There is no shortage of different marketing types.
A marketing director or a marketing team, can create a compelling ad, launch it into cyberspace, and then keep an eye on your sales to see if they’ve been nudged in the right direction.
You can create awesome social media profiles, and slowly build your list of potential customers.
These customers might not buy anything from you on the first day of following your page, or the following day, or even in the weeks or months ahead.But you’ll slowly be burrowing your way into their heads, and when it comes to buying the thing that you sell, it’ll likely be to you that they turn.
Both of these methods are effective, but they’re slow burners.
They form part of your ‘shout your message out into the world and hope someone listens’ approach.
However, there are other methods that are more direct.
Yet strangely, these are often overlooked, even though their effectiveness has been affirmed again and again.
Indeed, these methods were considered essential by the gurus who defined and sculpted the modern marketing industry.
Direct response copywriting, for example, was highly valued by David Ogilvy, a man who should be deeply understood by anyone involved in the marketing game.
He was a genius at what he did, and many of his practices still hold up today, many decades after his best ideas were presented to the world.
And if it was good enough for Ogilvy, then it’s good enough for your business.
Here is what you can look forward to in this article:
Important disclosure: we're proud affiliates of some tools mentioned in this guide. If you click an affiliate link and subsequently make a purchase, we will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you (you pay nothing extra).
What Is Direct Response Copywriting? 🧐
So now that you’re aware of just how highly thought of direct response copywriting is, it’s probably a good idea to take a look at what it is.
Essentially, it’s a form of copywriting that acts to encourages and triggers your customers to take action immediately,
Indeed, it’s all in the name -- it’s writing, be it on a website landing page, in a sales letter, product description, magazine ads, or blog post, that encourages a direct response from the people that see it.
It should involve strong calls to action, which push the reader towards an action.
And they’ll either respond, or they won’t -- but you’ll know what they’ve done.
Compare this approach with a traditional marketing campaign, which can be measured somewhat, but not nearly as much as you’d like.
For example, you might launch a new campaign and make some sales in the weeks that follow, but was it the marketing campaign that got you those sales, or was it other factors?
You’ll never know unless you ask your customers, which you won't do and even if you did, may not get a response anyway 👀
So how do you make this work? It’s not enough to just put something out there that prompts the reader to act. Well, it is, but how you do that is more complicated.
You’ve got to direct the marketing straight at the individual.
Advertising posters at bus stops are directed towards everyone; there’s nothing specifically individual about them.
You have to hope that the people who walked past the ad can “see themselves” in the scene that you’ve created.
Direct response copywriting, on the other hand, is directed towards the person.
Think of a regular ad as if you’re talking into a megaphone in an attempt to get people’s attention.
Direct response copywriting is more like tapping them on the shoulder.
Direct response copywriting focuses on making customers perform specific actions such as:
- Making a product or service purchase
- Following your company on its social media channels
- Downloading resources off your website
- Signing up to receive updates or email newsletters
One of the main characteristics of this type of marketing is that it creates a sense of urgency.
There has to be a sense that if the target customer doesn’t respond or act quickly, then they’re going to miss out.
Compare this with advertisements that help to brand a company, which works by digging the company into the viewer’s mind 🧠
It’s important to focus on branding, of course. But the issue is that it can take a long time for this method of marketing to become established. That is where it becomes useful to hire a direct response copywriter or hire a company that comes complete with copywriting skills and services.
An effective copywriter will be someone that:
- Studies current and historic copywriting
- Has a steller portfolio
- Pitches to you directly and personally
How should you decide which of the copywriting companies suits you best?
- Ask for a direct response copywriting portfolio from them all to determine which company best suits your brand and your vision.
- You can even go as far as to ask for customer testimonials from each company.
Outsourced or in-house this method is sure to help your marketing strategy.
And in any case, ultimately, you won’t be sure if it was because of your branding that people discovered your brand, or if they just fell into place.
One of the main advantages of direct response copywriting is that it’s measurable. If one campaign works, then you can repeat the same formula in the future. If one doesn’t work, then you’ll be able to pinpoint why it didn’t work.
There are lots of different metrics to keep track of.
It just depends on your ultimate goal, what channel you are deploying your direct response copywriting, and at what point in the sales process.
How Does Direct Response Copywriting Work?🗒
So now that you have an idea of what direct response copywriting is, it’s time to think about how it works and how you can use a direct response copywriter in your own direct marketing campaigns.
If you’re going to run a direct response ad, then you’ll need to integrate a few proven content marketing and direct marketing formulas into your copy.
You need to have the resources, yes, but you also need to have copywriting skills.
To begin, let’s just think about the aim of the ad: to get the reader to act 💁🏻♀️
Given how frequently consumers are bombarded with messages in modern advertising, this will likely be your biggest challenge.
