Thereās nothing that gets your heart racing quite like being on a discovery call with a new client and being hit with āYeahā¦ weāre doing some CRO and weād love your help boosting the CTR and CLV on our OTOā… And youāre like WTF.
If that sounds like your worst nightmareā¦ then keep readingā¦
Hey guys, itās Alex! So great to see my Copy Posse Crew here again this week, leave me a comment below to let me know youāre here!Ā
And if youāre new to the crewā¦ welcome!
Over on my YouTube Channel, you can expect to see a brand new tutorial on copywriting and marketing every single weekā¦ And of course a blog post here!
So if thatās your thing as much as itās my thing, remember to join the Posse.
Now, this weekās article is a loooong time coming. You guys know that itās my lifeās mission to make this whole freelance copywriting thing as easy as possible for you.Ā
But letās be real here, I can give you all the copywriting tools, tips and templates in the worldā¦ but I canāt write the copy for you, and I DEFINITELY canāt be on your first client discovery call.Ā
And yes I know how scary that first call can beā¦ and believe it or not, I still get nervous when talking to prospective clients for the first timeā¦Ā
And it can be even more terrifying if you donāt know all of the fancy marketing lingo and ridiculous jargon that is out thereā¦Ā Ā
And my god – us marketers sure do LOVE our TLAs. Thatās 3-letter acronymsā¦
Some of these have become so commonplace that just about everyone can recognize themā¦ everyone knows that āsliding into my DMsā is referring to direct messagesā¦Ā
Or that the PR department, is public relationsā¦
But other frequently used acronyms like USP, OTO, CTR, CTA, CLV, WOM, CRO, and AIDAā¦ might not be such common knowledge.Ā
Well, get out your pen and notepad, because weāre about to go over what every single one of those stands for AND what the context behind them really isā¦Ā
USP – Unique Selling Proposition
Alright, first up on the list is arguably one of the most frequently used acronyms in the marketing world, so youāll want to make dang sure you know it… USP or Unique Selling Proposition.
A USP is what makes a brand, product, or service different from its competitors… Think of it as the competitive edge you hold over your competition.
A USP is short and simpleā¦ but effective.Ā
In a single sentence you should be able to effectively communicate why your company, product, or service is superior to othersā¦ and thus WHY someone should buy from you and not Sally over there.
Here is the USP of the Copy Posse Brandā¦ weāre all about building a community of authentic and passionate copywriters, we donāt stand behind douchey marketing schemes and tactics – and thatās exactly what set us apart from our competitors.Ā
And before you say itā¦ YES, I know that your company is totally amaze-balls and can most definitely help peopleās lives in more ways than oneā¦
But when it comes to a USPā¦ you donāt want to bore potential customers with a laundry list of things to read BEFORE they even know if theyāre interested in learning moreā¦
Remember when you try to be known for everything, youāre remembered for nothingā¦ So pick your poison and own the hell out of it!
Your USP should be communicated quickly and clearly. So that when potential customers come to your page, they immediately see why youāre so much more awesome than the other options out there…
If you wait too long to state your USP you risk losing customers altogether.
And listen – a true USP is much more than a simple tagline or slogan ā itās the essence of what makes you unique.
For example, when Amazon was just starting to become a popular online retailer ā it stood apart from the competition by offering free two-day shipping to its Prime members…
And at this time… online shipping was pricey, and it often took a long time to deliverā¦ So Amazonās USP addressed this very specific pain point people had with online shopping – and the rest was history.
Now Amazon is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) online retailers out thereā¦ Nearly everyone from all over the globe utilizes Amazon in some way.
Which just goes to show how powerful a USP can be.Ā
OTO – One-Time Offer
OTO, or one-time-offer refers to a sales page that promotes a special offer that is availableā¦ yep, you guessed itā¦ for one time only.
A one-time offer is something that TRULY expires when you say it will…
And itās often presented immediately after an email signup, or registration of some sort. Like when you subscribe to the email list of your fave online store and then get a 10% discount code!
The code is available right then and there on that page, and often times if you close the pageā¦ the code is gone forever… This tactic usually works really well because itās based on user action, and is only shown to them ONE TIMEā¦ and this scarcity makes it highly effective.
I mean think about itā¦ people LOVE discounts and good deals. In fact, approximately 34% of Millennials look for online coupons on a weekly basis.
That makes this a powerful marketing strategy because it combines FOMO (fear of missing out) with a sense of urgency.
And I just want to clarify something hereā¦ a one-time offer is NOT necessarily an upsell, and I see these terms being used interchangeably all of the time.Ā
An upsell is something that is presented to a customer after they have purchased an Upfront Offerā¦
For example, after someone has signed up for an online group coaching programĀ ā an upsell would be to offer them one-on-one VIP coaching as an upgrade. But that is NOT a one-time offer.
