The Office Depot Tweet That Got Me to Spend $100, and Other Effective Copy
Photo by Igor Miske on Unsplash
What makes someone open an email, click on a Facebook ad, or buy a product in a promoted tweet? Good copy. The words you use in your messaging can either draw people in and inspire action, or bore them and make them keep on scrolling.
Here’s an example of effective copywriting that converted me into a customer this week. There I was, scrolling through Twitter, catching up on the latest news and memes, when a promoted tweet caught my eye:
You’re right, Office Depot. My back is killing me. Not from working on my couch, but from an old, ergonomically incorrect desk chair I’ve been meaning to replace for a long time. And now that I am working from home so many more hours than ever before, I am really feeling the pinch in my spine. “We’ve got your back” is darn clever copy. The free delivery sealed the deal.
Office Depot employed a commonly used marketing strategy: address your customer’s pain points. In this case, quite literally. The catchy phrasing didn’t hurt, either. (See what I did there?)
Speaking of catchy wordplay, here’s an example of an email subject line that got me to click. The Life is Good apparel company landed in my in-box with this: “Show your QuaranTeam some Love.”
I’m a sucker for a clever pun, and I was also curious to see what new T-shirt designs they had come up with, now of all times. Is there anything about COVID-19 I’d want to wear on a T-shirt? Turns out the answer is yes. Just look at these cute tees! With their timely copy, Life is Good effectively leveraged the technique of piquing your customer’s curiosity.
Lastly, Dove made me slow my scroll on Instagram with this heartbreaking post that evoked a strong emotion in more than 92,000 viewers, as of this screenshot. The image of healthcare workers’ faces bruised and scarred from wearing facemasks and the tagline “Courage is beautiful” left a lump in my throat. And the announcement of Dove’s charitable donations gave me warm, fuzzy feelings about the brand.
To recap, while there are many copywriting strategies that can be effective, three that worked on me this week were: addressing my pain points, piquing my curiosity, and evoking emotion in an authentic way that’s appropriate for this time.
Getting your messaging right isn’t easy, let alone during a global crisis. If you need help writing your blog posts, crafting and curating social media updates, creating email campaigns or any other marketing content, get in touch. I’d love to help.
Abigail Green is an experienced content marketing writer and journalist who offers businesses creative solutions for every content need.