Sales copywriting is honestly one of the most exciting (and misunderstood!) skills in marketing. As a copywriter, sales copywriting is one of my absolute favorite types of copy to write because:
- It’s LOADED with human psychology, which I am full-on obsessed with.
- It makes you MONEY, which allows you to run your business and make a difference in other people’s lives.
Buuuuuut I’m well-aware that most small business owners don’t feel this way about sales copy!
In fact, you’re probably reading this blog post because you’ve been staring at a blank page for way too long, or you’ve been peeking at your competitors’ sales page for “inspiration.” Writing your own sales copy is HARD, but it’s a learnable skill.
Here’s your full guide on how to write sales copy that’s punchy, persuasive, and FUN!
What Is Sales Copywriting?
Sales copywriting is what moves your consumer from “I’m interested” to “shut up and take my money!” It’s the persuasive messaging on your:
- Sales pages
- Sales emails
- Launch copy
- Sales funnels
- Landing pages
Great copywriting builds trust, sparks desire, and makes buying feel like a no-brainer. But bad copy = lost sales.
Good sales copy works because it taps into what your audience is already thinking, feeling, and desperately wanting, and then shows them WHY your offer is THE solution they’ve been looking for.
That’s why I think of sales copywriting as both an art and a science. The science is the psychology, the formulas, and the strategy. The art is the voice, the storytelling, and the way it all flows together!
Learn more about how to write copy that sells.
Sales Page Copywriting
A sales page is a dedicated page on your website with one job: SELL THE THING! Whether you’re selling a product or service, the copy on your sales page should walk your reader through every reason why your offer is worth their money.
Good sales page copy covers your offer’s benefits (not just features), addresses objections, builds trust through social proof, and ends with a clear call to action. The length depends on the price point and complexity of your offer, but most sales pages are long-form (AKA, pretty long)!
Sales Email Copywriting
Email is one of the highest-converting marketing channels out there, and sales email copywriting is the skill of writing emails that get opened, read, and clicked.
A strong sales email sequence does a lot of heavy lifting, including:
- Warming up your audience
- Building connection
- Handling objections
- Driving people to BUY!
Sales emails can be part of a launch sequence, a welcome series, an abandoned cart flow, or an ongoing nurture strategy. The copy needs to feel personal and direct without being pushy or gross. When done right, your subscribers will feel like you’re writing TO THEM and not blasting a list.
Learn how to use the FOMO effect in marketing + your emails!
Sales Funnel Copywriting
A sales funnel is the full journey someone takes from discovering your brand to becoming a paying customer, and sales funnel copywriting is every single piece of copy that moves them through that journey.
That includes your ads, landing pages, email sequences, sales page, checkout page, and even your post-purchase follow-up. Every touchpoint has a job! Funnel copy has to be cohesive, meaning the messaging has to feel consistent.
Why Most Sales Copy Fails
As a copywriter, I naturally see a LOT of copy.
Often, I work with clients who hand me their sales page or email sequence that completely flopped, and they want to know why. After doing this long enough, the patterns become pretty predictable!
Typically, sales copy fails when:
- It talks about the business instead of the customer
- It’s so vague and generic that it could belong to any brand in the industry
- It leads with features and specs instead of outcomes and transformation
- It tries to sound “professional” and ends up sounding like a corporate robot
- There’s no clear call to action, so the reader just…leaves
ALL of the mistakes above ^ have one thing in common: they don’t make your audience feel anything.
80% of buying decisions happen emotionally first, logically second. People don’t buy because they sat down and made a pros and cons list! They buy because something about your messaging resonated with them, and they saw themselves in the copy.
The logical brain comes in after to justify what the emotional brain already decided. This is why it’s SO important to be aware of buyer psychology when crafting sales copy to catch your reader’s attention.
What No-BS, High-Converting Sales Copy Looks Like
Successful brands write words that:
- Speak directly to ONE person and their ONE problem
- Have a distinct voice that sounds like a human wrote it (because one did!)
- Lead with transformation, not a laundry list of features
- Build trust before asking for anything
- End with one clear, confident call to action
Great sales copy speaks to your target audience’s pain points and desired outcomes in a way that stops them mid-scroll and makes them feel genuinely understood. It also makes it easy to see what your unique selling proposition is and why what you’re selling will change your customer’s life!
Here’s an example from a sales page I wrote for a dietician specializing in GLP-1 support, Gianna Beasly:
This sales copy works because it’s SO specific! It’s not simply saying “weight loss is hard.” The bullet points name the symptoms, frustrations, and the EXACT moment of doubt that this audience experiences.
The reader lands on that page and thinks, “Oh, she’s in my head.”
