As content marketing whiz Aaron Orendorff wrote back in October 2019:
Storytelling and copywriting make or break a brand.
Taken a step further, it’s fair to say that effective copywriting actually precedes a brand’s ability to weave a powerful story for its audience. A large part of copywriting revolves around grabbing the target audience’s attention—and keeping them engaged as you convey your message. Needless to say, if you can’t seize your audience’s attention, you’re not going to be able to tell your story in the first place.
What’s more, effective copy spurs the reader to take action once they’ve digested the content. To be blunt, if your copy fails to get the reader to take this action, it may as well not exist at all.
Your copywriting efforts serve two main purposes:
- Communicate a message to your target audience clearly and effectively
- Drive your audience to engage further with your brand in a way that leads to conversion
In this article, we’re going to take a look at some examples of excellent copywriting in a variety of formats. As we go through each, we’ll point out exactly why the copy is so effective at both conveying a message and driving audience engagement.
Let’s first take a look at some of the more universal elements of effective copywriting.
5 Key Elements of Effective Copywriting
While effective copywriting can look vastly different from niche to niche and brand to brand, the foundational elements remain the same.
Effective Copywriting Conveys Knowledge
Good copy makes it clear to the reader that they should be listening to what the speaker has to say.
Most importantly, your copy should explain to your audience that you:
- Understand the problem or challenge they’re currently facing
- Know exactly what to do to help them overcome said problem or challenge
The more knowledgeable and capable you appear in the eyes of your target reader, the more likely they are to rely on you to help them.
Effective Copywriting is Customer-Focused
While communicating your knowledge and abilities is essential, it’s important to do so in a way that keeps the spotlight on your customer.
That said, your copy shouldn’t explain what your brand can do for your customer. Rather, it should explain what your customer will be able to do with your brand’s products or services.
In other words, your copy should focus on the benefits of your offering—not its features.
Another key to creating customer-focused copy is using the words, phrases, and terminology that they use. Basically, this shows your audience that you truly “get” them, and allows a relationship to grow with ease.
Effective Copywriting is Clear and Concise
The first part of this is simple:
Your copy must convey your message clearly, ensuring that your audience knows without question:
- What you have to offer
- Why it matters to them
- What they need to do to get it
If any piece of this is missing, your copy won’t accomplish what it’s intended to.
Your copy should also be economical, meaning it should include just the right amount of words to convey your message effectively—and no more. While the right wordcount varies from case to case, the idea is to communicate the message before your audience’s attention wanes.
Effective Copywriting Communicates Value
As alluded to above, effective copy tells the reader exactly what they stand to gain by paying close attention.
Part of this is stating your offer clearly. If nothing else, you want your audience to at least retain this vital piece of information for future recall.
It’s also essential to clearly communicate the benefits that further engagement will have for your audience. In one way or another, use your copy to paint a picture of what your customer’s life will be like after engaging with your brand.
Lastly, use your copy to eliminate risk on your audience’s part—in turn eliminating any hesitations they may have about taking a step further. Your goal is to show your audience that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Effective Copywriting Spurs the Audience to Action
The ultimate goal of any piece of copy is to propel your audience to do something.
Be it getting them to click-through to a product page, sign up for a mailing list, or make a purchase, your copy should always make clear that there’s another step for your audience to take—and what they stand to gain by taking it.
Your copy should also make clear exactly what this next step entails. As we’ll show a few times throughout this article, this is a bit more nuanced than it may seem.
8 Excellent Copywriting Examples to Add to Your Swipe File
Now that we know what goes into creating effective copy, let’s take a look at some examples of these tactics creatively applied on a variety of platforms.
Examples of Effective Email Copywriting
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again:
Email marketing is far from extinct.
While a lot goes into an effective email marketing campaign, the copy within the actual emails is of utmost importance.
Check out the following examples:
LittleBits
For parents and children alike, there’s a lot to get excited about in this email.
First and foremost, the tone is friendly, welcoming, and inspiring. With just a few quick sentences, the copy prepares readers to learn more about the brand and its products, and explains what they and their children have to gain by doing so.
Speaking of benefits, the value of the brand’s offer (“Empower kids to invent and create”) simply cannot be overstated. To be sure, there’s not much else a good parent aims to do than positively empower their children; littleBits nailed the copy here in playing in to that.
Finally, the CTAs (“Learn More,” “Shop Kits,” “See Challenges”) are all customer-facing. That is, they explain not what the customer must do (“click here”), but the value they’ll receive from clicking a specific link. While it may seem inconsequential at first, this subtle change can make a world of difference to your engagement rates.
