“Its tool long”
Web copywriters get this feedback all the time
Long vs short copy what is right?
Does shorter copy just work best for SaaS websites? How does copy length affect your conversion rate?
Does long copy bring destruction?
These questions bother even professional copywriters.
In my opinion the best copy should be like a mini skirt as short as possible to catch everyone’s attention and just long enough to cover up what you need to cover.
Keep reading and you’ll find out why.
Long vs Short Copy What Research Says
But before I share it with you let’s see what research says about long vs short copy.
So here we go.
How user read web copy
Research done by Nielsen Norman Group concluded that people don’t read online but scan individual pages picking individual words and sentences.
This shows that the more the copy your page has the less the visitors will read. If you have 1000 words on your page few people will read the whole thing. But if you have one word all visitors will read it.
Compare Basecamp vs Google
79 percent of visitors only scan content on any new page they come across, but 16 percent read EVERY word.
According to Nielson, we should write a short copy that’s fit for the 79 percent but on the other side why should we forget the 16 percent who read every word.
They are more interested in usability.
But here is what usability fails to consider.
How engaging is your copy? You can get an 8-year old to read 1,000 words in 3 days if you are JK Rowling.
How relevant is the copy to the reader? consider the following
“Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail.”
Boring right?
I’ll read all day about my problem and desire but you will have to pay me to read about tourists in Nebraska.
The shocking news is that people don’t want to read bullshit
But the secret is buyers are readers. The 16 percent who will read EVERY word are probably interested in the topic and will end up buying.
Copy vs design which comes first
There is always a big argument between design and copy on which should come first?
We’ve all been there where the design team forces copywriters to cut words in order for them to fit their design.
The big question is what should come first design or copy?
Many SaaS work with designers- first meaning they design everything to look good then leave a small room for copywriters to fill copy.
You are probably familiar with Lorem Ipsum sections that designers leave for copywriters to fill words right?
But what does that mean? They put design first over copy.
But here comes the big news.
A new report by Unbounce verifies the importance of copy over design.
It states that landing page copy is twice as important to conversion rate as your design.
So if you are optimizing your website for conversion then you need to write your copy first and then build a design around the copy.
But if you start with design chances are that you will be overlooking what words can bring. The design keeps your site looking good but remember ONLY words sell.
Why Length of Copy Matters
There are no case studies to prove that short copy is the best and long copy sacks.
The only thing that is there is an argument against another.
In either way, it comes back to the message not the length of the copy. Some message calls for a longer copy while others call for a shorter copy.
The truth is copy length doesn’t cause conversion but the message does.
So if the length doesn’t matter can I write as long as I want right?
Not that way.
First I don’t advocate for wordiness or to muddle or creepy copy. You should account for every word in your copy meaning you should remove all needless words.
The idea is we should stop focusing on the copy’s length but put more emphasis on the messaging and how to move readers to the next action.
But note copy length might not influence conversion but the readability will.
A block of text is a block of text no one will read a wall of text even if the message is right.
To the reader, it appears like work. it’s taking all my time “I’m outta here!” In any case the business doesn’t appear trustworthy.
So even if your message takes 5K words to deliver ensure the basics of readability are followed.
- Short sentence
- Subheadings
- Bullet and number list
- Use of simple words
In short, the overall messaging matters not the length of the copy and that’s what drives conversion.
5 Factors to Consider in your Copy Size Messaging
I’ve researched on five factors affects the size of your copy they include:
- Visitor awareness journey
- Market sophistication
- Intent and motivation of your visitors
- Price, risk, and complexity
- Targeting multiple personas.
Let me break this down for you,
Visitors awareness journey
In the copywriting bible “Breakthrough Advertising” by Eugene Schwartz he introduces the awareness stage as part of the buyer’s journey.
But from my research, I found Copyblogger has summarized the awareness stage more like a spectrum.
Here’s how he summarizes it.
| Awareness level | Position | Copy length |
| Most aware | They already know about your product and are only reading to find the deal. | Ultra short |
| Product aware | They know what you sell but not sure if it’s right for them | Medium |
| Solution aware | They know the solution they want but not aware of the product that provides the solution | Medium-long |
| Problem aware | Your prospect can sense they have a problem but doesn’t know the solution | long |
| Completely unaware: | Your prospect doesn’t have any knowledge of the problem they face. | longer |
On the more aware end of the spectrum, the prospects already know about the product and you don’t have to waste their time telling how good it is.
