I remember when I started copywriting 6 years ago, it was about opening an empty white doc and trying to fill it up with the best copy and ideas I can come up with.
In 2021, that’s not the case anymore.
I’ve witnessed the transformation of copywriting. It went from being only a brain-juice activity to the marketing technology era that includes tools and software.
Today, with the advancement of marketing technology, copywriting became a mix of
- Brain-juice: Personal and technical copywriting knowledge
- Using the right tools: Utilizing software to increase productivity and streamline your copywriting
In this, you’ll learn about both because I’m covering:
- 8 Copywriting tools to use in 2021
- 5 Copywriting techniques and formulas that I personally use
- Email subject line copywriting: Get your emails opened
- Call to action copywriting: Write CTAs that gets clicked
- Blog copywriting: How to write conversational copy
Let’s get busy!
8 Copywriting Tools to use in 2021
1. Grammarly
Poor grammar and spelling mistakes are the worst enemies of a good copy.
Even if you have the best product or service in the market, no one will trust it if your messages are filled with grammar and spelling mistakes.
Sometimes such mistakes are not made intentionally.
Regardless of your language level, I recommend using Grammarly as a tool that checks your copy and highlights the mistakes you’ve made.
It’s an excellent, free Chrome, Safari, and Firefox extension that checks your spelling and grammar on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Gmail, G-Doc, WordPress, and almost everywhere else on the web.
The Grammarly extension scans your text for all types of grammatical mistakes and improvements.
It highlights your copy’s problematic words or expressions and offers you replacements and explanations for all your mistakes.
If you’re using the premium version of Grammarly, you can set up the settings and goals of your copy, so the extension recommends corrections and improvements to help you achieve your copy’s goals.
2. Thesaurus.com
Having variety in your choice of words is extremely important. Yet, sometimes it’s challenging to come up with the proper expression.
Especially when the language you write in is not your mother tongue.
That’s when having a thesaurus by your side or in the next tab pays off. Use it to find synonyms, antonyms, or just look up definitions.
As a copywriter, you need to diversify your vocabulary. One exercise that I was personally doing when I started writing for marketing purposes, is that every day I learn a new word that I didn’t know before and use it in my copy.
By the end of the month, you’ll be surprised by how many new words you can use to avoid repetition or make your copy more compelling.
3. Subject Line Tester
After writing an email subject line for your campaign, do you want to get a prediction on how it would perform?
Mizy’s AI will help you write the best-performing subject lines for your email campaigns. You can also test different versions of the same subject line to learn which one would work best.
It’s free, easy to use, and it takes only a few minutes to score your subject lines and put your copywriting skills into practice.
Get better open rates using Mizy’s Free Email Subject Line Tester today, I mean it’s free!
4. Headline Analyzer
Coming up with an awesome headline for your amazing copy is not easy. Especially if you’d like that headline to drive traffic, shares, and search results. That’s what CoShedule’s Headline Analyzer promises.
The guys over at CoSchedule put a lot of resources into researching what makes an awesome headline.
And put all that in one easy-to-use analyzer. You have to type or copy your headline into the field, click ‘Analyze Now’ and it gives you an easily digestible report.
At first glance, you’ll see an overall headline score and tips on how to improve your title.
Running titles by your supervisor or boss leaves you with opinions.
So using this tool eliminates biased opinions or ideas and scores your headline and provides valuable insights.
5. Hemingway App
The Hemingway App tells you valuable information about your copy. Among basic info like letter, character, word, sentence, and paragraph count it also shows you the reading time and the grade level.
BUT, the real value of this app is that it highlights common writing mistakes with a different color so you know what to fix.
- Yellow means that the sentence is hard to read
- Red means that the sentence is very hard to read
- A purple highlight tells you that a word has a simpler alternative
6. Read-able by WebPageFX
As the name would suggest Read-able is a readability test tool that uses widely accepted readability formulas to evaluate your copy’s readability.
All you have to do is paste your content URL or text and click “Calculate readability” and you’ll receive a report similar to this one below.
I’m sure you’re not writing content that you’re mailing to people. So if your content is getting published somewhere online make sure to test it for readability.
With the increase of mobile users, your content must be readable on both devices, desktop and mobile.
7. RhymeZone
RhymeZone will leave your mind blown! It’s actually one of my favorite tools.
