Writing & marketing
Clear copy starts with a promise you can keep
Say who the offer is for, what it actually does, and what the reader can do next. Check each claim against the evidence you have before making the wording more persuasive.
Start with the reader’s decision
Imagine someone opening your page between two other tasks. They are trying to decide whether this is relevant, whether they believe you, and whether the next step is worth their time. A grand opening about the future of an industry may not help them answer any of those questions.
Write the plain version first. What does this offer do? Who is it useful for? What would the reader need to know before choosing it? You can work on rhythm and personality after the meaning is clear.
Give the promise a boundary
Suppose you sell a meal-planning notebook. It has a weekly layout, a shopping-list page, and room for notes. Those are facts. “Never waste food again” is a much larger promise. A tidy sentence does not make it true.
A narrower claim can still be inviting. Explain the feature in the context of an ordinary frustration, without inventing a result.
“Plan the week before you reach the supermarket. Keep meals and a shopping list in one notebook.”
Make the next step understandable
A call to action should tell the reader what happens next. “View a sample page” is more informative than a phrase that could mean buying, subscribing, or starting a trial.
Give important conditions enough visibility to help the decision. If the notebook is a digital download, say so before someone expects a parcel. If a service renews monthly, keep that information near the choice to subscribe.
Read it as a person, then test the claim
Read the message aloud. Notice where you would naturally pause, where a sentence needs a second attempt, and where the wording sounds unlike anything you would say to a customer. Replace vague praise with a useful detail.
Then read it more skeptically. Underline every promise, number, deadline, and statement about other people’s results. Keep the supporting evidence beside the draft. If the evidence is missing, narrow the claim rather than adding a disclaimer underneath it.
In the Upworthy headline experiments, more concrete wording attracted more clicks when the alternatives were vague, but fewer when the alternatives were already very specific. The study concerns news headlines, not sales of a notebook. Before testing your own copy, choose the outcome you want to measure and the change you want to compare, rather than assuming that more detail will work better.
Practice writing a clear message someone can act on
Try your response to a fictional conversation, then read the guidance and decide what you would change.
Open the practiceThree starter practices are free. Soulful opens the full library.Sources and limits
The notebook example is fictional. These editorial practices do not guarantee sales or engagement; test claims and outcomes in the actual context where the copy will be used.
- When curiosity gaps backfire: effects of headline concreteness on information selection decisions
Empirical research in a specific information-selection setting, not a universal conversion formula.
- NHS: how we write
Editorial guidance on concrete, clear, concise information.
Published by Leetsoul. Sources checked . Examples are fictional. Read our evidence approach.