. I agree, and that’s why maybe most business owners don’t spend the needed time digging to find their own value propositions but it shouldn’t be so. The results of such a reckless step are greatly damaging if not slowly ending your business.
Once you identify these value props, you need now to articulate your header, subheader, features, and everywhere else you pitch your business through the lens of these values.
4. Anticipate and always address objections
This step is the one that secures the whole process of clarifying your message. You put yourself in your customer’s shoes and try to see your brand or business through their eyes. Like, questions they might ask, concerns and fears they might have, features they might want you to offer, and so on. When you think like your customers, you can see what your messaging is missing and fill it right away. That’s why this step is vital to clarify your message.
If you are wondering what objections your customers may have then here are some examples: Price, budget, ROI, subscriptions and cancelations, flexibility in your offer, shipping – if your business requires that, service, credibility, and trust, etc.
Since you won’t be sitting next to your customer while he’s reading your messaging, then you need to review your copy over and over again and see if you’ve left any holes in it, those holes will definitely be filled with, “eeeh … but what about this and that?”. These moments create disconnections and frustration that eventually push your customers to stop reading right away.
So make your copy easy, relevant, and proactive.
5. Create a so like human copy
The last thing I would recommend in this article is to write your messaging as if you’re talking to a friend. Every line you write should motivate your reader to jump to the next line and so on until he finishes reading. This is best done through storytelling and conversational tones.
I understand that some business owners want to keep it formal and informative, but know that nothing reaches the human heart and mind more than stories.
So, spend some time and make some efforts trying to shape your messaging in a story-like copy. This will increase your engagement rates and therefore your conversions. We can help you with crafting a clear message.
Clear Message – Conclusion
Find your what, why, who, and how, identify your value props by narrowing down your business qualities and benefits, be proactive and address any confusion before it occurs, and answer any questions your customer might ask beforehand, adopt storytelling or conversational techniques for better engagement, and DO NOT use persuasion unless you master it.
This way, you will avoid a huge mess, and you will create clarity in your website messaging.