It helps you find rhymes, synonyms, sentences, and so much more.
It’s a tool that keeps your copy cool, maybe it should be taught in school because it lets you write copy that makes readers drool.
Oh wow, that just happened! I used Rhymezone to demonstrate to you how to create a copy that has weight.
Okay, enough rhyming, for now, you get my point.
Use RhymeZone, because poetry isn’t the only thing that calls for some rhyming. Whenever you’d like to spice your copy up with some rhyming words give it a go.
8. Jarvis.ai
We live in a time where the world is evolving at an unprecedented rate.
Technology has become so advanced that we can now automate tasks like copywriting and marketing message generation.
Jarvis.ai is a tool that can help you write faster, more compelling marketing messages for your business with less effort on your part.
Jarvis.ai is one of the many tools that can help you become more productive, and marketing messages are just some of its areas of expertise.
The tool uses an artificial intelligence engine to generate unique content for your business in any industry or niche: it’s a great copywriting assistant.
And I highlight the part of assistant because if you don’t have the necessary knowledge to write compelling marketing messages for your business, then Jarvis.ai will not magically save the day – but it can definitely help.
It includes copywriting formulas that I cover in the next section, and takes into consideration your input to generate relevant copy that you can use for:
- Blog articles
- Email copy
- PPC ads
- Press release
Personally, I use Jarvis to overcome writers’ block.
So if you struggle with copywriting or even coming up with ideas for your business from time to time, this tool might just be the answer you need.
Now let’s cover 5 copywriting techniques and formulas that I use daily as a copywriter.
5 Copywriting Techniques and Formulas that I Personally Use
1. B.A.B: Before, After, Bridge
“Before, after, bridge” is one of the top used copywriting techniques. It helps you be relatable to the reader and get them to imagine the outcome of using your product or service.
It mainly consists of the following:
Before – You present a problem the reader might be experiencing.
After – You show how implementing your product or service will solve that problem, and provide value to them.
Bridge – You introduce your product or service and how it helps the reader solve their problem.
Though this technique can be time-consuming, it will allow you to have a more personal connection with the reader and improve conversion rates.
This technique is used to keep their attention on what they just learned from reading about your product/service and also make sure they know exactly what you want from them as an outcome after reliving the situation at hand through this copywriting technique.
Here is an example of Before, After, Bridge:
Before – You are frustrated because it takes you a whole week to write and publish a blog post.
After – Imagine if you can write and publish a blog post in 1 day and use the rest of the week to engage your customers and focus on the more important stuff.
Bridge – There are many ways you can achieve that, read our copywriting guide and use the recommended tools to save your time and speed up your copywriting process.
Smooth isn’t it?
Think of all the problems that your product or service can solve, then accordingly use this framework to craft compelling messaging that you can use on:
- Your website sales pages
- Your blog articles
- PPC ads
- Emails
2. AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
The AIDA framework is very useful for getting your readers hooked.
It keeps their attention on your content by making sure they understand what’s in it for them and why they should care about this particular message from you.
This technique consists of:
Attention – Summarizing the problem or pain point that triggered their interest in reading further down into your content.
Interest – Showing how potential customers can benefit if they use your product/service (motive).
Desire – You have to build up desire inside the reader with a call-to-action at the end of each paragraph where you ask questions like, “Are you ready for more?” or “What are other benefits that can come from using our product/service?”.
Action – You have to make them take the next step, which is performing the desired action.
This copywriting framework has been used by marketers and business owners in order to get major conversion rates when sending emails promoting their products/services. Make sure you apply this technique before writing something new!
3. PAS: Problem, Agitate, Solution
The PAS framework is used in order to get the reader’s attention and make them understand what problem they are facing right now.
It works by:
Problem – You have to be very specific when stating a problem that your audience might be experiencing or has experienced before, which will allow you to build up empathy with your readers.
Agitate – Once you’ve stated the problem, it’s time for you to rant about how awful their current situation is (agitating).
Solution – You introduce your product/service and discuss all the benefits of implementing this solution to solve the problem.
This copywriting technique can also work if done properly because not only does it show them clearly where their problems lie, but it also motivates them to take action and implement your product/service.
Now let’s get into another copywriting technique that you should be using today!
4. FAB: Feature to Advantage to Benefit
A lot of products, especially technical ones fail at explaining their product in a language that anyone can understand.
