Before I write copy, I send all of my clients a questionnaire. The questions I ask are based on 5 years of experience writing copy for clients.

The posts below reveal the questions I ask and why:

My Copywriting Questionnaire, Question #1

My Copywriting Questionnaire, Questions #2 And #3

My Copywriting Questionnaire, Questions #4, #5 and #6

My Copywriting Questionnaire, Question #7

My Copywriting Questionnaire, Question #8

My Copywriting Questionnaire, Question #9

My Copywriting Questionnaire, Question #10

My first thought was, “Woah, that’s a good question.”

A top Internet marketing guru was interviewing me before deciding to hire me. He hit me with a seemingly simple question… that still stopped me in my tracks. It went something like this…

“What’s the most important component of writing copy?”

Woah. I’d honestly never thought about it like that. And I suppose it can be answered several different ways.

Many people pick the headline as the most important. And I definitely understand that, I test different headlines more than anything else.

James Brausch, the analytical programmer/scientist/entrepreneur, gave the should-be-obvious-but-is-not answer: the order button. Can’t get many sales without that!

Researching and understanding your market is another obvious (and truthful) answer.

With this guru sitting in front of me, I didn’t want to give an obvious answer. So I thought about it, probably longer than I wanted to, and said…

Believability.

Sales copy MUST come across as believable to work well.

* If your headline makes a wild claim that’s not believable, you lose them.

* If your copy makes claims that aren’t backed up, you lose them.

* If your offer sounds too good to be true, then you lose them.

If any aspect of your sales copy lacks believability, you’re gonna feel the hurt in your pocketbook.

That’s why I wasn’t surprised when Brausch discovered that testimonials were consistently the most important part of his copy (outside of the order button).

Testimonials help to provide proof, which adds to the believability.

But testimonials are only one form of proof (and I’ll talk more about them in the next entry). And because the entire sales letter needs to be believed, I want as many forms of proof as I can get.

Hence Question #9 in my copywriting questionnaire:

9) What sources of proof can you provide to back up your product’s claims…

When I write copy, I want to back up every claim I make with proof. Both little and small.

If my client is an expert in the field she wrote this ebook for, then I want to know what her credentials are.

Did she have demonstratable success with the topic area? Something I can prove with say… screenshots of proof of income? a photo of her enjoying her new mansion? awards or honors received? a video of success in action?

Does she have relevant credentials? A degree? Is she a published author? Made guest TV appearances on the topic?

I want to know all these things so I can boost the credibility of the seller.

I also want to prove the product works.

Can I have a picture of the finished result? Would a before and after photo set be appropriate?

Can I show a video of the product in action?

Can I construct a solid logical argument backed by facts that the product, does indeed work?

And here’s something that’s a little more creative that can help add proof…

Is there a story or analogy I can use to help the reader believe your product will work…

Success stories can go along way to helping the reader decide, “Yes! This product will work for me.”

The right story can help the reader wrap their head around your product (the solution to their problems) and really start to believe in it. What story do you have for me? What analogy would help the reader make this jump?

Is there a story about the creation of the product that would add believability?

Are there success stories I could use? Maybe an incredible story, like a one-legged golfer who can drive the ball further than most two-legged golfers?

Or maybe an analogy…

I was looking at the Hairmax comb the other day that’s supposed to regrow your hair (fine, I’m losing my hair, if you laugh it’s bad karma!). They compared combing your hair with the laser comb 3 times a week to brushing your teeth, just regular personal maintenance. That’s great!

Dig deep for this as it could play a prominent rule in the copy.

And there are more forms of proof as well. The most obvious one being testimonials as mentioned earlier. But we’ll get to that in the next entry. Until then!

Michel Fortin once told me the 3 most important elements to test in a sales letter are the headline, price and offer.

Price points are easy to come up with. The headline takes a lot of work… but that’ll come from my research.

The offer is something you need to team up and strategize with the client on. And one thing they’re not likely to have given a thought to is how they’ll LIMIT the offer.

Because of that, question #8 comes with a link to Michel Fortin’s amazing article on scarcity.

How are you limiting the offer? (See http://www.michelfortin.com/use-scarcity-to-sell-not-scare/)

At this link the client will discover there are three ways to limit the offer. That’s through limiting the time, quantity or offer.

You can limit the time by giving a discounted price until a certain date.

You can limit the quantity by only selling so many of your product… or only letting so many in to your membership site… and so forth.

You can limit the offer by giving out special bonuses… special extras like free coaching or shipping… and so forth.

Michel has said procrastination is the biggest killer of sales. And that’s why having a legitimate REASON WHY the customer must act now to get the best deal is such a powerful tool for the copywriter.

In addition to Michel’s article, I created a product called “Digital Scarcity” that gives ideas for adding legitimate REASONs WHY the client must act now… even if you have an unlimited supply of your product (because it’s digital).

It’s important to brainstorm these “reason’s why.” Both for the initial launch and after that scarcity is over (for example, after the first 100 bonuses are given away).

You simply must limit the time, quantity or the offer to maximize your sales.

What do beginning copywriter’s forget to think about that can destroy their online sales? Where the visitor is coming from!

Question #7 from my copywriting questionnaire is…

“7) a. Where is your traffic coming from? (Please be very specific)

“b. If you’re targeting specific keywords, what are they?”

How is the client planning on getting visitors to the site. Are they going to rely on methods like Google Adwords? Or are they going to send a mailing to their list?

There’s a big difference between the mindset of these two visitor groups.

When a list owner sends an email out saying, “Come buy my product,” the visitors who click on over are already browsing to buy.