That upgrade might always be available for them to purchaseā¦. And because of that, thereās really no sense of urgency in an upsell.
Upsells are typically value-drivenā¦ while one-time offers are scarcity-driven.Ā
The caveat to using OTOs is that they only work if you actually pull the offer when you say youāre going to!
If you get into the habit of saying something is only available for a limited timeā¦ and then keep it up all the time, youāre going to lose the trust, confidence, and possibly even the business of your customers and loyal subscribers – which is definitely NOT good for business!
And speaking of good for businessā¦.
CTR – Click-Through Rate
One of the best ways to gauge how well your business marketing is performingā¦ is to track and monitor your CTR, or click-through rate.
Click-through rate is the ratio of people who click on a specific link (clicks) – to the total number of viewers that page, ad, or email has (also known as impressions)
- So basically, clicksĀ divided by impressions = CTR
If you have 5 people click on a Facebook ad, and that ad has 100 impressionsā¦ you would be looking at a 5% click-through rate…Ā
Understanding your click-through rate is really important, and it can give you valuable insight into the brains of your audienceā¦ letting you know exactly whatās working, and whatās flopping.Ā
Monitoring your click-through rate is a great way of knowing how your emails and ads are performing AND itās also a great way to track the hooks that are resonating best with your audience.Ā
Alrightā¦ but so how do you know if you have a good click-through rate or a bad click-through rate?Ā
Welllllllll, thatās where things get a little fuzzierā¦
There isnāt exactly a definition, or a concrete number, for what a āgoodā click-through rate is… Because CTRs will vary massively by niche, campaign, company, and ad type…
This is why itās so important to gauge and monitor your click-through rates continuously.Ā
You should be constantly testing ads, hooks, and headlines…Ā then innovating and pivoting along the way to boost your CTRS and āset a new high scoreā so to speakā¦Ā
And that brings us toā¦Ā
CTA – Call to Action
Where you actually want people to clickā¦ your CTA, or call to action.Ā
The call to action is the most wanted conversion response on any marketing assetā¦ youāll typically see this in the form of a button, link, or image that encourages your audience to become leads or customersā¦
And remember: the simpler, the better.
Your call to action isnāt the place to get fancy with your copyā¦ you need to be clear and concise with it.Ā It should only take a second for the customer to understand EXACTLY what you want them to do…
- āClick here to enroll nowā
- āBuy nowā
- āDownload your e-book todayā
See how all of those call to actions are SUPER simple? Thereās zero confusion on what to do nextā¦ the customer knows exactly where to go and what to click on to get them there.Ā
Always remember to kiss your CTAsā¦. Keep āem simple, stupid.
And hereās an insider tip on sales page CTASā¦ after the offer has been introduced, I like to see the call to action presented at least 2-3 times. This increases the likelihood that youāll catch the customer ready to take action, and thus boosting your CTR!
And always, always, ALWAYS remember to have the call to action be the very last thing on your sales page. That way all those skimmers who scroll straight to the bottom wonāt miss it!Ā
And that brings us to…
CLV – Customer Lifetime Value
CLV, customer lifetime value. This is the total amount of money a customer is expected to spend on your products/services during their lifetime as a customer with you.
And obviously, the longer you keep a customerā¦ as a customerā¦ the greater your customer lifetime value will be…
Now, I probably donāt need to tell you that itās in your best interest to do whatever you can to keep as many customers for as long as you canā¦ but the real money question here is HOW can you actually do that?
Sure, being an awesome company and having a kick-ass product is a really good start to having lifelong customersā¦ but that alone isnāt going to seal the deal…Ā
To truly keep your customers long-term, you have to go above and beyondā¦ and give them a great customer experience.Ā
So that means having stellar customer support – resolving their issues, answering their concerns, delivering on time, AND making them feel a part of the community and brand that youāve built.
Iāve said it before, and Iāll say it again – no longer are the days that people are just looking for a good product. People want good products from good companies, that they can relate to and trust.
A staggering 70 % of peopleĀ will support a company that delivers great customer service, and on the other side of the coinā¦ the average American will tell 15 people when theyāve had a bad customer experience.
Yikes, thatās not good advertisingā¦ which brings us to…
WOM – Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is a marketing method that relies on organic social interactions, conversations, and recommendations to promote a product or service.Ā
Itās like when your bestie suddenly looks like a glowing goddess and you FINALLY ask her what sheās doing differentlyā¦
And when she tells you about this new luxurious skin cream that changed her skin, improved her digestion, made her more Zen, AND improved her whole lifeā¦ youāre like, āYeah, Iām just gonna go buy some of that. Like now.āā¦.
