As a writer myself and the owner of a writing agency, artificial intelligence (AI) has been after our jobs for a while.
Can it be done cheaper? By a robot? …For less money?
Time and time again, the answer has been no. I even wrote a two-part series a couple years ago for Content Marketing Institute, debunking the myth that robots can write content and replace a real, human, breathing writer.
Today, technology is growing at a faster pace than ever. From manufacturing to rote office tasks, we’re finding AI replaces human workers in practically every industry. Anyone working a rote or repetitive task is quickly seeing him or herself replaced by a machine. In fact, AI expert Kai Fu Lee believes as many as 40 percent of the world’s jobs will one day be automated.
So, as of 2020, could content writing be among them?
With the launch of GPT-3 in May 2020, many people think it’s possible.
Before you panic, however, keep reading. I’m taking a closer look at what GPT-3 is, how it’s causing us to rethink content, and why artificial intelligence will never replace certain activities – particularly those that rely on human creativity.
Ready? Let’s dive in.
[bctt tweet=”Is AI in the form of GPT-3 coming for our content writing jobs in the near future? @JuliaEMcCoy doesn’t think so. Get 5 major reasons why, now on the Write Blog ✅” username=”ExpWriters”]
What Is GPT-3?
GPT stands for “Generative Pre-Trained Transformer.” It’s a language AI created by San Francisco-based tech company OpenAI – backed by, yes, Elon Musk.
GPT-3 is the third edition of GPT, which rolled out in May 2020. In July 2020, OpenAI announced the creation of its waitlist for access. Those encouraged to sign up include entrepreneurs, academic researchers, or members of the general public interested in becoming beta testers.
Transformer-based AI language generators have already been around for a few years, first appearing in 2017. OpenAI GPT appeared in 2018, and the upgrade, GPT-2, was released in February 2019.
Compared to OpenAI GPT, GPT-2 was a sleek and sophisticated model with some 1.5 billion parameters for constructing text. At the time of its release, OpenAI noted GPT-2 was “probably too dangerous to release” but it had “seen no strong evidence of misuse so far.”
GPT-3 is two orders of magnitude more powerful than GPT-2, with 175 billion parameters. It’s better equipped than any other AI model out there to spin out realistic, convincing text.
And it does. Check out this pop song by Taylor Swift about Harry Potter…
Arram Sabeti used GPT-3 to produce numerous pieces of content, including instructional manuals, interviews, and pop songs.
How GPT-3 Works
The GPT-n series uses what’s called an autoregressive language model that makes use of the same deep learning mechanisms found in natural language processing.
(If any of those words sound familiar, it’s because I’ve talked about them briefly before. Google now deploys NLP to better understand search intent – that’s what BERT was all about.)
Let’s break down what all of that means.
An autoregressive language model is a model that attempts to identify the next best word in a string of words based on the ones that come before.
For a very simple example, consider the first line of the Taylor Swift song above.
We know in English that all sentences follow a certain structure: it’s usually something like “subject – verb – object.”
If we start with a subject – the most obvious choice being “Harry” – then we know that the next word needs to be a verb.
Sure, we could shove any verb in there. That’s not how our brains actually work when we’re writing. However, in autoregressive modeling, the algorithm will only consider the word(s) before. Right now, that’s our starting point.
So, Harry. Harry what?
Harry’s got.
Got what?
Glasses.
That “Harry’s got glasses” ended up being the first line is random. It could have just as easily spit out “Harry’s got a scar” or “Harry’s got books.” We’ve clearly been given more data about Harry and his physical features.
As a result, the grammar and context are both correct. The lyrics feel genuine.
That’s a major step up from what AI could do just three years ago when I tested out another model. Given the subject (content marketing) and some basic data about it, the AI returned this brilliant gem of utter nonsense:
The state of AI in 2020 is a whole other level compared to what it was in 2017. Source: CMI.
In 2017, it was much easier to laugh at the idea of AI taking over things like creating news stories, wiki articles and – yes. Web content. But if you’re looking at that Taylor Swift song and getting an uneasy feeling in your stomach, you’re not alone.
Why Some Fear GPT-3 Will Make Writers Obsolete
GPT-3 was specifically built to create realistic, convincing text – and it does exactly that. In fact, some people have already attempted to use it in content writing. Will that make writers in this industry obsolete? Here’s why some people think so:
Early creations are convincing. Early research around GPT-3 has shown it can – and does – generate news articles that human readers have difficulty distinguishing from reality. That makes it one of the most important (if not frightening) advances in AI yet.
