A presell page is a piece of editorial content designed to peak the interest of potential customers. It must be highly relevant to what you offer as a business and use advertising copywriting techniques to appeal to the viewer.
Presell provides the context of a problem that the reader is likely to identify with, tackling the contributing factors to the problem that your product or service is designed to solve. By using power words, and an artfully crafted context you can create a highly persuasive presell page.
What is a Pre-sell page - Simplified?
In simple terms, a presell page is a piece of content that should prequalify the visitor as having a particular problem that you can solve. It is a warmup piece suggesting that there is a better way of doing things, and only with what you offer.
Your presell page is storytelling, a sales technique mapping out the experience of an unfortunate soul that the reader can emotionally connect with.
The story is the journey of this individual, trials and tribulations find your product and are free from the pain through the experience of your product/service.
What makes an Effective Presell page?
- Emotion is an important factor in selling anything, therefore your presell content must communicate the associated pain in the before and joy in the after (before/after using your service/product). Both in-text and in the images. Separate the article accordingly, with a section for each.
- Show empathy when describing the pain point (the before) being written about. They are not alone, by making them feel like one of the many suffering from this particular problem. Dig deep to find the worst possible effects of this problem. Even if they have not encountered this yet, it introduces what could happen if the problem is not dealt with.
- Give the long-suffering victim a face and name, a person who can be defined as representative of the persona you are targeting.
- Storytelling, a victim’s (let’s call him Bob) story, how he suffered greatly as a result of this problem. The goal here is for the reader to identify with Bob’s experience, his pain.
- Bob’s pain is removed by your product or service (The after effect) into joy.
- Recant all the key things Bob missed, couldn’t do while suffering that he can now do – oh the JOY. Use associated joy images.
- Introduce your product/service as the savior. The message should be “You too can be like Bob” by using your solution:
Bob, is not a real person in this case, but he could be, however, regardless of whether Bob is real or not, the point is to represent an entire consumer group (specific persona) that Bob is from.
You need to identify the most common pain points from among the consumer group your presell page is targeting, so you can address others suffering from the same problem. Ultimately whatever is causing the pain is the motivation to buy.
Catching Attention
Just like any advertisement, half the battle is to get people to click on a link to your presell page in the first place. Typically the context of the placement of the link determines success in driving traffic to your presell page.
You need your link to your pre-sell page to appear in a highly relevant context preferably next to an appealing image or content that can be related to your product or service (product placement).
Which moves us on to what to say to convince visitors to click on your link.
The Leading Question
A leading question answers the question posed, – within the question, the trick is to choose the question based upon behavior that results in the need for your product or service.
It also helps while making it sound commonplace as if everyone does it.
For example for Bob.
“Is there anyone who hasn’t had a post-lunch nap at work?”
Even if the person reading it hasn’t had a nap at work, there isn’t anyone who hasn’t felt sleepy after a big lunch at work.
You need to find a question that directly relates to a problem that your product or service solves.
The example above could be a presell page for a dietary supplement like Ginko Bilboa, which is known for increasing alertness by increasing blood flow to the brain. There is a potential side effect which of course should be dealt with in the small print.
The Description
- Counter the old, outdated way of doing things.
- Highlight the contributing factors to their pain point.
- Focus on the cost of the alternatives.
- Focus on your USP vs competitors.
- Simplify an otherwise complex something.
- Highlight your great service.
- Reflect on getting caught out doing it the wrong way – consequences.
Your description can include a quote from your personal story / persona story, which adds authenticity but consider that your description should be short, no more than 5 sentences long.
As an example, in the case of Bob, and falling asleep at work, this could work with the last bullet point above. Instead of doing something about the post-lunch sleepiness he ultimately gets caught and fired for sleeping on the job.
Alternatively, it could focus on the USP, which in the case of Ginko, does not cause an alertness crash like drinking coffee does since caffeine wears off quickly.
Whichever product, product description, question, and image you use in your ad or popup, be sure to AB test each variation of your message.
Consider that you will find your conversion rate will vary with different messages and although you might be tempted to just keep the best converting, consider first that you will lose many that an alternative message might convert.
Here it is a good idea to rotate your messages, if one message fails to work then try another when the visitor returns another time.
Over time messages get old, and visitors dismiss them out of hand when conversion falls without other explanation than its time to renew your campaign.
What are Power Words
Power words are words that facilitate action. Unfortunately, in many cases they are used even if the use-case is untrue, this is because they are just so effective at increasing conversion.
