Web Copy Hooks: How to Wow Your Site Traffic

Web copy hooks—you need a real throat-grabber to pique curiosity, maintain attention, and ultimately engage your prospect to the point of conversion.

So how do you create a hook that does all that?

For most people, identifying a conversion-ready hook amounts to one of three ideas.

1. “I know an effective hook when I see one.”

2. “I know the hook is good when sales pour in.”

3. “I split test my content until I get the response I want.”

Even professional copywriters take the approach of “seeing what works,” but there’s a better strategy than throwing pasta at the wall in hopes that something sticks.

There are few things we love more than split testing web content. At the same time, we also know how to create the most compelling hooks beforehand, so we don’t have to shoot in the dark.

Keep these principles for an effective hook in mind so that you save yourself time and energy with hook strategies that work.

Conversation Equals Engagement

Effective hooks happen on the gut-punch level.

Begin your sales letter content or website copy with a conversational tone to achieve that effect. Check out the following example that clearly shows that conversation equals engagement.

Notice how the words speak to the audience on an individual level. The hook copy communicates the way one friend would convey information to another. In other words, the hook explains the problem and results of the solution in a clear way.

Conversational copy comes from a place of empathy and shows that you understand the struggle or specific situation your prospect faces.

Promises Equal Payoff 

Hooks might not always sound believable. Luckily, that’s a quality that hooks prospects through a curiosity-based approach. The old digital marketing mantra explains it best: curiosity gets a click.

The following example reveals a large promise and gives you a compelling reason to check out what comes next.

In this example, the copy promises something wholly amazing—a storybook marriage.

Few people believe in perfect romances, but most people want to achieve it. To leverage this desire, this hook provides a promise so grand that the audience will want to know how it’s possible.

Another example of the “big promise” hook happens right on your Facebook newsfeed.

Connection and engagement on Facebook often begins with “clickbait.” In other words, hooks that make the audience have to see the rest of the content, drive more traffic, and create more engagement (and ultimately higher conversions).

Another way to phrase this: promises equal payoff. The caveat here is that the content needs to explain the promise, and reveal how your product or service will deliver on the pledge.

Clarity Equals Persuasion

No two markets are exactly alike, but in our years of writing persuasive hooks, we’ve learned that confusion is a commonly shared pain point across a variety of markets.

The remedy to confusion is clarity, and the following hook performs that function marvelously.

Notice how the statistic immediately grabs attention. After all, any number over 50% provides cause for a reaction. In this case, the facts are laid bare. The audience knows that they’re about to get a clear answer to a problem that plagues them.

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