For instance, if I want Levi’s jeans I already know what I exactly want so Levi’s don’t have to tell me why I need one but get me to buy one.
So a discount and check-out button is what I need. So short and direct copy will work best.
For the not aware end of the spectrum, you have to do more work to convince me to buy.
For example, if you are staring at a TV commercial selling life insurance. You haven’t thought about it, Maybe you have heard about it but don’t know how it works. You also wonder if it’s the right time to own one.
In this case, the copywriter has to take you through a journey that will make you do the following.
- Realize that you have a problem
- Understand that there is a solution to that problem
- See what the solution will deliver or the outcome
- Help you decide the solution find the best choice
- Get you to take action.
In this case, a long copy will work.
In short, the ultimate purpose of web copy is to get the buyer to move to the next step, buy products, subscribe, try a demo or sign up for a free trial.
Market sophistication
How sophisticated is your market? This answers the question if you need a long or short copy.
How many similar products are there in the market?
For example, if you are selling shoes you are selling to a sophisticated market that already knows the benefits of wearing shoes.
In this case, you will go straight to why buy our shoes or why buy our shoes today.
When selling to the sophisticated category you don’t need to sell to the product category but just your product.
Here is another example in 2000 when Salesforce started explaining the importance of cloud-based CRM over physical software. They had a hard time to explain what cloud computing was but now everyone is more aware of cloud computing and knows its benefits.
So initially they used long copy to explain what and why.
The same happened to Crazy Egg; they needed more copy to explain about heatmaps in the early stages. They had to explain what and why heatmaps are good and what they can do.
But as the market matures people become more aware of both cloud computing and heatmaps and some things become obvious which turns to be unnecessary and you don’t have to explain them anymore thus reducing the copy size.
Intent and motivation of visitors
People are motivated to read and find solutions for their immediate problems.
For example, there is usually a spike in selling tax and accounting software in April when people have both legal and financial pressure to submit their tax.
Here prospects look for quick solutions. We can refer to it as the ” hot coal effect”. You could put a lump of hot coal between the prospect and the buy button.
The more motivated your prospect is the less time it takes for you to convince them to convert.
So when your prospect is highly motivated and wants the solutions like yesterday then you should focus on paving a clear way to conversion.
This is by removing unnecessary messages that might distract them or get in their way. Here short copy is the best.
The prospect has landed on your website clinching their credit card and hunting for your BUY NOW button. Your copy objective is to make the process seamlessly easy. What you should ask yourself is.
- What is their intent?
- Are they in a rush?
- Are they reading copy from their phone?
Price, Risk, and complexity
Consider the following two situations.
1. You have been invited to a free webinar by a brand that you know and trust all you need to do is submit your email address to attend.
2. You are the CRO and you’re considering to invest in a 6-figure marketing automation tool.
In the first situation, all you can lose is 20 minutes of your time but in the second situation if you make the wrong decision that leads to a bad purchase you risk losing your job.
If the price, risk, and complexity are high then there are a lot of anxieties, objections, questions, and hesitations that need to be addressed before committing to buy.
In these cases, prospects will be looking for details that can only be addressed with a long copy.
On the other hand, if there is a low risk involved, the price is low then prospects don’t care much so a free trial or a demo can serve well. In this case, a short copy will work well.
Targeting multiple segments and personas
If you are selling to multiple segments and different personas then you are at risk.
Here you will need a smart copywriter who will write to engage every persona that is represented.
Long copy for such multiple segments is tricky it’s easy to get it wrong.
For example, Airtable sells to multiple personas on their homepage they have different sections that cater to the different groups.
To some it’s a CRM tool, to others it’s a project management tool.
In short, the more you say the more likely to say the wrong thing and especially if you are dealing with multiple audiences.
When you have different personas who are competing for your message you may have to specifically sacrifice and have a short copy for each group.
My Final Thoughts
The long vs short copy argument can go a long way.
Many editors will continue to pull the “it’s too long” stand even in the future.
But in my opinion the messaging matters more than the length of the copy.
Don’t forget the sole purpose of web copy is to get the prospect, visitor, or buyer to get to the next step.
So if you can do that in one or two words well and good but also if you need 5k words to build concrete reasons about the problem and give solutions it’s still okay.
There you have it. Subscribe to my newsletter to get the latest e-commerce marketing tips.
Further Reading
