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Like a brick through the window

Why timing is so important in copywriting

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Welcome to the 18th issue of Write On!

The newsletter that writes like a butterfly and edits like a bee.

Estimated read time: 2 minutes 59 seconds

Cut through the noise:

As the world moves more and more towards AI writing tools, cutting through the noise will become even more important.

The businesses and entrepreneurs that will come out on top are the ones that focus on storytelling.

Because AI can’t replicate the unique stories you have:

  • About yourself

  • About your business

  • About your customers

To help you cut through the noise by using storytelling tactics in your copywriting, I’m creating a new course called The Storywriting Playbook.

Get early access, exclusive pricing, and sneak peeks by joining the waitlist with 50+ others. Just click the button below 👇

Top Finds This Week:

📖 Storytelling: Every creator needs to share their story. But it’s hard to write about yourself. Here’re 7 examples of creators that nailed their story to help you share your own: (link)

🧠 Psychology: Which type of copy are people more responsive to? Optimisic or Pessimistic? Here’s your answer: (link)

🖼 Framework: The 5 questions Justin Welsh asks himself when writing tweets (apply this process to your content) (link)

📜 Principles: Improving a few words can easily double your conversion. Avoid these 10+ copywriting mistakes (link)

⚙️ Resource: Do you dream of getting paid for your writing? Here’re 10 websites where you can write a blog and get paid. Most will pay you $350 to $1000 for an article: (link)

🤖 AI: Chat GPT Cheat Sheet: Emulate the style of these 20 famous writers (link)

🎁 Bonus: I created another free guide for Write On subs. 28 ideas to optimize your CTAs: (link)

28 Ideas To Optimize Your CTAs

Timing isn’t everything… but it sure does matter

Think about the last time you purchased something and said to yourself, “Wow, that was perfect timing.”

Maybe you were at a baseball game and had just mentioned how hungry you were to your friend.

Then boom! Hot dog guy walks by a minute later, and you can’t throw your money at him fast enough.

Think about how ready you are to buy at that moment.

Great timing is what pushes that sale over the finish line.

Thankfully, these moments in your business aren’t as random as the hot dog guy showing up.

Couldn’t resist a shoutout for ITYSL

You can create and automate messaging around these moments.

You can send the right message at the right time.

How to nail the timing of your messaging:

I like to think about timing in two buckets:

1. Automations

Automated emails and text messages are known for having a higher ROI than campaign messages.

It’s because of timing.

  • Welcome Series: Joins email list

  • Post-Purchase flow: Places an order

  • Abandon Site: Visits site and doesn’t purchase

  • Abandon Browse: Visits product page and doesn’t purchase

  • Abandon Cart: Adds a product to the cart but doesn’t purchase

  • Abandon Checkout: Starts checkout process but doesn’t purchase

The list goes on and on for these types of event triggers.

These are golden opportunities for driving conversions.

2. Stages of Awareness

  1. Unaware: Person doesn’t know they have a problem.

  2. Problem Aware: Person knows they have a problem but doesn’t know some solutions exist.

  3. Solution Aware: Person knows that solutions exists but hasn’t chosen one and doesn’t know about your solution.

  4. Product Aware: Person knows about your solution but isn’t sure if it’s the best fit for them.

  5. Most Aware: They know a lot about your product but need a few more details to commit to buying.

If you try to sell to somebody like they’re in the Most Aware stage, but they’re really in the Problem Aware stage, the timing will feel off, and it will be tougher to convert that person.

But if you time your message well, the sales process will feel easy.

Here’s a perfect example of going from Unaware → Problem Aware → Solution Aware:

Marketing cartoon of brick going through window

One more example:

And here’s a perfect real-life example of a cold email that masterfully converted me into a buyer by taking me from Solution Aware → Product Aware → Most Aware → Customer

💡 Bottom line: The right message at the right time is your best friend as a copywriter. Identify the key points in your customer’s lifecycle and time your messages accordingly.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading.

See you next Wednesday!

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P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here’re two ways I can help you:

  1. Facts tell. Stories Sell. Use storytelling in your copywriting to grow your business. Get early access to my new course: The Storywriting Playbook (👉Add me to the waitlist!)

  2. Keep your writing sharp all year round and enjoy free lifetime access to my collection of Write On copywriting guides (👉View all guides)

P.P.S. If you've got a moment, I'd love to get your feedback:

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