The Copy Optimizer: Five Ways to Make Sure Your Sales Copy WORKS

Maximize the results of your sales copy with these tips from Garfinkel's "Money-Making Copywriting Course."

By David Garfinkel

I created The Copy Optimizer(tm) because most Web pages, sales emails, print ads, sales letters and postcards don't produce NEARLY the response they should, and there was a need for a simple tool to improve responsiveness quickly.

A little analysis determined five basic trouble spots in copy:
1. Written too hurriedly.
2. Copy doesn't "speak" well.
3. Language too "jargon-y."
4. Not focused on prospect's hot-buttons.
5. Missing basic elements of success.

When copy is weak, it hurts your business in two ways:

1) Your business has wasted the money spent to create the copy and artwork, not to mention the money spent to send, buy the space for, or host the promotion.

2) Customers who were already looking for what you have to offer have chosen to go with competitors of yours who have better, clearer copy. As a result, you have lost the lifetime value each of those customers would have spent with you.

In these ways, weak copy steals money from the future of your business.

The Copy Optimizer will put a stop to that. You probably already know that good copy
a) gets the right prospects' attention
b) creates or intensifies desire
c) develops trust and conviction
d) and prompts the prospect to take action.

But how can you be sure your copy does that?

Put your copy through the following tests. 99 out of 100 problems you would have had will now be gone, once you have made the necessary corrections. And your sales results will improve dramatically.

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1. Let your copy sit a day. Sleep on it. If you've put the necessary energy and focus into writing or fixing your copy, you're too passionate right after you finish writing to look at it objectively. So let it wait until tomorrow.

2. Read your copy out loud. When you speak the words you've written, you'll come across errors and clumsy word combinations that will often escape you when you read the same words silently. And since your copy is a sales presentation in print, you want it to flow as smoothly and conversationally as possible. Reading it aloud will tell you if it does.

3. Show your copy to a child. This is a valuable and little-known technique. It's especially worth doing if you are planning to conduct a large mailing campaign. A 10-year-old child will tell you what's unclear with greater accuracy than the best professional editor. If a 10-year-old can understand it, your busiest and most distracted adult reader will be able to understand it, too.

4. Show your copy to a customer or prospect. Nothing puts your copy to the test better than showing it to the type of person you're aiming at, and asking for their reaction.

A warning: Some people feel compelled to become instant literary critics or hypercritical English professors when they are put in this role. You don't want this. Tell the person reading your copy you are looking for response in two areas:

1) Do they understand what your copy is about?
2) Are they interested in what you are offering?

All you are looking for is "yes" answers -- not suggestions on how to "improve the grammar" or "make it more businesslike." Such suggestions are well intentioned, but if you act on them, they will usually take the "teeth" out of your copy.

Of course, the best thing that can happen when a prospect reads your copy is that the person wants to take you up on your offer. You'll know this when they say "Where can I buy this?" or "How can I work with you?"

5. Put your copy through this six-point checklist:
[ ] Will your prospects understand what you're offering them?
[ ] Will they understand what you want them to do?
[ ] Will it be easy for them to understand how to do what you want them to do?
[ ] If you have an order form, can you fill it out yourself quickly and easily? Could a busy, distracted, irritable person fill out your order form with a minimum of effort?
[ ] Is the type big enough to read (at least 12 point)?
[ ] Are words, sentences, paragraphs short (no more than 4 lines per paragraph, spacing between paragraphs)?

Once you can answer yes to these questions, you've cleaned up most potential problems with your copy--and you're ready for success.

The Copy Optimizer is part of David Garfinkel's "Money-Making Copywriting Course," which shows marketers, advertisers and copywriters how to maximize the return they get on their advertising investments. For free information about this course, send a blank email with the words "Send Copywriting Course Info" to course@followupmarketer.com