Convincing Client of Crappy Copy

[GrouchyKids]

I believe that one of my clients has poor copy on their site.

Convincing them seems to be impossible, have you any thoughts on how I can turn this around?

I've tried writing alternative text, but they believe their text is better.  I'm not claiming to be the best copywriter in the World so maybe my skills fall too short to convince them.

I have suggested that they read The Copywriting Sourcebook by Andy Maslen.  They tell me their copy follows this thinking, but I see little evidence of this.

I wonder if hiring a third party might be a good move. If so I will only have 1 shot at convincing them, so I need to hire someone who's fantastic.

Any thoughts?

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi,

First of all, what is making you think it is so bad? I would be cautious of trying to convince them so much that you end up alienating them and diving in there with someone else to try and get your point across, might just do this.

I like to turn to statistics and testing at this point. Are there pages not converting well? Is there is a penalty of any sort because of the copy? Have you thought about adding a live user testing application like Inspectlet to show them how people are navigating the pages?

-Andy

[EGOL]

what is making you think it is so bad?

I agree.  And, what do you think is so bad about it?

• Is it simply lots of errors in grammar and punctuation?
• Is it errors in the basic content?
• Is it that the structure needs changed to make the points better?
• Is it badly presented for conversions?
• Is it lacking in SEO elements?

Each one of these requires a different expertise to repair.... proofreader/grammarian, content expert, editor, conversion rate optimizer, SEO.

Lots of people really really hate to write and when they are told your writing sucks they don't like it.  They are offended or they don't want to invest more.  If they are an industry expert with a lot of experience selling in their business niche then you are really putting your nose into it.

So, before you can do a good job of improving their work you must identify the types of problems present and realize that each type of problem (and there may be more than one) requires a different approach to solve - some of which might be more palatable to your client.

[GrouchyKids]

Good point Andy I didn't know about Inspectlet I will give it a go.

The client believes that despite his products having different applications the benefits are identical.

He also doesn't like testimonials or case studies.

I think the text is therefore a bit lack lustre in terms of its appeal to users.

I'm not aware of a penalty due to the copy, nothing in Google Search Console for example.

[GrouchyKids]

Thanks Egol,

That all makes sense.

I would never tell a client their copy sucks, I have tried to be diplomatic.

I think the text is badly presented for conversions.

Difficult to prove this without changing the text I guess.

[EGOL]

If you think that "conversions" is the main work that needs to be done then you can tell them that the current copy is great for this and that... but we think that a few changes will help it convert better.  Give some examples.

If the site has lots of traffic you might be able to see an obvious lift or if you have the ability to do A/B test, measure any conversion change that occurs.   If the site doesn't have a lot of traffic or you don't have the ability to do A/B testing will be a little harder to prove, but you might compare conversions per hundred visits this month vs. last month.

[GrouchyKids]

Thanks Egol thats great advice.