In complete contrast, someone who clicks on a Google Adwords ad may not even be close to looking for something to buy.

You need to approach these two visitors differently.

For the visitor that knows they’re about to see a sales pitch… it’s OK to mention details about the offer (like price discounts and limits on the offer) and display testimonials at the top of the copy. They can be in the headline, deck copy or intro.

But for people who were not expecting a sales pitch. Hold on!

With this group, you shouldn’t mention anything is for sale early on. You shouldn’t mention anything about ordering, price, offer limitations or testimonials. Save that for later.

Instead, just focus on getting their attention and keeping it. Get them interested in the copy and subtly sell them on your product… before they know there is a product.

Then when they’re convinced your offering is the solution, let them know the price, the discounts, the bonuses, the testimonials and so forth.

Part “B” of question 7 asks which keywords are being targeted, if any.

This will further let you know the mindset of the visitor.

If the keyword “easy magic tricks” is targeted and you write copy aimed at professional magicians… you just made a big mistake.

In closing, I hope you realize that understanding the mindset of the visitor before you write the copy is absolutely essential.

Ever seen the spy movie “Cloak and Dagger” with Henry Thomas? Great movie, one of my favorites from my childhood.

Sometimes when I call my sister’s cell phone and she answers, I shout, “Lady Ace, Lady Ace, Come in Lady Ace!”

Guess you had to see it…

…in any case. I bring it up because it’s time to spy on your competition.

Now, you may be thinking I’m suggesting to spy on your competition so you can take their best ideas and copy them. And sure, I usually take ideas from competitors’ copy.

But that’s not the biggest reason you should spy on your competition.

The BIGGEST reason to spy on your competition is to see what they’re NOT doing. To find out what claims they’re not making… or what claims they’re not capable of making. To discover how your product kicks the pants off their product and so on.

Armed with that competitive intel, your job will be to craft a unique sales message that is superior to your competitors’.

The last thing you want to do is write sales copy that could apply to any other product in your market. If you did, how would they remember you? Why would they read your copy if they’ve read similar copy in the past? If your product is more of the same, why buy from you instead of just finding the cheapest?

It’s important to make your copy unique by discovering competitive advantages and exploiting them.

In my copywriting questionnaire, I ask the client to help me identify these competitive advantages with three simple questions.

4) Who are your competitors? (URL’s please, if available)

I can do a simple Google search to find out who are the top adwords advertisers for a market. But that doesn’t mean they’re the most popular competitor.

We want to find out out which competitors the reader has likely seen before so we can make sure to be different. Google searches are part of that. Checking out popular forums from the marketplace can be part of that.

But asking the client is the quickest and often the most valuable way. They usually know who is spreading their sales message around the best. And we need to make sure we differentiate ourselves from them.

5) In what quantifiable way do you stand out from the competition?

Now that we’ve identified who the main competitors are, this question is aimed at quickly finding out how you can stand out.

If the client gives a good answer, he/she can save you a lot of time digging up the competitive advantages on your own.

6) If your product is an info product, is their a specific passage/segment I can look to that I won’t find in a competitor’s product?

This question narrows down the competitive advantage even further, saving the copywriter a lot of time. Now we can quickly skip to the pages that detail how your client’s product is unique and superior to your competitor’s product.

After you’ve identified the main competitors and identified the competitive advantages, you’re ready to start brainstorming your angle and logical arguments. But NOT before.

That’s what makes questions #4, #5 and #6 so important.

When writing copy, you’re not selling a product/service so much as you’re selling a solution.  A solution that solves a problem or fulfills a desire.

So instead of asking something silly like, “What’s your product?”, I ask about the major benefit.  And that’s question #2 on my questionnaire:

“2) In one or two sentences only, what major benefit does your product/service uniquely provide?”

There are two key words to pay attention to in that question: “major” and “uniquely.”

A product may have a gazillion benefits.  But the copy is going to focus primarily on the big idea.  The MAJOR benefit of your product. It could be to lose weight, make money, get out of debt etc.  That’s the major benefit.

But that’s not all I want to know.  I also wanna know how your product UNIQUELY delivers that benefit. There are lots of weight loss products out there, how does your product stand out?

If this question is answered correctly, it could be the entire theme of the copy.

Of course, most products have more than one benefit.  Or sub-benefits.  So question #3 is designed to expand on question #2:

3) Please list additional benefits of your product/service.

If your product helps you to lose weight while still eating your favorite foods, that’s a great benefit.

If you’re selling exercise equipment that stores away easily, taking up little space.  That’s a great benefit.

(Note: For great advice on writing benefits, check out Michel Fortin’s article “Forget Benefits, And you Will Sell More.” Make sure to read all the way down to the advantages vs. benefits portion.)

These secondary benefits will help you support the major benefit.  The more you collect, the easier it will be to connect with your reader and write great copy.

The sales letter was good.  It was more than good, it rocked.

Michel Fortin was my copywriting coach at the time, he didn’t have anything to add.  It was ready to give to the client.

The client was a big name guru you’ve probably heard of.

And he hated it.  He changed it quite a bit, including the entire angle, before he published it.

What happened?  I didn’t manage my client’s expectations.  Part of that job is to discover what the client is expecting the letter will look like.

And the easiest way to get that answer is to ask…

“1) Are there any competing sales letters you like that I should see?”

Have you ever heard, “The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side.”  If your client likes a competitor’s sales letter, they’re probably looking for something similar.

Of course your sales letter needs to be unique to be successful.  But you can get a good feel of the tempo and energy of the copy.  And that’s likely what your client is looking for.

The lesson: If you want to keep your client happy, find out what they like about their competitor’s sales copy.