LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The difference between active and passive voice sentence structure and how it affects your copy
How to add a sense of urgency to your copy
How to incorporate a response mechanism into your copy
Copy tips to aid in tracking the return on your advertising investment
BE ACTIVE, NOT PASSIVE
The goal of any ad or marketing piece is to elicit some kind of response from the audience who sees it. A call to action is the element of copy that tells an audience how you want them to respond to your advertisement or marketing piece. Typically, the call to action creates a sense of urgency around a message and provides instructions on what to do next. For example, a call to action might tell the audience to call the advertiser or visit their store or website.
Including a call to action is by far the most important aspect of effective copywriting. It is essential that you make it easy for your audience to act on your ad or marketing message. You already persuaded them to want your product by following Step 1 through Step 7 of the Copywriting Outline and by writing influential copy. Now you must make sure your audience can respond easily to your ad and buy your product by compelling them to act.
To start, make sure the sentence structure of your copywriting is in an active rather than passive voice. The reason for this is simple. Copy that you write in the active voice is by definition action-oriented, while copy that you write in the passive voice talks about the action in a remote manner. To further explain, when you write a sentence in the active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action of the verb in the sentence. On the other hand, if you write a sentence in the passive voice, the subject of the sentence receives the action from the verb of the sentence.
Your copy should drive customers to action now, not make them think about maybe acting later.
Following are some examples of advertising copy for Amy’s Edibles that demonstrate the difference between active and passive voice:
Passive: Your party will be catered by Amy’s Edibles detail-oriented staff members.
Active: Amy’s Edibles caters your party to the finest detail.
Passive: Berries have been hand picked for Amy’s Edibles Jam to make sure customers have purchased the freshest and tastiest product.
Active: We hand pick every berry for Amy’s Edibles Jam, so it’s the freshest and tastiest you can buy.
Both of these examples rephrase the passive sentences to make them active and more compelling. (See the Closeup Box for more examples of passive voice vs. active voice). An active sentence is motivational and more likely to compel your customers to act. Don’t agonize over writing in the active voice while you’re writing your copy. Instead, put together a draft of your copy and then go back and change the sentences written in the passive voice to the active voice. Look at each sentence and ask yourself, “Could I write this sentence in a clearer, more action-oriented way?” You don’t need to change every sentence written in the passive voice to the active voice. You simply want to make sure your copy sounds clear, concise, and actionable.
Examples of Passive and Active Voice Sentence Structures
Passive: The letter is being written by John.
Active: John writes the letter.
Passive: The movie will be released in June.
Active: The studio will release the movie in June.
Passive: This season of American Idol was watched by more than 50% of Americans.
Active: More than 50% of Americans watched this season of American Idol.
CREATE A SENSE OF URGENCY
The second step in creating an effective call to action in your copy is developing a sense of urgency. Your goal in advertising is to create awareness of your product or service and, ultimately, boost sales. When do you want to do that? Do you want your customers to act tomorrow, next month, or next year? If you’re spending money on advertising now, you most likely want your customers to act now. If that’s the case, your copy needs to tell them to get off the couch and get into your store now. There are many words and phrases you can add to your copy to create a sense of urgency.
Don’t suggest action. Demand it.
This is a good time to point out that you need to be careful about using exclamation points in your copy. When you write copy, it can be easy to fall into the trap of overusing exclamation points to emphasize your messages. One or two exclamation points can help drive the m importance of a sentence home, but too many exclamation points clutter copy and mitigate their effectiveness. Save exclamation points for places where they’ll have a strong impact—like creating a sense of urgency in your call to action.
Words and Phrases that Effectively Create a Sense of Urgency in Copywriting
Act now
Don’t delay
Hurry in
Call today
For a limited time only
Don’t miss it
While supplies last
Call now
Available only to the first ## callers
This weekend only
Don’t wait any longer
One-time offer
Get yours today
MAKE IT EASY FOR CUSTOMERS TO ACT
Don’t forget to tell your audience how to find you through a website address, telephone number, email address, or street address. It seems simple, but the number of ads I see that don’t tell customers how to easily contact the advertiser or purchase the product or service constantly amazes me. These days, with email becoming as popular as telephones, copy needs to include a phone number and email address at a minimum. For ads promoting a physical location, copy should include a street address, simple directions, or a landmark. Remember, these days many people are either too lazy or too busy to research a store location or phone number. Any information that makes it easier for your customers to find you and buy your product is important and should be included in your copy.
