Copy without fluff.

What sales copy is

Sales copy for a website is not a string of "buy" and "call now", but text that helps a person make a decision: what you offer, whether it suits them, how much it costs, why they can trust you and what to do next. If any of these questions goes unanswered, the visitor leaves to look for the answer at a competitor's. Fluff is anything that takes up space without answering these questions.

Writing such text is harder than it seems, partly because people hardly ever read it from start to finish. Eye-tracking studies by Nielsen Norman Group, carried out in 2006 and repeated in 2017, showed that people scan web pages more often than they read them word by word. So sales copy is both content and structure: headings, lists and highlights that make the meaning clear at a glance.

What to gather before you write

Good copy starts not at the keyboard but with facts. Before the first line, collect:

• Who the customer is and what problem brings them. Not "women aged 25-45" but a situation: "the neighbours flooded the flat, the damage needs to be assessed".
• Customer questions. Ask your managers and look through the correspondence: what do people clarify before buying? Every frequent question is a ready-made block for the page.
• Objections. Why people do not buy: too expensive, too long, afraid of making a mistake, "I'll ask someone first".
• Facts about the company. Deadlines, guarantees, how the work is organised, what documents the customer receives. Only what can be confirmed.
• What sets you apart. A clearly stated advantage is the basis of the first screen. How to find it, we covered in our article on how to formulate a unique selling proposition.

Sales copy for a website: in what order to answer

The order of the blocks follows the customer's train of thought. For a service page it is usually:

1. The first screen: what you do, for whom and the main advantage - in the heading; one or two pieces of proof and a button - below it.
2. Who it is for: situations and tasks in which the customer recognises themselves.
3. What is included and how the work goes: stages, timelines, what is required from the customer.
4. The price - exact, "from", or with an explanation of what it depends on.
5. Proof: examples of work, reviews, photos, documents, guarantees.
6. Answers to objections - often as questions and answers.
7. The next step: a form, a phone number, a messenger - and what happens after the request.

Each block answers one question and starts with the answer, not with a lead-in. Nielsen Norman Group recommends putting the most important points in the first two paragraphs, starting subheadings with the words that carry the most information, highlighting key phrases and using bullet lists. The call to action at the end should be specific: not "leave a request" but "send us a photo and we'll estimate the cost within an hour", if that is really how you work. More on wording in our article on the call to action on a website.

How to cut the fluff

Fluff is any phrase whose removal does not change the meaning. The test is simple: cross out a sentence and reread the paragraph. If nothing is lost, the sentence was unnecessary. The most common culprits are:

• Introductions about nothing: "Welcome to our website", "Our company is developing dynamically".
• Clichés: "an individual approach", "a team of professionals", "a wide range of services". Replace each one with a fact that can be checked.
• Bureaucratese: "we carry out the performance of installation works" simply means "we install". A verb instead of a chain of nouns makes the text shorter and clearer.
• Adjectives instead of figures: "fast", "affordable", "reliable". If you have a real deadline, price or guarantee, state it.
• Text about yourself instead of about the customer: "we", "our", "us" in every sentence. Rephrase in terms of what the customer gets.

Here is what this looks like in one paragraph from a cleaning company. Before: "We are a team of professionals with many years of experience who will solve your problem quickly and to a high standard." After: "We come to clean on the day you call and use our own products and equipment. If we miss something, we redo it free of charge within 24 hours." In the second version every statement can be checked, and each one answers a question the customer would ask anyway. Of course, you can only write this way if it is true of your company.

A separate note on the words "best", "first" and "number one". In advertising, according to an explanation by the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of Russia, they are allowed only with a specific comparison criterion that is objectively confirmed. Even if the text on your website does not count as advertising, the logic is the same: a superlative without proof reads as an empty promise.

Trust: what to back your words with

Even clear copy does not sell if people do not believe it. Proof should sit next to the promises, not on a separate page:

• a deadline - next to the stages of work and what might shift it;
• quality - next to examples of work and the terms of the guarantee;
• the price - next to what the work includes, so it is clear what the customer pays for;
• reviews - with the task and the result, not just "I liked everything";
• the company - real people, an address, company details; what else to say about yourself is covered in our article on the "About us" page.

Search engines look at text in a similar way. In its guidance on helpful content, Google contrasts material written primarily for people with text made to attract search traffic, and suggests asking yourself whether the text offers original information and whether readers will learn enough to achieve their goal. Key phrases are still needed, but in natural form - in headings, the first paragraph and meta tags. How to write a title and description so the page gets noticed in search results, we covered separately.

How to check the copy before publishing

1. The first-screen test. Show the page to someone outside the company for a few seconds and ask what you offer and to whom. If the answer is vague, rewrite the heading.
2. Reading by headings. Skim only the headings and highlighted text: they should add up to the full picture.
3. Fact check. Every figure, deadline and guarantee should be backed by a contract or practice. An inaccurate figure lets the customer down and undermines trust in everything else.
4. Phone. Open the page on a smartphone: a paragraph that looks fine on a monitor turns into a wall of text on a small screen.
5. Reading aloud. Wherever you stumble, there is bureaucratese or an overly long sentence.

After publication, copy is checked with numbers: set up goals in Metrica and compare the share of leads before and after the edits over comparable periods. If the page needs not a rewrite but a rebuild together with its structure, that is a job for website development.

In short

• Sales copy answers the customer's questions: what, for whom, how much, why trust you and what next.
• Facts come first: customers' tasks, their questions, objections and what sets you apart.
• The order of blocks follows the customer's train of thought, with the main point at the start of each block.
• Fluff is anything that can be crossed out without losing meaning: clichés, bureaucratese, adjectives instead of figures.
• Put proof next to promises.
• Test the copy on an outsider, on a phone and against goals in Metrica.

Frequently asked questions

How long should sales copy be?

There is no standard. The text should answer the customer's questions - and stop. For a simple service that may be one screen; for an expensive and complex one, a long page with stages and answers to objections.

Can sales copy be written with a neural network?

A neural network can help with a draft and the structure, but it has nowhere to get your facts, figures, examples and differences from - those come from the company. Without these details the text comes out smooth and empty, which is exactly what you need to get away from.

Should prices be listed?

Preferably. A "from" price or an explanation of what makes up the cost is better than "call us and we'll calculate": people want to understand the order of magnitude before they call.

Who should write the copy - a copywriter or someone from the company?

Ideally both together. The employee knows the product and the customers' questions; the copywriter knows how to turn that into a clear structure. Copy written without talking to the specialists almost always comes out generic.