Copy Clinches the Sale

If you work among the creative staff at your catalog company, you may hear the following discussion from time to time:

Merchant: “I need this item to be pictured a little smaller for it to pay for itself.”

Art director: “If we just cut the copy, we probably can make the picture a little bigger and still take up less total space. People don’t read anyway.”

Copywriter: “I’ve already cut the copy three times, and now there’s barely enough room to give even the product dimensions and SKU number.”

Many people say nobody reads anymore, so you might as well show bigger pictures and cut the copy. I disagree. We know that readability is an issue in any print media, and customers tend to skip around and read headlines, bullets and photo captions more than stories and body copy. However, your selling channels (catalog and Internet) offer a much different experience than retail. And, you must ensure you’re maximizing all the selling tools available.

A very big selling plus is being able to tell customers what we want them to know about merchandise and how the items will improve their lives. Catalog-shopper studies show that buyers study creative elements in the following order:
1 — photo,
2 — caption or copy violator,
3 — price,
4 — headline and
5 — body copy.

Clearly, a photo grabs the attention of your prospects. But once you have their attention, you must convert that into a sale. That’s where copy comes into play.

Once shoppers are interested in something, and the price is appropriate, they’ll look further to discern if they’re going to buy. One retailing expert calls this the beginning of the slippery slide to buying. Each successive element and word must continue to lead the prospect further down the slippery slide. To do this, each sentence or copy element must work in sequence to move customers to the bottom of the slide — that is, to the ordering process.

As a merchant I’ve come to understand the value of words in the selling channel. Of course the product is important, but I’ve found it possible to sell something in a catalog that also was available at any Wal-Mart. In some instances, retail shoppers don’t know what an item does, and no one is there in the stores to tell them. In your catalog, merchandise can stand out with visual and copy elements, call-outs, photo captions, in-use shots, great headlines and compelling body copy. All of these things work together to help customers understand what the item is and, better yet, why their lives won’t be complete without it.

Effective Copy

Catalog copy shouldn’t just give information about a product or answer questions and potential customer objections; it should convince buyers they’ll be better off with this product. You can tell readers how this item will improve their lives and make them happier or healthier; or perhaps how they’ll become smarter or more noticed by friends and family. They might even feel better about themselves or have more free time.

Through the power of the written word, you can explain how potential buyers truly will benefit from having this item in their lives. The balance of the photo, the product facts and its benefits work together to make the sale.

To get great copy from your writers — copy that will give products the punch they need to sell off the page — begin with a “creative brief.” This is both a document and a meeting in which your merchants and creative staff review each new or changed item and discuss the salient points of each. Since this is such an important part of good copy, I’ll review below the critical elements of a good creative brief for copywriters.

Unique selling proposition (USP). Every product needs this. It dictates the item’s positioning and takes into account the benefits and features that make it unlike anything else a consumer could buy. For example, if you’re selling a knife, determine if it’s:
— the sharpest,
— the quickest,
— the safest,
— the easiest to clean, and/or
— the easiest to store.

This checklist becomes the focal point of why your merchant picked this item for the catalog and what the key benefit is to the consumer.

*Product features. This includes, for example, how many the item will serve, how long it’ll last, technical specifications, etc. Don’t get these confused with benefits. If you’re selling computers, a 500 MHz processor is not a benefit, it’s a feature. The benefit is getting your work done faster or being able to watch a full-motion video on the monitor. Be sure everyone on your creative, marketing and merchandising teams knows the difference between a feature and a benefit.

*Headline ideas. A headline will put words to the USP and start the consumer down the slippery slide. I’m a big fan of benefit headlines — catalogs always should use them. Have your merchants give copywriters some of their ideas for a headline. This serves two purposes: It can help spur on the writer, and it ensures that the product really does have a USP that the merchant can communicate.

*Product facts. These entail necessary statistics, such as dimensions, colors and fabric content.

*Additional information. This includes extras such as gift wrapping or even telling customers to allow extra time for delivery.

The written brief then serves as the take-away from the meeting between creative and merchandising. It enables copywriters to go back to their desks and have everything they need at their fingertips to write exciting copy that reminds customers why they’re smart to buy from you. Remember, exciting pictures attract attention, but it’s often the copy that clinches the sale.

Phil Minix is vice president of catalog marketing for Reiman Publications. You can reach him by e-mail at pminix@reimanpub.com.