Get Prospects to Say “Yes” With This Simple Landing Page Copy Hack

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Landing page optimization is all about making it as easy and attractive as possible for your prospects to say “Yes!”

I’ve learned from hundreds of landing page experiments that the best way to accomplish this is to focus on how your prospects will benefit from accepting whatever it is you’re offering them.

Today we’ll look at a dead simple technique for writing customer-centric landing page copy that converts – and it all revolves around one particularly powerful verb.

Let’s start with an example from the real world:

Take a look at the image of the two landing page variations here and see if you can spot the difference – it shouldn’t be too hard.

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You got it: The only difference is the verb in the call to action. The control copy says “Order Information and Prices” and the treatment copy says “Get Information and Prices”

As you can see, that simple change resulted in a 14.79% conversion lift.

It’s clear that changing one verb doesn’t have much impact on the page itself, but it does have a huge impact in the mind of the prospect. There’s a world of difference between ordering something and getting something.

I’ve run similar split tests on dozens of other websites and in several different languages, and “Get” variations consistently outperform variations with verbs like “Order”, “Buy”, “Download”, Sign-Up” and “Join.”

Here’s an example of a similar CTA experiment in Danish:

landing-page-copy-danish

I’ve shown this case study to live audiences in 9 different countries, including Germany, Indonesia and the U.S. and asked them to vote for the variant they’d choose to click. In every single case the audience members have almost unanimously voted for the get variant.

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So What’s Up With the Verb Get?

It’s not that get has some sort of hypnotic super power. It’s simply the fact that get focuses 100% on what the prospect is going to obtain – in other words, it clearly answers the question “What’s in it for me?”

Now try and compare get to a verb like order. See the difference?

Order focuses on what you have to do to while get addresses the thing you want. Order suggests a process that could be tiresome and irritating. How long am I going to have to wait for this “order”?

More importantly, order conveys the intent of the marketer – not the desire of the prospect. (The same goes for “buy now,” “click here,” “download,” “join,” and “sign up”).

But as soon as you start a headline, a bullet point or a paragraph with get, the angle instantly becomes more customer-centric.

The Dead Simple Technique for Writing Customer and Conversion Centric Landing Page Copy

Use get generously when you draft your landing page copy. It will force you to focus on how your prospects will benefit from accepting your offer.

This is a particularly good exercise when drafting headlines. Start with the word get and then simply write what your potential customers will gain if they accept your offer.

You’ll of course have to wrestle with your headline and experiment with different angles and wording, but it’s a good way to get started.

Some of the best performing headlines I’ve tested have been ones that start with get. But you don’t always need to have get in the final headline copy. The exercise in itself will help you hone in on the main benefits of your offer and how to convey them in a relevant and credible way.

Here’s an example where a get headline significantly outperformed a vague question headline on a betting forum landing page:

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This technique also works well for sign-up form copy. If you want someone to give you their personal information, you need to give them a good reason to do so – “Join Now” and “Sign Up” are not good reasons – they are straight-up orders.

By using the get approach here, you’ll force yourself to focus on the benefit of signing up, and not just the act itself.

Here’s another example from that betting forum. I used the get approach on the form as well and saw another significant lift. Notice that I changed both the form headline and the button copy to focus on the benefit of joining – not the act itself.

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There are many other instances where this technique can help you write better landing page copy. Bullets points, email subject lines, banner ads, pop-ups and PPC ads are all a good examples of test cases for the get approach.

How To Get Started

Go over your landing page copy and look for headlines, bullet points, buttons and forms that convey no value or that are just difficult to understand.

Use the get technique to draft copy variations and then test them to see for yourself if it gets your conversions to the next level.

Get it?

— Michael Aagaard


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About Michael Aagaard
Michael Aagaard has been working full time with CRO since 2008. He has helped companies all over the world, including Unbounce, improve their online businesses. Michael's approach to CRO revolves around research and consumer psychology. He is a sought-after international keynote speaker and is generally known as one of the most passionate and enthusiastic people in the industry. Get in touch with Michael via http://michaelaagaard.com.
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