It takes something special to get noticed these days! And this isn’t even just about getting noticed.
You’re trying to get someone to actively do something -- if you’ve ever tried to convince a friend to attend something fun with you, then you know that this can be more difficult than you’d like.
And that’s a friend: what about someone who has never heard of you?
The first characteristic of your advert has to be persuasion.
If your writing isn’t persuasive, then it’s highly unlikely that anyone’s going to follow through with the call to action that you’ve set. In order to do this, you’ll need to make a compelling case -- and what’s the best way to do that?
By making an argument that appeals to their emotions, needs, worries, fears, and so on. If there’s no emotion in your copywriting, then something is wrong.
Humans are fundamentally emotional creatures. The feeling comes first, logic comes second. If you’ve worked to tug at their emotions somewhat, then you’ll find it much easier to get them on board.
The stronger the emotional pull, the more likely it is that they’ll act.
You’ll probably know this from your experience: in nearly all cases, it’s the emotion that takes the lead in our decision-making process -- how many times have you bought something because of the emotion you were feeling, even if logically it didn’t make the best case?
Another guiding principle for your direct response copywriting is that it has to feel personal.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of shouting from the rooftops about how good your brand is, and why it’s better than your competitors, but that’ll only get you so far.
Your potential customers will be happy to know that you might be the best around, but that’s not going to convince them to move quickly to snap up whatever it is you’re offering.
Instead of focusing on yourself, focus on your customers. It should be aimed at them, and that means using language that addresses them directly.
Essentially, the writing should make the potential customer feel large and in charge, as if they’re the center of attention in this dialogue.
Other marketing tactics can often make customers feel small since they can sense that they’re just part of the million that are being spoken to.
To put this in a non-marketing context, think about group emails versus individual emails.
How much nicer does it feel to receive, say, an invite to a party through direct communication with the host, versus getting a blanket group email or text? It helps you feel involved -- and you are certainly much more likely to respond too.
If you’re trying to get people to act, then it’s best not to let them believe that they can make the most of your offer tomorrow, or the week after, or a month from now.
There has to be a sense of urgency. If they believe that they’re in a race against time to take advantage of what you have to offer, then they'll be inclined to do so.
If they don’t take advantage of your offer, even when they’re against the clock, then they weren’t interested in the first place.
👉 You can do this in two ways.
The first is to have an actual time limit on your offer. You’ll probably have seen deals online where there was a clock ticking down next to it; it’s that kind of thing.
The other way is to use language that invokes urgency.
For example, words like ‘limited,’ ‘opportunity’, and so on can all help. As well as the language that you’re using, you also need to think about how it’s presented.
There’s something to be said for an advert that naturally draws the reader’s eyes to the most important parts.
Finally, remember that the whole point of this type of marketing is to urge the reader to act, so there has to be a strong call to action placed within the ad. How this is done will depend on what you’re trying to get them to do.
It could be that you’re nudging them to buy, download something, or subscribe to your newsletter, or anything else. If you’ve got it right, then they’ll hit that click button.
10 Direct Response Copywriting Tips 💯
If you’re going to make your direct response copywriting as effective as possible in an attempt to have high-converting copy, then it’s best to follow a few rules.
1. Set A Goal 🥅
When you’re developing your ad, it’s recommended that you come up with a clear initial goal for the campaign
It’s not enough to just hope that your potential customer engages with your company in one way: there is something specific that has to happen.
They’re going to sign up for your newsletter, and that’s good, but what’s the end goal? Are you going to market something specific to them once they’re on the hook?
Understanding your end goal will help shape the formation of your ad.
2. Know Your Target Audience 👫
It’s also really important that you know your target audience so you can shape your marketing strategy accordingly and engage with them on a personal level.
This is necessary for all facets of your business since it can guide many informed decisions, and it’s also important when you’re developing your ad or copy.
You can’t write your copy until you know the type of person that you’re hoping will pay attention to -- if you know your target audience, then you can craft the words using the language that they’ll understand.
You need to make sure you are tailoring your content to their level of understanding.
👉 Keep It Simple, Stupid (K.I.S.S):
- Do not over-explain or provide unnecessary information
- All content must be accurate and well researched
- Be clear and logical in your content flow
You could have the most amazing copy ever, packed with humor and wit, however, if the customer doesn't understand it then you have wasted your time and money.
An ad aimed at business professionals would be worded much differently than an ad aimed at prospective college students, for example.
You must always keep your customer in mind when writing copy, after all, this isn't about you.
3. Know Your Competition🕵️♂️
It is key for companies to stay ahead of their competition but to do that they need to know exactly who their competition is and what they are selling.
To do this you can read their product reviews and descriptions, look at their different social media channels, and read through the copy that they are using in their business.
You can then make sure that your copy and content strategy outdoes theirs by miles every time.
