Copywriting great frequently asked questions comes from focusing on the needs of your customers.
This means offering more than the usual simple questions and answers to fill a page.
If you want to have really successful FAQs, what I am talking about is erasing the doubts in the mind of your audience; doubts that might cause them NOT to buy.
By articulating, and then persuasively answering these questions (doubts) for your audience, you greatly increase the likelihood of a sales conversion.
Great sales people use great FAQs
Great copywriters are sales people. If you know any sales people, tag along with them when they sell; their ability to use ‘FAQs’ to make the sale is astonishing.
They think of the barriers to purchase that their customers might have. They formulate and then use ‘other people’ as a way of explaining the benefits. They give examples.
To continue with legal example I mentioned in the last post, great sales people will answer questions for their clients before the question even comes up:
- if you need to change your will, that’s not a problem. All you need to do is…
- if you have another child, all you need to do is…
- if the worst happened and you split up, all you need to do is…
- one of my clients set up a trust for their children by doing this…
- others in your situation often do…
These answer the often unspoken questions for the customer, and they give them reassurance that they are not alone in their feelings or worries. Reassurance, anticipation, reflection, solving problems, helping. These are great ways of closing a sale.
Using text as a dialogue
Crawford Killian, author “Writing for the Web” said ‘Every Webtext is really just half a dialogue, with the reader providing the other half.’
By understanding this dynamic, you come to the true power of FAQs. Your are providing a copywriting service that fills in both parts of the dialogue. By anticipating and articulating your reader’s questions, (and providing great answers) you gain credibility and authority.
How to do it
Take a look at your sales pages and your product pages. Read them carefully. In the case you make, have you have overlooked any lingering questions that might come up? Is there another level of barriers you should overcome?
If you sell software, look for specific examples that you can state in the FAQs, such as ‘Does the software sync with my iPhone,’ or ‘How can I integrate my Outlook with the software?’
If you sell a service, focus on specific situations, such as ‘What if I need to change our arrangements,’ or ‘Will you keep my copywriting project confidential?’
Remember this: FAQs aren’t a shortcut. They are a powerful sales tool when they answer genuine concerns for the reader.
Coming next in the series: Copywriting FAQs Part 3 – How to write great answers
