Firing (copywriting) bullets

There’s an art to bullet points.

Whether they’re being used in an email or on a sales page, their value, when written well, is undeniable.

Today’s topic of conversation was inspired by a Tweet talking about this very thing.

Max Bernstein Tweeted:

To which I replied:

Intrinsically, we know this to be true.

How do you (typically) read sales pages and emails?

You skim them.

Readers look for headers, bolded text, and bullet points that will quickly help them determine what the important text is and whether or not they want to invest more time in learning about whatever it is they’re reading.

Bullet points become even more important when we consider that the average email is read for 13.4 seconds.

Here’s the accumulative data from 2011-2018 on read times.

The takeaway message here is that you need to capture your reader’s attention, and you need to do it quickly.

When it comes to marketing a client’s product or service, I’ve found it best to list off pain points in bulleted form.

Here’s an example of a series of bulleted pain points that people are experiencing when they call an HVAC company for help

Are you tired of living in a home that:

• Is too humid in the summertime

• Is too cold in the wintertime

• Has condensation build up on the windows

• Has a different temperature in each room and floor

• Has mold in damp rooms and closets

• Has an outdated home comfort system

• Is hard to have a comfortable night’s sleep

If you answered yes to any of those points, book your free consultation with one of our expertly trained technicians today!

The goal here is to get the reader to book a consultation, obviously. But to get the reader to a point, mentally, where they’re convinced they need to book the consultation, we first have to speak to whatever problems they’re experiencing.

We need to meet the reader where they’re at in the buying process.

How to write good bullet points

There are tactics you can use to write good bullet points for your reader. And by good, I mean to say that these bullet points should resonate with the reader quickly.

Here are some tips:

1. Keep it simple: Get to the point of the bullet point as quickly, and with as few words, as possible

2. Bolding: Sometimes, bolding can happen at the beginning on a point (like I’m doing here), and other times, it can be used to highlight the trigger word you want your reader to see (like I did up top).

3. Keywords: Use keywords that your reader will pick up on and make those the focus of each bullet point. These keywords are often called “Voice of Customer”.

4. Don’t overdo it: Keep your list between 3-8 points and keep your points short. Again, people have a short attention span so cater to that.

The cherry on top of your great bullet points is, of course, the call to action (CTA).

You want the reader to transition from, “Oh my gosh, this is ME” to “What do I do next? in a seamless fashion.

Your CTA can follow the same premises that your bullet points did.

If you CTA is a button, make it stand out from the rest of the copy.

On that not, I hope this week’s email was helpful.

Talk soon,Andrew | @apdonovan1990