Whether it’s getting your audience to purchase your product or subscribe to your YouTube channel, creating content that converts can be a challenge. What seems like a clear and crisp blog post or newsletter might fail to have the impact your company truly wants.
What are some steps you or your company can take to engage your audience and steer them toward the result you really want?
1. Utilize lists.
From Buzzfeed to Listverse to our own Zen Media blog, there’s a reason so much online content comes in list form.
Articles in list-form are like finger foods for your brain. They are small, bite-sized, and easily digestible. Readers who skim are more likely to pick up the main points, and readers who don’t skim are more likely to stick with an article until it’s complete.
In other words, lists increase the likelihood that your content will be read and understood by your audience.
On top of that, science says that lists help with memory, meaning your content is more likely to stick in the head of a potential customer.
2. Take a psychological approach.
While most of us were taught at one point or another to ignore peer pressure, the truth is that it still works pretty effectively. Using it to your advantage can help you create content that converts the way you want it to.
Show your customers tweets from people using your product. If numbers are high for your product or service, point out the likes you have on your social media page. Include a counter for how many of a certain product you’ve sold on your Web site. Highlight your thousands of Kickstarter backers.
Convincing potential customers that other people are doing something in droves can be extremely powerful when it comes to conversion.
3. Make it urgent.
Like peer pressure, the fear of missing out can be a powerful psychological tool when it comes to creating content that converts, which is why urgency is so pervasive in the marketing industry.
There are several ways you can include urgency in your content:
- Make your copy itself urgent. Your customer doesn’t just want to improve his life. He wants to improve it now. The business you sell to doesn’t just want to be more efficient. They want to be more efficient today. Remind your audience that you hold the key to them feeling or being better and that they don’t want to wait.
- Make things available for a limited time. The concept of limited editions has been around for ages, but with the internet allowing for the quick dissemination of information, temporary products are becoming more and more commonplace. Online clothing companies, in particular, have had tremendous success in offering temporary designs, driving their customers to order things they like right away lest they miss out on a campaign. Including sales and temporary items in your email newsletter could be your key to conversion.
4. Make your product personal.
We live in an era where people can do endless research on a product before purchasing it. They can look at technical specifications and see what industry experts have to say. They can even look at prices and compare them with a competitor’s.
All this should add up to a population of shoppers who are more rational with purchases than ever before. But it doesn’t – at least, not always.
Adding a personal element to your content can have huge dividends. Here are some ways you can forge personal connections with your audience:
- Have customers send in photos of them interacting with your brand to feature in your newsletter. This adds a more personal touch and encourages new customers to buy your products in the hopes of being featured in the future.
- Invite your audience to create content for you. Sometimes your best customers can be your best sellers, and hearing from everyday people can give some potential customers the extra push they need. A real live person can also come across as more authentic than someone who is being paid to push a product.
5. Partner with influencers.
We’ve talked a lot about the importance of influencer marketing in driving traffic to your site or social media profiles, but influencers can also help with your conversion rates. Of course part of that comes from the traffic those influencers bring. Letting them create content for you means a bigger audience, which in itself can mean higher sales or subscription numbers.
On another level though, influencers can serve as experts for your particular industry. Experts are important as they help reduce any potential qualms your audience might have which stand in the way of conversion.
A post from your cosmetics company about a new line of eyeshadows can work fine, but a post from a popular makeup blogger talking about how pigmented and smooth those eyeshadows are can have a much greater impact.
Likewise, a post from a respected tech blogger about the different ways her company uses your software can spell the difference between a casual click and a conversion.
6. Know and target your audiences.
When it comes to creating content that converts, knowing your audiences is an important factor. Unless you have a niche product, chances are you have more than one target audience, but even if you only have one, it’s important to know who they are and what drives them.
Knowing that audience allows you to target them specifically with your content. If one of your audiences is young, female professionals, you might create content featuring the ways your product can help them balance work with free time.
If your target is senior dog owners, you might talk about the pros and cons of owning a dog later in life while including information on how your product helps negate some of those cons.
Get creative and find clever ways to appeal to what your different audiences want.
Creating content that converts can seem stressful and overwhelming, but there are really so many different ways to convince your audience to buy or hit a “like” button. Check out 11 more tips for creating content that converts and leave us a comment on your favorite way to drive conversions.