People are busy. Don’t make them do more work than they have to. Make it easy for them to follow your instructions to act.
Preparing employees to assist customers who respond to your advertisement or marketing piece is just as important as the ad itself. Your employees must be knowledgeable about your ad or promotional offer before customers start contacting your business. For example, if you place an ad offering a buy one, get one free discount and a customer calls to inquire about the promotion, you don’t want your employee to say, “I don’t know anything about that deal.” The prospective customer will hang up and will be unlikely to choose your business in the future. Instead, train your employees and anyone else who interacts with existing and potential customers. Your business needs to present a consistent message from your advertising to your customer relations and all points in between. You can read more about consistency in communications and branding in Chapter 14.
TRACK YOUR RESULTS TO DETERMINE YOUR RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI)
While the intention of this book is not to teach you all the elements of advertising, I will mention that when you include contact information in your copy, you create a way to track the effectiveness of your ad. This is where the use of a coupon or promotion is helpful. Not only is the concept of saving money always a great motivator in getting customers to act and buy products and services, but it also creates a great way to track the results of your ad. The call to action is often the tool used to measure the results of an advertisement or marketing campaign. It can help determine the effectiveness of the ad (including your copywriting) by making it measurable. A specific phone number to call, a coupon to use, or a promotional discount if the customer mentions the ad are examples of calls to action that are directly measurable and can help you determine your ROI to make future advertising or marketing decisions.
If you don’t want to discount your product or service with a coupon or promotion, you can simply ask your customers how they heard about your product or service. While this method is not precise in determining how well your ad placement or copy performed, it provides enough information to help you plan your future advertising campaigns. In addition, it might help segue into a longer conversation with customers, which will help you further develop your customer demographic profile (Step 3 of the Copywriting Outline).
EXAMPLES OF CALL TO ACTION COPYWRITING
Following are examples of copy demonstrating how the addition of action-oriented phrases that create a sense of urgency and tell your customers how to act are more effective than passive copy.
Product: All Flooring—flooring materials and installation
Call to Action: store visit
Promotion: 30% off all laminate flooring purchased on December 31st
All Flooring wants to liquidate its laminate flooring inventory before the end of the year, so they intend to host a one-day sale on December 31st offering 30% off all laminate flooring purchased on that day. They are placing an ad in their local newspaper using copy that says, “All Flooring offers 30% off all laminate flooring purchased on December 31st.” This copy certainly tells customers what All Flooring is offering, but it is missing the necessary call to action elements. Instead, the copy could say, “Hurry in! Visit All Flooring on December 31st and get 30% of Pergo Flooring. Huge discounts are only available on December 31st. Don’t miss it! We’re located next to Wal-Mart on Main Street (1-800-555-1111).” Now the copy is stuffed with action-oriented phrases that create a strong sense of urgency. It also provides a specific instruction telling customers how to act (clear directions for local residents to find the store).
This copy doesn’t include a way to measure the effectiveness of the ad and the promotion, but the owner of All Flooring could easily add a way of measuring the results by revising the copy and telling customers to bring the ad in to receive the discount or mention it for free delivery or an alternate freebie. Small business owners with limited budgets need to determine if including a discount or promotion with an ad is appropriate for their business goals.
Product: Fences and More—residential fence installation
Call to action: phone number
Promotion: none
Fences and More wants to build its customer base in a development of new homes. They are sending a direct mail piece to each homeowner to increase awareness of their business among the new residents. The copy for the mailing says, “Adhering to quality standards, fences are installed professionally by Fences and More. Call us at 1-800-555-2222.” This copy is a great example of the poor choice of using the passive voice in copywriting. By rewriting the copy it could say, “Fences and More installs your fence professionally and adheres to the most stringent quality standards in the industry. Call 1-800-555-2222 for your free estimate today.” The new copy uses the active voice and creates a sense of urgency with the inclusion of “today.”
