Landing page copywriting is a tricky business. A handful of companies can claim mastery on their landing page copy, yet if there’s one that can be categorized as “the best” it’s Apple.
The Cupertino-based giant has turned its product landing pages into an experience.
They’re so good at making you experience their product, you can’t even say they sell you one in the first place.
What Apple does is place their products in your kitchen or palm or workstation through design, copy and positioning.
This sets them apart from Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Lenovo or ___________ <- insert any tech company.But as hard as writing a landing page is, there are some rules that can help you turn words into landing pages that make people press the “buy” button over and over again.
Writing copy that converts boils down to understanding your customers and how your product fits in their lifestyle.
If you’re stuck wondering how to write compelling copy, here are a few steps from my process.
First and foremost —
Understand your target audience.
Writing for everyone is writing for no one. Ask yourself; Who do you sell to?
I bet you already have a rough idea of who your ideal customer is.
Their hobbies, desires, problems.
Dig deeper. Go where they hang out. Forums, Facebook Groups and absolutely submerge yourself in the culture. Ideally, schedule meetings with real-life customers who actually bought your product.
We, copywriters, call this ‘Message Mining’ — that’s step number two.
Learn the lingo.
One of the most powerful things you can use in landing page copy is the words of real customers.
That’s why Basecamp helps you “keep everything in one place, not all over the place” instead of “manage tasks”.
And the iPhone 12 gets you “Blast. Past. Fast.”
(More on that in a bit.)
Landing page copy should be about the user. The product adds to their experience. It’s not the focus.
While you’re at it, keep a swipe file with words and phrases your ideal customers use.
Craft your titles with the message you ‘mined’ — that’s rule number three.
Titles can be used as hook sentences. And hooks are meant to get people’s attention.
Your swipe file is your best friend. Use it to craft titles and hook sentences with the words used by customers.
I’ve written an in-depth guide on how to craft a powerful hook sentence. Check it out.
Rule number four — Social proof is vital.
Why do companies spend a crazy amount of money for publications in Forbes and TechCrunch and BBC?
Two words — social proof.
Social proof is what we marketers like to call a “trust factor”.
Now, should you spend that much money on PR from major publications? No. If you can’t afford to, that is.
However, focus on publications relevant to your industry. Small or big, niche publications can be just as much of a trust factor as the big guns.
Customer reviews count as well.
Place your social proof in the header section. Just under your title, subtitle, and main call-to-action.
That’s how you ensure the user will see it.
Four — work on your value proposition
There’s a chance that you have competitors who’re selling a product close to yours.
That’s when standing out is vital. You can hire a marketer to do it for you. Or you can listen to EveryoneHatesMarketers by Louis Grenier to learn how to “stand the f*ck out”. Or you can do the most popular method of trial and error.
I’m not sharing a template or diving deeper into the topic because the value proposition should be a vital part of your content and business strategy. A template just won’t work. This course, however, gives you a process that does and it’s one of the best things I’ve watched about differentiation.
Okay, so now that you understand the basics of landing page copywriting, let’s go down the rabbit hole of how Apple does it.
Apple’s eight secrets to crafting compelling landing pages.
Apple has conquered its landing page experience. When you go through a product page on their website you feel the exclusivity ooze from the copy, swanky visuals and animations. Here are a few things they do on all their product landing pages.
Smart hook sentences (and titles) are a must.
Apple’s titles on their landing pages are kind of sexy. And all share a common theme.
Apple communicates one big idea behind the product. Here are some of my favorite examples:
- “Power. It’s in the Air.” — MacBook Air
- “The best for the brightest.” — MacBook Pro
- “Blast past fast.” — iPhone 12
- “Power to change everything.” — Mac Pro
- “New guts. More glory.” — Mac Mini
Apple copywriters don’t shy away from puns. They use rhythm, popular culture, and puns to make memorable and fun buying experiences.
Get technical but not too technical.
Apple loves to get technical right off the bat. And there’s a reason for that — Apple users are more often than not developers and designers and marketers. In other words, computers are an integral part of their customers’ lifestyle.
Just take a look at this paragraph from the MacBook Pro landing page:
“The Apple M1 chip gives the 13‑inch MacBook Pro speed and power beyond belief. With up to 2.8x CPU performance. Up to 5x the graphics speed. Our most advanced Neural Engine for up to 11x faster machine learning. And up to 20 hours of battery life — the longest of any Mac ever. It’s our most popular pro notebook, taken to a whole new level.”
Now, the copywriter who wrote this could’ve easily written a shorter paragraph. In essence, the message boils down to — “edit faster, with better quality, wherever you are”.
But that’s dull.
It doesn’t excite the reader and it doesn’t turn them into a customer.
Apple users want to buy the Neural Engine and the CPU performance and the twenty hours of battery life.
So, don’t be afraid to get technical if your customers love that aspect of your product.
Make technical features tangible.
Apple does a great job explaining its technical lingo through copy. Let’s take for example their MacBook Pro landing page and how they show how fast their new M1 chip is.
I guess the new chip has “…16 billion transistors…”. That’s certainly impressive, but I have no idea how a transistor looks like. Neither have a seen one billion of something, let alone sixteen times that.
So, Apple gives more graspable numbers. Their speed comparisons are based on apps their customers use every day to code, edit, or design.
That way “16 billion transistors” becomes more real.
Position the product in the customer’s life.
One of my favorite things I’ve seen time and time again on Apple landing pages is how effortlessly they place products in the life of their clients.
Most companies are too busy flexing their muscles, while Apple just shows how sexy their phones look in your hand, and how sleek that laptop is on your coffee table.
Get the person sitting on the other side of the screen to picture what it’s like owning the product.
With technology everywhere around us, there’s no excuse to not take advantage of it. Implementing VR or 3D renders can be done easily without really breaking the bank.
Give people the opportunity to explore the product.
Apple copywriters write with the flow in mind. It doesn’t matter if you’re scrolling their Mac Pro page, or their iPhone page, they all follow the same logic.
And that logic is deeply rooted in the philosophy of letting the user explore the product.
You get to witness their laptops getting disassembled right in front of your eyes as you scroll. This is memorable. It creates attachment to the product. You know every single piece of it.
It also shows all features in action. You can see the 4K retina display and the M1 chip and the twenty-hour battery. It’s all there. In front of your eyes.
Tie in your product with other products in your ecosystem.
And finally, the last thing Apple does that stands out to me is how they tie in their product with other products in their ecosystem.
They do it all throughout the page, kind of soft-selling their products, and they hit you in the face with a hard sell at the bottom.
My final thoughts on landing page copywriting.
As hard as writing landing page copy is, it all boils down to a solid process and overall fit in the business strategy.
Research your customers. Use their words. And do all that in a clever, punchy and memorable way.
And memorable copy isn’t about going long form. It’s about being helpful and selling the right thing, to the right person, using the right words.
If you want to receive regular (two or three times a month) examples about kick-ass landing pages and marketing campaigns, drop me your email right here.