Proving Copy Works is Hard
Picture from my desk
I've had a flush of new clients this week, which is so exciting. But, since they haven't come through my usual word-of-mouth network, sent on the winds of enthusiastic recommendations (as most of my new clients are), I've had to do more 'convincing' than usual.
In marketing-speak, they're cooler leads.
Warm leads are ones who come in already 99% sold on working with you.
All you have to do with a warm lead is not screw it up, and reinforce their existing positive opinion of you. That is, essentially, what my website is designed to do. It's not designed for cold leads who come in via "copywriter for coaches" keywords from the Google machine because that isn't the primary way I get clients.
Cooler leads are people who come in with few expectations and maybe even some doubts, so you have to prove your worth and give them reasons to trust you.
Totally understandable. And, when you're expanding your business past word-of-mouth referrals, proving your worth and gaining trust are absolutely necessary skills to acquire.
But I've gotten out of the habit. I've relied solely on referrals for so long, I'm surprised when someone asks "Hey, can you prove that your copy works? Can I see testimonials? Can you write a proposal for your vision of the web copy?"
Huh? Oh yeah! Right! Yes. No? Hang on a minute, this is complicated.
See, I have a decent pile of pertinent testimonials. *Pertinent* meaning that they come from clients who fit into my 'ideal client' coaching-type profile, and not my decade-long software-as-a-service background.
But when it comes to proving that my copy works with hard numbers, well, let me tell you how that should work.
Acquiring proof of performance in an ideal world
Ideally, I, the writer, would write the copy - the words - for a new version of an existing sales page. That page would be the only change made in the entire sales funnel. Then, if the sales (aka. conversions) went up or down, my client and I would know that it was entirely due to my new copy.
For a new sales page, maybe we'd even A/B test two versions of copy to see which one did better. This is really common in SaaS - very uncommon when working with coaches and other small businesses.
Either way, there would be a certain number of conversions to compare the new copy's performance against.
But, when it's:
A brand new program
A brand new sales funnel, with new ads, new outreach methods, new emails...
A brand new website or sales page
A client who's been building relationships for years, warming up leads, doing her own marketing for a while...
It's impossible to tell where the success of the client's solo efforts ends and mine begins. You can't separate out the results for the copy with so many variables.
So when I sent out my email to my 2018 clients asking "Hey, how'd it go?" that was one of the issues I hit up against. They loved my copy, but they couldn't answer the question as to whether it was the copy - or their marketing efforts - that filled their program seats. The probable answer: It was both.
That leaves me with two ways to gain the trust of cooler leads:
Testimonials - I need to be better about gathering feedback as part of my end-of-project workflow.
My It's Gotta Work Guarantee - When clients take me up on my guarantee to tweak/change/optimize their copy after the first try has had a chance to perform (and set a benchmark), THEN I can finally get some numbers. And, of course, having that guarantee on my work means that my clients will make back their investment if I have anything to say about it! (But, then again, so much depends on their marketing efforts that have nothing to do with me or my work - we can only control so much).
If you're a coach, testimonials are going to be your primary way to gain the trust of cooler leads.
That means not only should you keep a list of recent, pertinent testimonials - you have be strategic about it. Here's how.
Only include testimonials on your list that are from people who fall into your ideal client profile - the types of clients you'd like 10 more of. Testimonials work because a prospective client sees themselves in the people you've already helped.
Don't just keep a list - use it. I like to sprinkle the best testimonials throughout the copy on home pages, services pages, even about and contact pages. Use them to prove your points, like supporting documentation in an essay.
Include head shots with your testimonials.Studies have proven that testimonials with head shots of the clients do more to gain trust than just having a quote with no picture. It's why drug companies hire actors to say how great their product is in TV commercials.
Like me, you probably can't say "I helped this client to improve by 85%!" Because you can't put a percentage on how someone feels, or how much you've changed their lives for the better. There are too many variables, but the truth is, you're a catalyst for enormous growth (at least when the client is ready and able to grow!).
If only there was a better way to track that. For now, there are testimonials.