How to Write Effective Sales Copy That’ll Make You Dolla-Dolla Bills
1. Know Who You’re Writing For
If you’re writing for everyone, you’re writing for no one, and vague copy doesn’t convert.
So, before you type a single word, get specific about who you’re talking to. You need to settle on ONE person and their ONE problem, and write copy all around that.
How? This is where the copywriting RESEARCH comes in! Dig into how your target audience talks about their struggles and what they want by reading reviews, scrolling through forums, and paying attention to the words they use and how they frame their needs on social media.
Your job is then to reflect that language back to them in your copy to get into your customer’s head!
2. Use Storytelling
People don’t connect with bullet points, they connect with stories. It’s how our brains are wired!
But using storytelling in your sales copy doesn’t mean that you have to write a novel. What you need to do is frame your offer in a way that takes your reader on a journey from where they are now to where they want to be. THEY are the main character, not you!
Storytelling helps improve conversion rates by 30% because a story creates emotion, and emotion is what drives people to buy.
3. Write How You Talk
Stiff, overly formal copy doesn’t build trust. You may think that it makes you sound more “professional,” but the only thing it accomplishes is creating too much distance between you and your target audience.
Write the way you’d explain your offer to a friend, with personality and specificity.
Don’t overcomplicate it! If you catch yourself writing something like “I help my clients achieve transformational skin health outcomes,” STOPPPPP! Instead, say what you mean: “I help you get rid of acne for good.”
Specific > vague and fancy.
4. Improve Readability
You can write the most compelling copy in the world, but if it looks like a wall of text, no one is reading it. Sorry. People DO read long-form copy, but only when it’s easy and enjoyable to get through.
Make sure to:
- Use white space generously
- Keep paragraphs short (2-4 lines max)
- Write compelling headlines to stop a skimmer COLD
- Bold the lines you most want people to walk away remembering
- Break up long sections with bullet points where it makes sense
- Make your CTA buttons and key statements visually impossible to miss
Overall, remember that your target audience will likely be skimming most of your body copy, so make sure to communicate all the key points you want to make in strategic places that you know will get read!
5. Handle Their Objections
By the time someone is reading your sales page, they already have reasons why they might not buy. You need to address those reasons before they become dealbreakers!
Weave objection handling throughout your copy rather than saving it for a FAQ section at the bottom.
For example, if skepticism is common in your industry, lead with trust signals like customer testimonials and credentials. You can also use these psychological tactics in marketing to handle your audience’s objections in a smart way!
Sales Copywriting Major Red Flags 🚩
Good copywriting is HARD, and falling into habits that quietly kill your conversions is unfortunately easy. Watch out for these:
- Writing to an unclear target audience
- Burying the lead by taking too long to get to the point
- Using industry jargon to sound credible, when plain language actually builds a lot more trust
- Being so vague about your CTA that your reader doesn’t know what to do next
Hiring a copywriter is one of the best and easiest ways to get persuasive copy that’ll speak to your customer!
But it’s important to make sure that the copywriter you hire knows sales psychology and can speak to your buyer’s journey, because not all copywriters do. Some focus on other types of copy, like SEO.
AI Sales Copywriting: Can I Just Use ChatGPT?
Big fat NO! And I know I might sound biased as a copywriter, but I have receipts.
A huge chunk of my clients in recent years have come to me after using AI to write their sales copy and watching it flop. AKA, zero dollars made and back to square one. So while my distaste for AI-generated copy is personal, it’s also backed up by what I’ve seen happen over and over again in business over the last couple of years!
AI doesn’t understand your buyer.
It can string together sentences that look like sales copy, but it has NO IDEA what your audience is afraid of, what they desperately want, or what’s stopping them from buying. It generates words, sure, but it doesn’t generate connection!
Learn more about AI copywriting and whether it’s worth it.
Sales Copywriting Services: Should You Hire?
When it comes to getting sales copy that works, you have two options.
- Option one: Hire a copywriter who understands how sales copy and the human brain work together (shameless plug: we’re pretty dang good at it!)
- Option two: Write it yourself using a reputable resource. Key word being reputable.
There’s no shortage of copy tips on the internet, but if the advice isn’t rooted in buyer psychology, it’s going to fall flat.
This is exactly why I created Permission to Buy. It’s a downloadable guide that walks you through how to handle objections in your sales copy and say all the right things to turn hesitation into a sale!
If you’ve ever had someone go quiet after showing genuine interest, or watched a launch fall flat despite strong engagement, Permission to Buy is perfect for you!
Or, if you’re ready to hand the whole thing off, learn more about our copywriting services or book a call!
