It is not easy to write a good copy. It is not easy to write good copy, even if you have all the information about your brand and target audience.
So, stop doing it.
Writing sticky copy (copy that people remember) requires more than sitting at the computer and inventing new ways to talk about the product or service. It’s far from the truth. Copy that converts comes from copywriters who can take the messages and words directly from customers and prospects.
How?
This is where review mining comes in. We’ll show you how to use review mining to get your copy.
The Big Idea
Your customers and you know it. Reviews matter. Reviews are a powerful tool that can make or break a customer’s purchase decision. A recent PowerReviews study found that 94% of consumers believe that reviews and customer ratings are the most important factors in influencing their online purchasing decisions.
However, reviews are not just a way to influence buying decisions. Copywriters can tap into this resource to find a compelling copy and competitive advantages.
“The key ingredient to great copy is to change your mindset.”
Even though you may know all there is about your brand, your target audience might not be yours. Review mining is a better way for prospects to find out what they want to hear, even if you believe you have the perfect message to convince them to buy your product.
Your mindset is key to creating great copy. You need to stop focusing on what you want to communicate or what your selling points are for your product or service. Do not fall for the trap of thinking that you know what customers want.
Instead, mine their reviews. Find out their real thoughts and what is important to them. Tap into their pain points and give them a solution. You’ll soon be able to speak their language with a copy that converts.
Diving in
This all sounds wonderful, but it depends on whether you are writing for pain or taking words out of the mouths of potential customers (or customers). The ‘how’ might not be as clear, but it is easy to break down into four simple steps.
- Make a list of keywords that best describes the problem or main pain point. That your target audience is familiar with.
- Identify the problems you are trying to solve with your product or service, and those of your competitors.
- These keywords can be used to search for reviews online that address those solutions.
- Use these comments to generate copy for your website.
The Good Stuff
Reviewing mining is not a complicated process. To get the data they require, some companies contract mining review tools such as MobileAction and Appbot. Many companies don’t have enough money to outsource but still want to use the power of reviews to create a high-converting copy.
This doesn’t need to be a tedious task. There are simple ways that brands can shift through the sands and customer reviews to create copy that sells.
How? There are several ways. One is to look at the reviews of your competitors, especially if they don’t have any. You can find a great copy on Amazon or other app store reviews, depending on the product you are selling. To see what is working for your competition, take a look at the positive reviews. To avoid making the same mistakes, learn from negative reviews.
Another option is to find out where your prospects hang out. Do people have similar problems and pain points on social media? You can go there. You can see their comments on Twitter and their Instagram stories. Also, you can look at what they are commenting on Facebook. To get the right copy for service-oriented businesses, you can visit review sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp.
These are the insights that you want to pay attention to because they resonate with prospects.
What exactly are you looking for? While it will take some time, you’ll soon be able to recognize things that stand out as you move through all your sources. These are your questions, frustrations, or positive comments that will keep popping up.
These insights are what you want to be focusing on, as they resonate with prospects. To keep your information organized, you can organize these insights in a spreadsheet. You’ll soon have a file with compelling messages you can use to create a website copy.
How to Put It All Together
After having read through thousands or hundreds of reviews, you have an Excel file containing potential messages. What now?
It’s time for the pieces to be put together. There’s no better way than using a tried-and-tested formula that copywriters have used for as long as copywriters have existed.
This method, called Problem, Agitate, and Solve (PAS), is a reliable way of structuring the results of review mining. This breaks down what may seem like a complicated process with lots of data into manageable pieces. It helps you take all the information from reviews and make it into a high-converting copy that will be memorable.
Before you start mining reviews, it is important to have identified the problem. Problems are a reflection of your prospects’ problems, the things that keep popping up in service or product reviews.
“What better way to let your prospects see themselves on your site than to use their words?”
Agitate is about capturing the frustrations, hassles, and regrets that this problem can bring. It validates the feelings of prospects, reflecting their experience and feelings. Your prospects will be able to see themselves through your pages if they use their words.
Solve is, as you might have guessed, the product or service that solves the problem. Here is the place where you present a solution that will improve your prospects’ lives. Your copy will be authenticated and more likely to convert because it is written from the perspective of consumers.
Swipe it, don’t write it
Review mining is a strategy that brands can use to gain a competitive edge. T.S.
There’s no better way to get sticky, high-converting messages on a website that will attract the attention of your target customers than to grab their words. Why bother writing when you don’t have to?