Sometimes it’s because the product is very technical, or simply the copy is written by someone with a technical background.
The average reader who’s frustrated, usually looking for a solution that speaks to them directly and solves their issue. Not a technical description that they can’t get the hang of, and ends up bouncing them back.
For that, the FAB formula comes in handy.
This formula is designed to make technical products, features, services easier to understand from readers’ perspective.
Let’s take the example of a car company that wants to highlight the ABS breaks feature. Here is how it would go.
| Feature | Advantage | Benefit |
| ABS breaks. | Faster more responsive breaks. | Safer trips for you and your family. |
For instance, if you’re a parent driving your kids to school every day. Do you care if it’s ABS brakes or other types?
What you care most about is the safety of yourself and your kids.
And for that, using the FAB formula makes your messaging more understandable by any reader regardless of their background.
Make a table like the one above, list all your features for each one, write advantage and benefit.
I personally do this with every product/service I’m writing for, and I call it translating features.
Your audience might not speak features, but they definitely speak advantage and benefits 😉
5. The “You” technique
The “You” technique is all about addressing the reader directly, like saying “you”, which is a great way of building up empathy with your readers because it makes sure they know exactly who you’re writing for.
It also helps with increasing conversion rates by making them feel as if you are talking just to them in order to convert at this very moment.
This technique is used by many copywriters, including me.
It’s true that you’re not having a direct in-person conversation with your readers, but by using the “You” technique, you make your copy more conversational and your readers would feel included.
Email Subject Line Copywriting: Get Your Emails Opened
The first thing your readers will see when they receive an email is the subject line.
Right after your email deliverability, the subject line is the number one element that influences your email open rate.
The trick is to get the reader interested by telling them what they will learn or how your email content benefits them.
You can also use curiosity and storytelling in your subject line copywriting to attract recipients’ attention.
Your email open rate depends on a lot of factors, but as a copywriter, you shouldn’t neglect this one.
A mistake a lot of copywriters make is that they spend hours writing an email while just 1 minute to write a subject line.
It’s just wrong because your subject line is literally the gate that gets people to read your beautiful email copy.
These are the different components I see again and again in top-performing email subject lines:
- Self-Interest
- Curiosity
- Offer
- Urgency/Scarcity
- Humanity
- News
- Social Proof
- Story
To put your email subject line into the test, use Mizy Subject Line Tester to score and get an overview of how good your copy is.
Call to Action Copywriting: Write CTAs That gets Clicked
The call-to-action is an important part of copywriting. A good CTA should be relevant to the desired goal.
Be clear, concise, and have a strong emphasis on one main point. Which is obviously the action you want your readers to click.
Use emotionally driven words like ‘Discover’ or ‘Reveal’.
Avoid generic CTA copy like ‘Click here’ or ‘Submit’.
A strong CTA is the difference between a click and no clicks at all. It should always be accompanied by an enticing visual to make readers want to engage with your content.
Using persuasive copywriting techniques, like including power words that will get your message across effectively can boost conversions for when you need people to take action.
Blog Copywriting: How to Write Conversational Copy
Blog articles are long-format content and no one likes reading boring content that doesn’t hook them.
Why would you not finish a book that you already started? Simply because it didn’t get you involved in the story.
The same applies to blog articles.
Writing your articles in a conversational way makes the readers feel as if someone is talking to them. Not just words put together but an actual ‘interaction’ exchange between the writer and reader.
Right?
You can make your copy conversational by writing it the same way you speak. There’s no need to use complex or long terms.
Just use the language you use every day in regular conversation.
Also, you should use contractions. So instead of writing “You are” just write “You’re”.
The same applies to:
- We’re
- You’ll
- We’ll
- Wouldn’t
- Couldn’t
This improves the overall readability of your articles and makes them conversational in a way that engages the reader.
No one likes to read articles that look like a Terms & Policies page.
When was the last time you read a terms & policies page?
Yeah, I thought so. Me too.
Do you see what I just did there? I asked you a question.
That’s another way to make your articles conversational. Asking questions gets your readers to think of an answer and react to your content.
You’re not there talking to the reader in person, but you have to give the impression that you’re interacting with them.
Conclusion
Writing effective copy is a true art and it takes practice to master.
With the right tools, you can stay on track while creating content that resonates with your audience.
Remember these copywriting techniques and tools to write copy that makes maximum impact.