- Essential / Need
- New / Latest / cutting edge / novel
- Free
- Because
- You / Your
- Now / Instantly
- Imagine
- Exclusive / Limited
- Proven / Guaranteed
- Best / Incredible / Epic / Amazing / Brilliant / Astonishing / Explosive etc.
Because of their recognized power, such words are frequently used in spam sales emails, consequently, email providers may filter your emails into spam folders if power words are used, therefore we recommend using them in ads and for onsite popup overlays rather than email marketing campaigns.
There are literally thousands of power words and so I won’t list them here, however, the list above is a good starting point because these are persuasive words.
The problem is that in a title Google search demands a maximum of 60 characters, therefore it is difficult to use more than one or two per title.
However, you are likely to be able to squeeze a few more into your subtitle or description that can easily be created by the AI caption generator.
Beyond the list above try to think of emotive words which trigger either anxiety/fear or amusement because these are more likely to be shared than others (essential / need also play on anxiety – can’t afford to miss).
In addition, words that make visitors feel safe elicit trust and confidence in what you offer.
Some of the words above are repeated in the table below, indicating their exceptional value.
Anxiety Words Examples | Safe Words Examples |
Beware | Anonymous |
Backlash | Certified |
Blinded | Endorsed |
Fear | Guaranteed |
Failure | Official / officially |
Hoax | Proven |
Lose | Reward / rewarding |
Secure / Secured | |
Safe / Safety | |
Poor | Success / Successful |
Risky | Tested |
Scary | Trust / Trusted |
Scam | Verified / Verifiable |
Popup Overlays
One of the most effective places to use power words is in popup overlays, specifically when used for the purpose of list building.
Popup overlays can be full page, making them ideal for Presell pages. In addition triggers for activation enable pin point delivery timing, which many other delivery methods fail to deliver. The can be triggered on link click, exit intent or page scroll, or based upon a combination of previously viewed content.
The various triggers can also be combined, in OptiMonk are extensive but simple to use.
In popup overlays, convincing copy here on magnet links, call to action phrases, USPs and buttons really makes a big difference in email subscription rates.
Again it’s a case of carrying out AB testing to determine the best combination of power words for your message, again OptiMonk also provides AB testing reliably.
Button Power Words
Pursuasive words should be used in buttons, words or phrases that also imply urgency. Typically no more than 2 words are used in buttons.
- Buy Now
- Shop Now
- Learn Now
- Try For Free* (*Limited Time Offer/Today only) – under button.
- Reserve
- Book Now
- Act Now
- Take Action
- Apply Now
For Bob, with the work sleep problem the button could be
“Wake Me Up NOW!”
Power Words for Call To Action
The good thing about CTA’s is that they are not limited to 60 characters like titles are. In addition an explanatory description can be added directly beneath the CTA.
Again the best place for your Call to actions is on popup overlays, or at least above the fold on your website. The problem with using your hero space is that it’s not as personalized as an onsite popup can be due to targeting.
That’s just fine if you have a general CTA that targets all your customers but if you need to be targeting specific persona motivations then popup overlays are the way to go due to the targeting features supplied.
OptiMonk provides the precise targeting necessary but also provides the tools to incentivize action, coupon codes for example, can be used to supply a 20% discount coupon if they subscribe in that moment when the popup is triggered.
In addition an offer related to what they are reading about (your content) always increases conversion for the product in question.
Once again, using Bob and Ginko Bilboa extract as an example:-
“Be Alert, Be Successful”.
It’s simple and to the point message and both alert and successful are power words. This could even be the button.
In this particular case a background image would convey the context of Bob sleeping at in his office chair or on the keyboard at work, sleeping on the job.
In the image below, somebody with their feet on the table, clearly not working and potentially asleep, certainly resting, perhaps after a large meal at lunch. The reader interprets the image in the way that is relevant to them. A short video scene could also be used instead or perhaps a before (asleep) and after (alert) taking Ginko Bilboa.
Conclusion
Only your understanding or lack thereof with regards to your customer’s motivation prevents you from greatly improving your conversion rate. With OptiMonk you have the tool functionality necessary to target your customer when they display onsite buying signals.
OptiMonk popup editor gives you free rein to create the perfect choice architecture enabling you to place your message in the ideal context and to create what is effectively the ideal presell page. Moreover, it enables you to use message variants and AB test them.