4. Have An Eye-Catching Headline👁
Often a headline is as far as people will go, so make sure that it stands out.
Without an effective headline, customers may just stop reading completely. And that is not what you want.
We know these may seem obvious, but just in case, here are some headline tips to keep in mind:
- Include the benefit you can offer
- Make it simple
- Make is useful
- Make it exciting
- Create curiosity around your product or service
👉 Have bold headlines, do not have boring headlines.
An attention-grabbing catchy headline is often the be-all and end-all.
They say "don't judge a book by its cover", however readers definitely judge content by its headline. A headline is your one shot at piquing interest.
5. Keep Your Content Long-Form✍️
Long-form content has the ability to be more persuasive, simply because you have more chance to give your reader more information.
The more information the reader gets the more likely they are to convert into a customer.
After all it was David Ogilvy himself that said, "the more you tell, the more you sell".
We know that is going to be stuck in your head now. You're welcome😉
Although long-form is preferred, we do not recommend just going on and on about nothing at all. You still need to keep it useful and informative.
Your content and copy need to be influencing the customer's buying decision and pushing them to make a purchase.
6. Use AIDCA 🙌
AIDCA stands for attention, interest, desire, conviction, and action.
It is important that you include all five of these traits in all of your copy. They will work together to increase your customer conversion rate.
This tip ties in with tips 4 & 5 above.
- Attention and interest are what govern your headline.
- Conviction governs a part of your copy - sometimes a customer review, testimonial or some other form of social proof is all you need.
- Desire needs to be included in your copy. You need to convince the reader that what you can offer, if what they need.
Action speaks to your goals and ultimately what you want your customer to do (more of this later).
7. Create A Sense Of Urgency 🏃
You want your customers to buy your product or service and to buy it now. Not next month, not next week, not tomorrow, now.
We have said this before but we will say it again: to get them to take action instantly you need to inspire a sense of urgency within your copy.
There are two ways you can do this:
- Create a build-up that convinces the customer to take the leap
- Use the scarcity technique and make it seem as though if they don't buy now, then later the product or service will be sold out
8. Use A Call To Action 📣
To lead your ideal customer to making a purchase it is imperative that you have a call to action button.
Customers want convenience.
Your call to action essentially nudges your customer in the right direction.
When it comes to CTAs or (call to action) one is never enough. You should have CTAs three-four times throughout your content so as to reinforce the idea in the readers' minds.
We recommend always starting and ending with a call to action, and then throwing one in the middle just for good luck.
9. Ask A Question 🤔
Ask your customer a question to get their minds turning and to make them more engaged with your content.
You need to spark their interest and get them thinking in order to keep them reading.
But don't just ask any old questions. You need to be asking the right questions.
We advise that you do not simply ask a yes or no question, but that you rather open-ended question that has intention and aligns the reader with the purpose of your copy.
10. Check Your Grammar And Readability 🤓
It is important that your copy is easy to read and has no grammar mistakes. It is having these kinds of (easily avoidable) errors in your writing that can lose you brand trust.
Luckily for you, there are a bunch of tools like Grammarly, Linguix or Readable, to help you out in this regard.
Yes, the actual writing of the copy is important, but the editing is important too.
Marketing Campaigns Examples 👀
Now that we’ve discussed direct response copywriting in detail, let’s look at how they may look in practice.
Of course, there are many different mediums in which direct response copywriting can be utilized; it works in traditional print ads, junk mail letters, and so on.
But we’re going to focus on direct response in the digital sphere in regards to B2C and B2B copywriting.
You’ll likely have come across an example of this type of marketing as you browse the web.
If you’ve ever been on a website and been hit by a pop-up banner that essentially advertises the webpage that you’re on, then you’ve experienced direct response copywriting.
A pop-up may offer the visitor a free ebook that goes into depth about a subject that they’re interested in.
If it was a website that’s aimed at a small business owner, then the ebook might be about something like how to increase your marketing reach on a budget.
They will receive the ebook if they enter their email address.
This is direct response marketing because it’s asking the visitor to make a decision: they can click away, or they can enter their email address.
Either way, they have to do something.
Another example is Facebook ads, which are already generally geared towards the ideal target audience
Companies use strong opening lines and create a sense of urgency by signaling that the promotion (or general availability) will expire soon, prompting the reader to either ignore the offer or to click through.
Conclusion 💁♀️
If you can create a sense of urgency, have a clear goal, and write persuasive copy, then there is a lot of potential to come from direct response marketing.
Especially if you hire a direct response copywriter or even copywriting services to do the work for you... then you can reap all the rewards with very little effort.
Direct marketing is different from branded marketing, and not used anywhere near as much, but has been a mainstay in marketing for decades for one very good reason -- it is proven to work.
Follow the direct response copywriting techniques above and you are sure to be on your way to marketing success!