How to Write a Sales Text?
Have you ever read a website’s content and felt an urge to search for a product, see it in person, or learn more about it? Meanwhile, other product descriptions leave you indifferent. The difference? The first one wasn’t just text—it was sales copy.
How do you learn to write persuasive sales copy? What makes ordinary text compelling? Can a regular freelancer quickly master the art of writing content that sells?
What and Who?
To craft an effective sales text, you need a clear understanding of what you're writing about and who your audience is. Identifying your target audience (TA) is crucial. Who are they? What’s their age, gender, and background? You can create a social-demographic profile of your potential customers using these seven key criteria, listed in order of importance:
- Age
- Gender
- Income level
- Education
- Occupation
- Location
- Mentality and cultural background
Where and How?
Once you know what you're selling and to whom, the next step is understanding how your audience makes purchasing decisions. What influences their choices? How do they use the product? What matters most to them?
Consider this classic example: A woman buys three different yogurts at the store—one light, low-fat yogurt with grains for herself, a rich, flavorful one for her husband, and a yogurt with cookies and a toy for her child. The buyer is the same, the product category is identical, but the choices are different. A well-crafted sales text highlights the factors that matter most to the buyer. For durable goods, reliability, warranties, and longevity are key. If the audience values health, the text should emphasize beneficial ingredients and wellness effects.
Small Details Matter
Study the product thoroughly. Sometimes, a seemingly minor feature can become a strong selling point. Take the iconic advertising campaign for Schlitz beer, for example. The ad mentioned that all bottles were sterilized with high-temperature steam under pressure—something all breweries did at the time but never advertised. By emphasizing this detail, Schlitz created an image of guaranteed cleanliness and premium quality, leading to a sales boom.
Look closely at your product. What unique detail could make it more appealing? It could be an extra pocket in a laptop bag or a complimentary cleaning cloth. However, be sure that the detail is truly valuable to your audience. To confirm this, conduct short interviews with people who match your target customer profile. Their insights will help shape a sales copy that resonates.
Brevity is the Soul of Wit
People process information in specific ways. Keep your text concise and clear. Avoid long, convoluted sentences. Create a structured outline and stick to it. Focus on the essentials—what should the reader learn from your text?
While excessive brevity can strip a text of depth, steer clear of passive voice and overly complex sentence structures. A compelling sales text typically follows this structure: an engaging introduction, a problem statement, and a solution through the product or service. Break the text into sections with subheadings, images, diagrams, or tables—no one enjoys reading a 10,000-character block of uninterrupted text.
Be Your Own Critic
Read your text multiple times. Pay special attention to its logical flow. If something is unclear, revise mercilessly. If the text reads smoothly and feels natural, it’s on the right track. Test it on a sample audience. Observe how they engage with it—do they read to the end? A well-written sales text should hold attention from start to finish.
The Formula for Success
On the Instado.com freelance marketplace blog, you’ll find numerous resources on creating compelling sales content. Read, practice, experiment, and soon, your writing will be worth significantly more. In our next article, we’ll explore formulas that spark product interest and drive first-time purchases.