Furthermore, even though Fences and More always provides free estimates, they can use this service as a promotional tool in their copy thereby making customers think they’re getting something extra. While Fences and More is not offering a promotion or discount to help track their ad, they easily can ask prospective customers who call for a free estimate how they heard about Fences and More. They also can use these conversations to help track the effectiveness of their ad as well as build their target audience’s demographic profile.
Product: Custom Baskets—gift baskets
Call to Action: phone number
Promotion: mention ad and get free upgrade to priority shipping
Imagine Custom Baskets is a home-based business that creates custom gift baskets for all occasions. Shortly before Mother’s Day, the owner is placing an ad using copy that describes her baskets. Her copy closes with, “We’re looking forward to doing business with you.” This copy fails in two ways in terms of creating a call to action. First, it creates no sense of urgency. Second, it doesn’t tell the customer what to do next. The copy could be rewritten to say, “Don’t delay! Call 1-800-555-5555 to order today. Mention this ad and automatically get a free upgrade to priority shipping.” Now the copy is significantly more effective. By rewriting the copy using the active voice, adding a sense of urgency, and telling customers what to do next (call a toll-free number), the ad is more action-oriented and more likely to compel customers to act. It also includes a promotion (free shipping) to aid in tracking the results.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES
If you turn on your television, you’ll most certainly see several local car dealership commercials that do a great job of creating a sense of urgency and including effective calls to action. A popular method used by car dealerships urges customers to hurry in to take advantage of a short-lived promotion like a President’s Day sale or end-of-season price reduction. Some famous ad campaigns also provide great call to action examples. Nike’s ad campaign that uses the line, “Just do it” is an ideal example. Nike isn’t telling people to think about trying their product. They’re telling them to just do it. That is, they’re telling customers to buy and wear Nikes. Don’t think about it. Just do it. Similarly, Cover Girl used an effective call to action in commercials for their Advanced Radiance Age-Defying makeup with copy that says, “Younger looking skin in a week? Why wait? How about in an instant?” This is a superb example of a call to action with a conversational tone.
Creating sales and promotions with specific end dates is a great way to develop effective calls to action. For example, I saw a commercial for Kohl’s department store recently that hyped an in-store sale. The commercial used copy that said, “Last three days for the lowest prices of the season.” In this copy, Kohl’s successfully told customers to hurry in, so they wouldn’t miss the limited-time, special sale prices. The call to action created a sense of urgency as well as a specific deadline.
While reading a business magazine recently, I came across an ad for SCORE (Counselors to America’s Small Business supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration/SBA). The ad read, “Live your dream. SCORE can help. Grow your business today.” By inviting the target audience of small business owners to grow their businesses today, SCORE created a sense of urgency to which their target audience would respond.
Another real-world example of effective call to action copy comes from a billboard I recently passed on the highway in Orlando, Florida. The billboard advertised the Orlando Sentinel, which is the largest newspaper in Central Florida. The copy simply said, “In-depth news everyday. Subscribe today.” The call to action is very simply written as, “Subscribe today,” but it is very effective in creating a sense of urgency and motivating the audience to take action and subscribe sooner rather than later.
SUMMARY
Use Step 8 of the Copywriting Outline to create a list of urgent phrases to implement in your copy. Also, determine what you want your customers to do after seeing your ads and then create a specific call to action message that effectively directs customers on how to act. Your calls to action may vary depending on the advertising medium, which may require you to create additional phrases to tell customers what they need to do next.
You’ll also need to determine what kinds of promotions and discounts you want to offer for each of your products during specific times of the year and in specific media. Write copy to highlight these promotions and determine in advance how you plan to track each promotion to analyze its effectiveness. Finally, put these elements together along with the copy you created using Step 1 through Step 7 of the Copywriting Outline, review the entire piece, and where appropriate, change the copy that you wrote in the passive voice to the active voice to create the most compelling ad overall.
See Chapter 17 for the complete Copywriting Outline for ABC Tax Services as well as ad and marketing collateral samples using copy culled from the Copywriting Outline.
Copywriting Outline Step 8
Step 8: Include a Call to Action—What is my call to action? What do I want my customers to do as soon as they read my ad? How can I create a sense of urgency?
Call now.
Stop by today.
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Don’t delay.
It’s tax time already.
The IRS is waiting for your return.
The clock is ticking.
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Don’t wait any longer for your refund.
