Can I tell you an embarrassing secret?
Every time I start a new project, I have this fear that I won’t be able to write the copy.
It’s totally irrational, but there’s always this little voice in the back of my mind that says, “What if this is the project where I can’t perform?”
Over the past 10 years, this fear has never come to fruition, yet I can’t seem to shake that little voice of doubt that follows me around from project to project (though I will admit, it’s much quieter these days).
I think the voice is still there because no matter how much experience you have, sitting down to write that first draft of copy can be scary.
While you might have tons of research insights and a killer page structure, it doesn’t change the fact that every project starts with a blinking cursor and a blank page just waiting to be filled out.
And not “filled out” with just anything. It’s gotta be good. And it’s gotta move visitors to take action (and that’s a lot of pressure, right?).
This fear of mine returned the other day when I sat down to write the copy for a SaaS client.
I had my page structure. I had my research insights. I even had some initial ideas for copy.
But there were still gaps. I needed more ideas.
I could have freaked out, changed my name, and bought a one-way ticket to Tahiti, but instead, I dug into my research vault and decided to do some competitive review mining.
And guess what?
I ended up finding tons of ideas which became really solid copy options that filled out the page and impressed my client.
In today’s edition of RC², I’m going to take you through an example from that process so you can see how easy it is to find copy inspiration in public places.
While you can absolutely find similar insights by through other forms of customer research (like customer interviews and surveys), mining the reviews of your competitors can often get you what you need faster and with less hassle.
Let me show you how it works!
RESEARCH
Because I was working on a SaaS product, I went over to G2 and Capterra (which are popular review sites for software products) and typed in the names of my client’s top competitors.
After reading through a few pages of reviews, it didn’t take long to find some true gems which were chock full of ideas for headlines, subheadlines, and descriptions.
Below is an example I found during my research; I marked up with different colors to show you how I analyzed it in search of insights and copy ideas:
To recap, I got 15 copy ideas from a SINGLE review:
- “Shockingly accurate”
- “The results are shockingly (almost painfully) accurate”
- “Skip way ahead in the interview process”
- “It’s the equivalent of 2-3 interviews”
- “Discovering traits that we might not have discovered through our own interviews”
- “Our turnover went from the high 20% range to about 10%”
- “Have a few people around the office take the assessment and show their results to spouses & friends”
- “Small time investment”
- “The cost is absolutely reasonable for any company doing even a moderate amount of annual hiring”
- “Interviewing hundreds of candidates is daunting as a smaller company”
- “It’s just me running all of our recruiting and hiring efforts”
- “Saves me a tremendous amount of time”
- “Lets me focus on making final decisions based on a lot of data, rather than going with my gut because I’m pressed for time”
- “Enjoying the quality of our new hires”
- “Our average quality of hire has skyrocketed”
While I didn’t end up using any of these in the actual copy, let’s run through some examples of how I could have turned these nuggets into usable copy.
COPY
When you’re working with raw data (like customer reviews), it can sometimes take a second to figure out exactly how you can actually use it in your copy.
If the ideas are not immediately apparent, I sometimes use a simple “PS” (Problem/Solution”) framework as a starting point.
To do that, I start by going through my copy ideas in search of anything that speaks to the problem or pain points; then I look for ideas that offer “pain relief” from those challenges.
Here’s what I came up with from the list above:
- “Interviewing hundreds of candidates is daunting as a smaller company” (PROBLEM)
- “Saves me a tremendous amount of time” (SOLUTION)
- “Lets me focus on making final decisions based on a lot of data (SOLUTION), rather than going with my gut because I’m pressed for time” (PROBLEM)
Okay, now let’s rearrange these ideas so they flow in a more natural state from problem → solution.
PROBLEM:
Interviewing hundreds of candidates is daunting, especially when you’re short on time
SOLUTION:
Quickly make hiring decisions based on objective data, not gut feelings
Great, now we have some solid headlines we can use for our “PS” framework. But we probably need to flesh these two ideas out a bit more to make it more of a complete argument.
To do that, I would go back to my copy list and look for ideas that could inspire my subheadlines, for example:
- “It’s just me running all of our recruiting and hiring efforts” (PROBLEM)
- “Skip way ahead in the interview process” (SOLUTION)
- “Discovering traits that we might not have discovered through our own interviews” (SOLUTION)
Now watch as I take these simple ideas and turn them into subheadlines that connect the problem and solution together:
Interviewing hundreds of candidates is daunting, especially when you’re short on time
And if you’re a small team managing both recruitment and hiring, you’re left with just a sliver of time to make decisions that will impact everything from company culture to day-to-day ops.
Quickly make hiring decisions based on objective data, not gut feelings
Using a personality test is like skipping ahead in the interview process, allowing you to quickly separate the right candidates from the wrong ones, all without ever looking at a single resume.
CONVERSION
Now that I have my Problem → Solution section figured out, I can now add in a conversion tactic, in this case, social proof, to back up the claims I just made.
To do that, I went back to my list of copy ideas and pulled out this gem:
- “Our turnover went from the high 20% range to about 10%”
Now watch how I pull everything together to create an effective sales argument:
Interviewing hundreds of candidates is daunting, especially when you’re short on time
And if you’re a small team managing both recruitment and hiring, you’re left with just a sliver of time to make decisions that will impact everything from company culture to day-to-day ops.
Quickly make hiring decisions based on objective data, not gut feelings
Using a personality test is like skipping ahead in the interview process, allowing you to quickly separate the right candidates from the wrong ones, all without ever looking at a single resume.
“Our turnover rate was cut in half”
“Berke saves me a tremendous amount of time and lets me focus on making final decisions based on data, rather than going with my gut because I’m pressed for time. Our average quality of hire has skyrocketed and our turnover rate went from the high 20% range to about 10%.” -Jane Doe, Head of Recruitment, ABC Co
This is just one example; you could have chosen different quotes to focus on and you could have written the copy in a variety of ways. The point is, one review can yield many ideas.
Key takeaways (TL;DR)
- Competitive review mining (aka “mining” the reviews of your competitors) is a great way to get ideas for copy, information architecture, marketing, and more
- Using simple copywriting frameworks (like PS or PAS) can be helpful when trying to translate raw customer data into persuasive sales arguments
- Social proof (like direct quotes about a customer’s results) can be incredibly effective, especially when they back up the claims you’re making in the copy
Hopefully these examples gave you clarity and insight into the conversion copywriting process.
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If you’d like to learn more about customer research (like who to research, how to do it, and how to apply it to your business), check out my course How to Conduct, Analyze & Apply Customer Research here.