GPT-3can seemingly predict the future. Want to predict the future? Maybe tell GPT-3 what’s going on and ask what’s going to happen. Actually, researchers did exactly that, updating the AI about the 2020 pandemic. It accurately predicted which industries would be most affected, and what would happen to the world economy as a result.
But really. If you’re a writer with any skill whatsoever, AI is not coming to take away your job.
Here’s why.
[bctt tweet=”If you’re a writer with any skill whatsoever, AI is not coming to take away your job. Learn 5 reasons why via @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”]
5 Reasons Why Content Writers Aren’t Going Away – Even with GPT-3
In July 2020, Vox described GPT-3’s ability to churn out convincing content as “uncanny.” Arram Sabeti’s experiment likewise raised questions about whether AI could soon be good enough to eliminate the need for human content writers.
The answer? Nope.
1. News Articles and Content Writing Aren’t the Same
AI excels where there’s lots of data that needs crunching and tasks are rote – news article writing satisfies both of these requirements. If you give AI data (facts), and parameters (article structure), you’ll get a news article that reads convincingly.
Content writing isn’t quite the same.
In fact, if you’re doing content writing correctly, it won’t read like a news article. Why?
Content writing requires creativity. And…
2. AI Can’t Replicate Human Creativity
Sure, there’s an entire site dedicated to the creative fiction of GPT-3. But if you read through it, you’ll notice a few distinct things:
It’s formulaic. Whether it’s 50 lines of Tom Swifties or horoscopes for Rick Brown, you’ll notice something if you study them: Sentence and paragraph structures are all exactly the same.
It only sounds great because the data and parameters were great. The examples are all ridiculous because the researchers used ridiculous things to generate the output.
Is that really creativity?
[bctt tweet=”AI won’t replace content writers for a major reason: Writing requires creativity, and AI can’t replicate that. Find 4 more reasons on the Write Blog ” username=”ExpWriters”]
Human-crafted writing varies. Flowing from one sentence to the next, it uses a wide mix of structures and lengths. So far, GPT-3 has shown that’s not super possible. At the end of the day, you can tell.
Content writing isn’t just about putting buzzwords on a page where people are most likely to see them or stuffing articles full of keywords at specific intervals.
In the 2020s, content writing has leveled up. You’re now expected to care about angles, to connect with your readers. To tell stories.
Research overwhelmingly shows that emotional connections work when it comes to converting readers into paying customers. In one study, a major bank successfully improved its conversion rates by 70 percent by rebranding a credit card from an emotional angle.
Good luck getting AI to hook your readers by the heartstrings. It’s an age-old cliché – robots have no heart.
We even have a lot of statistics showing how to do content correctly, especially blogs. But when it comes down to it?
Things that are data-oriented tend to have specific processes, procedures, and methodologies. Content writing – while certain structures might exist – doesn’t really have any of those. It’s still a process that’s unique to the people who are writing it.
Professional content writing is creative, unique, and engaging – NOT stuffy or robotic. Unlearn the bad writing habits you don’t need and absorb the amazing ones you do to stand out: Click here to learn more about the Unlearn Essay Writing course!
Speaking of which…
5. If You Could Be Replaced, You Were Already
If GPT-3 had been rolled out in 2008, content writers would probably be a quaint relic of internet history today.
That’s because in 2008, content writers were robots churning out pages upon pages of poorly written, keyword-laced gibberish designed to win positions in the SERPs.
If that was you, and you never progressed past that level, you’ve been replaced.
But if you kept pace with the industry and learned the skills content writers need today, then you have more work than you know how to handle. Content writers who can tell stories, connect with readers, and inspire conversions are as much in demand as ever.
Exceptional Content Will Always Need a Human Touch
GPT-3 is a fascinating development in the realm of artificial intelligence, and one that holds the potential to change the world. I’ve looked at what it is and why some people in the content writing industry fear that it may one day come for our jobs.
But don’t worry, content writing will always need a human touch because of the unique requirements that robots simply can’t recreate. Keep honing those content creation skills, and always remember to focus on the human – that’s what your readers want.
In need of exceptional writers to handle your content? Check out our content shop and get started with an expert writer today.
Copywriting is a dynamic, valuable trade. Without copywriting, the web itself wouldn’t exist.
Despite its importance, many people still don’t know what copywritingis or what a copywriter does on the daily, typing away behind their computer.
The answer is a lot more complex, yet less confusing than you might think.
So, what does a copywriter do, exactly? ✍ Follow along as we demystify this job description, infographic-style. Consider this a guide to copywriting for beginners.
(Hint: It’s NOT the same thing as “copyrighting.”)
Somebody has to write all of those web pages, blogs, articles, social media posts, emails, and more into existence. The brunt of it falls to copywriters.
