Copywriting Tips For Education Companies
Educators are known for being good communicators. You’re able to use language in an adaptable way to suit our audience. You’re able to inspire, inform and provide guidance, but what you often lack is the ability to sell your products and services effectively.
Features are Important, But Benefits Make the Sale
Copywriting provides education providers with the opportunity to put their best foot forward. Good website copy can help position you in your marketplace, and improve your sales no end. As an education copywriter, one of the most common mistakes that I see education companies make is focusing too much on the features of their products or services.
EdTech companies especially, have a natural tendency to focus on the specifications of their product, rather than persuading their audiece with the benefits. Although the features are undoubtedly important, so is the underlying messages used to persuade customers to buy from you.
The team at TutorCruncher do a great job of explaining the benefits of their software in their homepage copy:
Use Subliminal Messaging in Your Copy
Educators often find it difficult to write persuasive copy and sometimes fall into the trap of being too information-heavy. Although customers do like to know all the facts before they buy, subliminal messaging can be an effective way of getting them to buy from you quicker. Subliminal messaging is a message that’s designed to be picked up by the subconscious mind.
Embedded sales messages can be worked into your copy as a suggestive trigger for your customers to make a purchase. They can be used to persuade your customers to complete your call to action in a subtle way, using persuasive, rather than commanding, or passive language.
An example of a subliminal message in education copy might go something like this:
‘Imagine how proud you’ll feel, opening that envelope on results day and seeing all those A passes. Visualise yourself celebrating with your friends and family. Your success starts here. Our revision guides will equip you with all the knowledge you need to make your dream results a reality. Get yours today while stocks last.’
Tug at Their Heartstrings with Emotive Language
Unless your customers feel an emotional connection to your product or service, they’re unlikely to buy. Emotional copywriting can be really persuasive. If you know what makes your customers tick, you can tap into their psyche and encourage them to take action.
Whether we’re aware of it or not, most of our buying habits are based on emotions, rather than logic. We tend to buy things because ‘it feels right’ rather than because ‘it makes sense’. Some good opening lines for introducing emotive language include:
‘You know that feeling when…’
‘How good will you feel when you…’
‘There are very few feelings worse than…’
‘Nobody likes feeling…’
By appealing to your customers’ emotions, you can reinforce familiarity. People are more likely to make a purchase if they feel a sense of familiarity with your brand. Emotive copywriting suggests that you are ‘in tune’ with your customers’needs. Use language that reflects your passion for your product. Words like ‘love’, ‘guarantee’ and ‘effective’ can all stir up the right kind of emotions that encourage people to buy.
Avoid Academic-Speak: Keep Your Language Simple
As an educator, it can be tempting to insert academic words and phrases into your copy as a way of impressing your customers. However, the reality is that very few people are used to reading academic language. Even an academic would find it a struggle to engage with a sales page written in academic-speak.
Academic language can cloud your message and leave the reader confused. Your copywriting should use simple, unambiguous language, so your customers know exactly what you’re offering. One of the best explanations I’ve read on why to avoid academic language in writing comes from persuasive proposal expert Tom Sant in his book Persuasive Business Proposals:
”Within the business, scientific, and academic communities, there seems to be a cultural bias against clarity and simplicity. Some of that may stem from insecurity. Not feeling confident about his or her knowledge, experience, or company reputation, the writer tries to impress the reader with big words, long sentences, and lots of extraneous content… Many of us remember English classes in which ‘good’ writing seemed to be synonymous with big words, complicated syntax, and convoluted thinking.”
– page 94.
Take a look at how the Khan Academy homepage using simple, straightforward language to convey its message:
Have a Clear Call to Action
Keeping your language simple also makes it easier for readers to understand your call to action. What do you want your customers to do after reading your copy? Is the message clear enough? You call to action is arguably, the most important part of your copy, as it instructs your customers to take act.
Calls to action should use a tone of urgency. Perhaps your product or service is limited? Tell your customers exactly how long it will take them to act on your instruction and make it sound quick. When searching for products and services online, it only takes people 23 seconds to decide if they are going to buy from you, so it’s important that you make the process sound easy. A clear, effectively-written call to action might sound something like this:
‘Don’t miss out! Our offer is only available until …. It only takes 17 seconds to buy our revision guide using Paypal (we’ve timed it). All you need to do is click the link below and you’ll be taken to Paypal’s secure payment page.’
The following example from the homepage of online course provider Alison, demonstrates what an effective call to action looks like:
Try using these techniques to improve the copy in your marketing materials. Use simple, straightforward, emotive language with a clear call to action and watch your customer engagement improve and sales increase.
Since 2011, Brand New Copy has been helping education clients grow their online presence, improve their website traffic, and increase their revenue. If you need help with your website copy or content marketing, get in touch at hello@brandnewcopy.com.
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