Want to know one of my favorite tools for improving the conversion rate of my copy?
In this tutorial, I’m going to edit an email in real-time, so you can see exactly how I use this free tool to improve flow, readability, and conversions
Hey, Posse! What’s up? It’s Alex. Coming at you this week with a super simple tutorial that can make a big impact on your copywriting.
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Now quick, POP QUIZ:
The average person reads at what grade level?…
- Grade 5
- Grade 7
- Grad 10
- Grade 12
If you guessed grade 7 – ding, ding ding! – you got it.
Which means you should be WRITING at the 7th grade level to make sure you’re speaking to the right audience (that is, unless your customer avatar is, in fact, college professors).
Now, if you’re thinking, “What?! No way! I’m a REAL writer. I’m not going to dumb myself down and write for a bunch of 7th graders…”
Well… what if I told you that some of the world’s most beloved, well-known & best-selling authors typically write at a grade 7 level or even below that?
Yep.
From Ernest Hemingway to Jane Austin, J.R.R. Tolkien, and even Stephen King!
Shane Snow ran a bunch of best-selling fiction books through the Flesch-Kincaid index, which is designed to indicate how difficult a passage in English is to understand. According to that reading level analysis, these are the results:
Notice how NONE of these authors wrote above the 9th-grade level?
If that’s not enough to convince you that your writing can be both captivating and simple – then I’m not sure what will!
Now one of my absolute favorite (and free) tools to check the readability of my writing is Hemingway Editor.
Yep, this tool was named after the master of literary brevity himself (who, remember, wrote at a 4th-grade level).
It’s a super simple tool that aims to tighten up your words and make them more concise, impactful, and yes – easier to read by everyone.
So HOW does this tool actually improve your conversion rates?…
Well, for starters, you want to make sure that the average reader can comprehend your writing. If they can’t comprehend it, then they sure as hell aren’t going to BUY it.
So, you want your copy and content to be clear and concise – yet bold and relatable.
This tool uses different color codes to highlight lengthy, complex and difficult sentences, so that you know what needs to be sliced, simplified and optimized. It’ll also tell you if your vocabulary is getting too academic or wordy.
How to Use Hemingway Editor
To use the Hemingway Editor just go to www.hemingwayapp.com and you’ll come to the free web version of Hemingway Editor. Just copy and paste your text and the Hemingway Editor will immediately tell you the readability of your piece.
And there are 5 things that the Hemingway Editor will highlight in your copy:
- Red Sentences. A red sentence is anything that the Hemingway Editor deems to be complex.
- Yellow Sentences. The yellow sentences are hard to read but not entirely complex. These are still something worth looking over to see if there’s anyway you might be able to easily simplify those sentences.
- Blue Words. Adverbs which are overly descriptive and do not add that much to the copy. These are words you can consider omitting.
- Green Words. The passive copy which could probably be written in a little bit stronger, direct tone.
- Purple Words. Words that you can replace with a simpler version.
So… ready to see exactly how it works?
Let’s do it!
Now this email is a REAL email that I sent out during my recent Launch Pad promotion. When copy-and-pasted into Hemingway Editor as it was on the day it was sent—it scored a 6. Which is pretty great.
But for the purpose of this week’s tutorial, and because I wanted you to see a REALLY bad example, I went back through and made the copy significantly worse.
Remember, if someone’s reading your copy and they reach a point where there’s no longer cognitive fluency, they will leave.
Our human brains like simple information that’s easy to process. So, work through your copy to make it simpler for the average person to read.
This will create a much more effective piece of copy that relates and flows and most importantly – CONVERTS!
Here’s the video where I break it down in real-time:
Watch The Critique
Give me a comment if you enjoyed this tutorial!
Until next time, I’m Alex – Ciao for now!