All kidding aside, Word of Mouth is a marketing strategy that should definitely NOT be undervalued.
People are 90% more likely to trust and buy from a brand that was recommended by a friend.
And the real mind-blower here… word of mouth impressions result in 5x more sales than a paid media impressionā¦ That means that if someone was recommended a project by someone they trust, they are 5 times more likely to buy it than they would be if they just saw an Ad for it on Facebook or the āgram.Ā
You guys, those numbers are HUGE.
Thatās why itās so important for a company to actually live up to its great marketing promises. Sure, having a killer sales page and marketing campaign might land you some pretty high initial conversions…
But once people buy, if you under-deliver on your promisesā¦ you better believe that word will get out. And pretty soon your awesome sales page wonāt matter anymore. The best copywriting in the world canāt save a shitty company.
So remember, good marketing can only take a company so far. In order to reach true icon status ā always deliver on what you promiseā¦ on time, every time.
CRO – Conversion Rate Optimization
If youāre relying on website traffic to drive salesā¦ (which is basically everyone these days)…
Youāll want to pay special attention to CRO – conversion rate optimization.Ā
Conversion Rate Optimization is āa system for increasing the percentage of visitors to a website that converts into customers, or more generally, take any desired action on a webpage.”Ā
Essentially what youāre doing is enhancing your marketing to boost conversions…
This can obviously be done in a number of different ways; such as increasing customer value proposition, improving site speed, and utilizing scarcityā¦ but one of the most effective ways to give your conversions a boost is split testing.
Split-testing is a scientific process for turning more website visitors into customers (aka – increasing your conversion rate).Ā
You can also think of this as A/B testingā¦ or running two slightly different campaigns that have the same end goal in mindā¦
This can be done with images, ads, headlines, and email… the possibilities are really endless.
While yes, running split testing ISĀ an extra step… involving more time, money, and up-front effort… the payoff is well worth it.
Companies that A/B test every email see email marketing returns that are 37% higher than those of brands that never include A/B tests…Ā
37% is seriously a huge increase in sales. And with numbers that significant, you would think that everyone is doing this whole CRO thing, right?…
Nope!!!!
Actually, studies show that only 17% of marketersĀ use landing page A/B tests to improve conversion ratesā¦ which means that 83% of companies and products just pray they got their marketing right the first time around.Ā
So sure, paying attention to your CRO might be a little bit of extra workā¦ but it wonāt only increase your conversion rate – itāll also help you stand apart from your competition, and give you that extra competitive edge.Ā
AIDA – Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action
And as always, I save the best for lastā¦ AIDA, which stands for awareness, interest, desire, action…Ā
Thought of as one of the best-known marketing models out there, AIDA is a hierarchical marketing model that represents the stages a consumer passes through when making purchasing decisions.
And actually, even if you donāt necessarily know the term AIDA – if youāre marketing, then youāre likely already applying this model on a subconscious level.Ā
You can think of this model as a funnel that customers go through on their journey to the final purchase…
With awareness being at the top, and widest part, of the funnelā¦ and action being at the bottom of the funnel.
At the first level, awareness, your job is to simply make the customer aware that your brand exists at all.
In the second level, interest, your job is to make the customer intrigued by the brand and want to learn moreā¦ this might mean they do start doing research on your product (but not necessarily your specific brandā¦ yet).Ā
That comes in at the next level – which is desireā¦ Here is where your brandās USP really comes into play!Ā At this level, your customer is already pretty invested in buying your product (or one like it).
So this is where you develop that emotional connection, that āI feel youā vibe, with your customerā¦ This part of the funnel is really where you want to show your brand personality and deliver hard on your USP.
Your goal at this stage is ultimately to move your customer from āI like thatā to āI NEED that, and I need it from THIS badass brand!ā
And once theyāre locked into your product and brandā¦ they fall through the bottom of the funnel, action…
This is where your CTA comes into play. So whether itās a purchase, download, or an email subscription – this is where that highly sought-after conversion takes place!
But remember, the customer has to go through every part of the funnel BEFORE they land at the bottomā¦ so make sure that each level of the funnel is priming and prepping them to take that desired action!
Alright guys, there you have it – 8 frequently used acronyms in the marketing and copywriting world. Youāre now basically a lingo expert and can own those client calls with confidence and success.Ā
Leave me a comment below if you found this article helpful.
As always thanks so much for reading and subscribe to my YouTube Channel too for more content like this!Ā
I will see you next week with a brand new post. Until then, Iām Alex, Ciao for now!
And hey, if you wanna learn even more marketing terms, check out my free Copywriting Glossary full of 31 marketing and copywriting terms you should know if you want to start copywriting!