MailChimp
There are three key things to note in this announcement email from MailChimp.
First, the quirky, tongue-in-cheek approach gives off a sense of familiarity and companionship that the brand and its audience clearly share together. While the actual message of the email isn’t good news (an announcement of the temporary discontinuation of the brand’s newsletter), it’s delivered in such a way as to keep things focused on the positive.
But that doesn’t mean MailChimp uses humor and lighthearted copy to skirt the issue at hand. Rather, they face it head on, explaining exactly why the newsletter is being halted, and what the recipient can do to help get things back on track.
And once again, the call-to-action is focused more on the outcome of an action taken, rather than the action itself. This is an especially strong example, as it invites MailChimp’s audience to actively take part in improving the newsletter’s content.
MeUndies
In this example, MeUndies makes it clear:
They’re bringing “basic” back.
That goes for everything in this email—especially the copy. It’s simple and straightforward, just like the products it’s advertising.
Of course, the MeUndies team can never take things too seriously, as seen in the way they showcase social proof. Hey, when your email’s message is fairly straightforward, you gotta spice things up somehow, right?
Examples of Effective Facebook Ad Copy
Although Facebook is the top social platform on which to advertise, success there isn’t guaranteed. Among many other factors, the quality of your Facebook Ad copy can determine the overall effectiveness of the ad.
Let’s take a look at some prime examples of effective Facebook Ad copy.
Warby Parker
D2C eyeglass company Warby Parker works to immediately engage its audience in this ad by asking a direct question. This also serves to weed out individuals who aren’t looking for glasses, and are thus irrelevant to the campaign.
From there, the ad makes clear exactly what the prospective customer has to do to receive their trial lenses—and also that the offer is personalized to the individual customer’s needs.
For those who need a bit more nudging, the ad explains point blank that completing the short quiz will allow them to try out five different frames at no cost. Mitigating risk is sometimes all you need to get customers to take action.
Thrive Market
In one short sentence, Thrive Market tells its audience:
- What the brand offers
- Why the brand’s offerings are preferable to those of the competition
- What the brand is “all about”
What’s more, the supplemental copy backs up the ad’s previous claims with cold hard facts involving specific discount values and offers. Again, note the prominence of the risk-mitigation free membership offer: in this case, both the use and placement of the word “free” will serve to nudge those on-the-fence prospects a bit closer toward converting.
Nespresso
Much like our Warby Parker example, Nespresso makes it immediately clear if this ad is relevant to a given Facebook user or not.
Once a consumer self-qualifies and focuses on the ad, the next thing they’re given is an offer for free shipping—again, a well-paced, no-risk offer to keep them moving forward.
From there, the offer is reiterated—along with a subtle nod to the promotion’s end date. This adds a layer of urgency, motivating interested audience members to act immediately to receive the full value being offered.
If there’s one thing to nitpick here, it’s the use of the phrase “standard delivery” not once, but twice. While the aim was to make clear that certain terms and conditions apply to the offer, the awkward phrasing may detract from the offer being presented.
Examples of Effective Landing Page Copy
While landing pages come in many shapes and sizes, their purpose is always the same:
Get the prospect to become more deeply engaged with your brand.
Here, we’ll take a look at two very different landing pages from two similar brands, illustrating how two divergent approaches can be taken to accomplish one common goal.
Blue Apron
From the get-go, the headline makes it clear not just what the offer is, but also that it applies only to new customers—allowing site visitors to self-qualify and engage further, or move on.
In providing additional info, Blue Apron stays focused on the benefits to the customer: risk free, personalized, and convenient delivery of meal prep ingredients. The human conversational tone assures new customers that they can rely on Blue Apron to provide for their meal prep needs.
Plated
From a birds-eye view, the purpose of this landing page is similar to Blue Apron’s: explain the value of the brand’s service, then get the visitor to try it out.
But the approach is much different, in that Plated focuses more on the problems new customers can avoid by signing up for the service (as opposed to the benefits they’ll gain from doing so).
The idea here is to address and alleviate any worries or “What If?” scenarios in the prospect’s mind—eliminating every reason they have to not sign up for the service.
Wrapping Up
In order to effectively convey the value of your product or service—and the overall mission of your brand—a solid approach to copywriting is vital.
It all comes down to understanding what your audience wants to know about your brand, and communicating this information in a way that makes the most sense to them. If your words always resonate within the minds of your target audience, you’ll never have trouble keeping them engaged.