There are two main ends of the copywriting spectrum: conversion copywriting and direct response copywriting. Conversion copywriting aims to get prospects to take some action, such as downloading an ebook, purchasing a product, or opting for a newsletter. On the other hand, direct response copywriting focuses on driving sales directly, and most of it is from ads. These ads can be anywhere, from offline newspapers to banner ads on the Internet.
Table of Contents
Conversion Copywriting
Conversion copywriting moves people through a series of steps until they make the buying decision. Conversion copywriting considers a prospect’s stage of awareness: unaware, problem aware, solution aware, product aware, most aware — mostly one click or one step at a time. Conversion copywriting is mainly used for landing pages, websites, and email sequences.
Direct Response Copywriting
On the other hand, direct response copywriters don’t create their ads based on stages of awareness. They create one ad that takes the reader from barely understanding their problem to buying your solution. Direct response copywriting is mainly used for ads and long-form sales pages.
Which One is Right For You?
This depends on what you want to achieve. Conversion copywriting is meant to drive traffic, which you then convert into leads, and then gradually drip them to sell your product. If you want to skip all this long process and just want people to buy your product from your ad or sales page, direct response copy is the way to go.
What’s The Catch?
Direct response copywriting is more of guesswork on what resonates and makes the prospect buy the product. In comparison, conversion copywriting eliminates the guesswork by considering many factors: research, analytics, stage of awareness, AB testing, CRO, UI/UX, VOC, review mining, etc. This means that conversion copywriting takes more time than direct response copywriting and likely comes with a high price tag than its direct response counterpart.
