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COMING AT YOU WEEK OF 6.8.21

Something grave, something celestial, and something lame

GRAVE

On June 2, Google declared war a Core Update that began that day, and another Core Update that’s scheduled for July. These seem like decoys to distract us from the true battle Page Experience update, which Google confirmed is still slated to roll-out later this month. But don’t actually panic, you’ve survived this far.
Google’s explanation of Core Updates
Google’s info on the upcoming Page Experience Update

CELESTIAL

Oreos already had our hearts, but our appreciation for them has deepened. Their limited-time edition packaging labels Oreos as “The Offering” for alien lifeforms. The campaign connects back to the current hubbub surrounding an upcoming government report about UFOs.

LAME

Twitter released its Twitter Blue subscription in Canada and Australia. The paid tier sounds pretty lame to us, with features like customizing the app’s icon on your home screen and changing the color theme in the app. Even the features that are closer to useful aren’t amazing, like the ability to undo a Tweet up to thirty seconds after posting it.

    Converting copy lives in our customers’ brains, not ours 

    If you were writing a song for four-year-olds, what topic would you choose? No, really, take three seconds to come up with a topic.

    [Three seconds.]

    Now check out this line of a Mr. Rogers hit: “What do you do with the mad that you feel when you feel so mad you could bite?”

    Does that sound like a phrase he wrote? Well it’s not; it’s word-for-word what a child told him. As good as your song surely would have been, listening to children would have been more effective than coming up with your own topic or lyrics.

    Joanna Wiebe, the creator of Copyhackers and who we want to be when we grow up, led 2019’s CXL conference in the above exercise. Her presentation teaches how to “write copy that your customer sees their current and their immediate next-self in.”

    Here are her recommended steps:

    GET YOUR EARS ON YOUR CUSTOMERS’ THOUGHTS

    Listen to your customers and they will tell you what they want to hear. It’s like premade cookie dough converting copy, just out there for the taking!

    Here are a few ways to get voice of customer (VOC) data:

    • Interview customers
    • Listen to sales calls
    • Read reviews
    • Conduct surveys

    For instance, when Joanna’s team wanted to improve a homepage headline for a sweat-relief product, they read the company’s 5,000 Amazon reviews.

    FIND DIRECT QUOTES THAT HIGHLIGHT A THEME

    Joanna’s team discovered multiple quotes like this: “I sweat all the time, it doesn’t even have to be hot out.”

    Remember:

    • Don’t choose a thought that’s unique to one user.
    • Do choose a thought that cleverly or relatably conveys a common theme.

    APPLY COPYWRITING FRAMEWORKS AND BEST PRACTICES

    In the sweat-relief example, they planned to use the PAS (problem-agitate-solution) framework on the page. That meant the page’s headline should highlight a customer problem. They also used smart practices like using first-person voice to relate to the customer.

    They ended up with the headline, “It doesn’t even have to be hot out, my armpits are always wet.”

    CHECK IF THE COPY IS EDGY ENOUGH TO BE A BREAKTHROUGH OR A BUST

    If everyone thinks the copy sounds fine, try again. You WANT one or two people to be nervous about it. If everyone thinks it’s fine, it’s too bland.

    THEN, TEST IT

    When they tested their wet-armpit headline, they saw a 50% increase in paid conversions. So, that was deemed breakthrough copy.

    Like Joanna said, “Trustworthy copy is not sitting inside your head. Or mine. It’s in the hearts and minds of our customers and prospects. Our job is to lure it out, listen, and repeat it back in persuasive ways.”

      Does working hard always get where you want?

      And what strategies are you using that are just a stationary bike?

      Google is the new homepage