However, modern copywriting is a far cry from the original ad copywriting of the ‘50s and ‘60s.
Instead of ads, catchy jingles, and slogans, think blogs. Think helpful, educational, informational, or entertaining content. Instead of print ads or TV, think digital. Think the internet.
[bctt tweet=” Copywriting: Instead of ads, catchy jingles, and slogans, think blogs. Think helpful, educational, informational, or entertaining content. Instead of print ads or TV, think digital. Think the internet.” username=”ExpWriters”]
Looking for a copywriter? Get awesome content for your brand and don’t worry about lifting a finger to hire a writer.See our rates and offerings in the Content Shop. Over 40,000 successfully completed projects to date.
Copywriting vs. Content Writing
Copywriters create copy AND content for clients.
Is there a difference? Yes.
Copywriting is the art of writing copy.
Copy refers to any piece of text written to move the reader to some sort of action.
You’ll find copy on landing pages, sales pages, and product pages. You’ll also see it in use via calls-to-action – snippets of text calling the reader to act – which can show up in blogs and social media posts/ads.
Content writing is the art of writing content.
Content refers to any piece of text written to inform, educate, guide, or entertain the reader.
Content usually is NOT sales-oriented. Instead, its purpose is to provide value to readers, which builds trust and loyalty over time.
Who Needs a Copywriter?
Businesses and organizations
Entrepreneurs and personal brands
Anyone who needs engaging, impactful, targeted, results-driven copy or content written for their online platform
What Does a Copywriter Do?
Copywriters aim to INFORM, ENGAGE, IMPACT, or PERSUADE target audiences with WRITTEN COPY and/or CONTENT.
Writing to move people to step into a business’s marketing life cycle.
Writing to position a business or organization as an authority in their field or industry, using that business’s voice and tone.
Writing to cultivate loyalty and trust among targeted readers.
The Copywriter Job Description
What does a copywriter do? When it comes to content and copy, a little bit of everything:
Content writing – Writing content that informs, educates, or inspires.
Copywriting – Writing copy that moves the reader to action.
Researching – Vetting topics, keywords, and sources to use in the content or copy. Learning and adopting the correct, client-approved tone and writing style.
Editing & proofreading – Tweaking and refining grammar, style, and punctuation for readability, accuracy, and to match the brand voice.
Managing content projects – Ideating content, pitching topics, writing, editing, revising, and working with other content creators (content strategists, editors, graphic designers, content managers, etc.) to get pieces publish-ready.
[bctt tweet=”What does a copywriter do? When it comes to content and copy, a little of everything: Content writing, copywriting, researching, editing & proofreading, & managing content projects.” username=”ExpWriters”]
The Copywriter: A Jack-of-All-Trades
Most copywriters have the knowledge and expertise to write at least a handful of these types of copy and content:
When a copywriter works in-house, they work for one specific company and create copy/content FOR that company. More often than not, they work in an office.
A freelance copywriter works on their own steam or for an agency. They may serve many different clients across various industries. Most freelancers work remotely.
The 7 Essential Skills Every Copywriter Needs
Cultivate these skills and learn how to become a better copywriter. They’re the foundation of what every copywriter does.
1. Content Creation Fundamentals – Creating compulsively readable online content in various formats for multiple platforms, like blogs and social media
2. Writing Craft & Creativity – Changing up word choice, tone, and POV to engage different audiences
3. SEO – Optimizing copy and content to get indexed in search with SEO best-practices
4. Conversions – Understanding how certain words and phrases come together to create ultra-persuasive messages that inspire people to act
5. Communication – Knowing how to communicate ideas effectively – and understanding how to make complex topics easy to grasp
6. Online Research & Sourcing – Finding the best sources to use in a client’s content to support claims, including compelling stats and data, and knowing how to link and cite correctly
7. Editing & Proofreading – Cutting the fluff to get to the meat of the message, and knowing the correct style and grammar to use in every writing situation
[bctt tweet=”7 skills every copywriter needs: 1️⃣ Content creation fundamentals 2️⃣ Writing craft & creativity 3️⃣ SEO 4️⃣ Conversions 5️⃣ Communication 6️⃣ Online research & sourcing 7️⃣ Editing & proofreading” username=”ExpWriters”]
How to Break into Copywriting: 5 Tips to Nab Your First Gig or Client
What can you do to break into copywriting? Buckle down and…
1. Practice, Practice, Practice
Practice your writing craft. Read all you can, write whenever you can.
2. Prove Yourself
Create a portfolio of writing projects and samples you’ve completed. (No projects to your name yet? Imagine your ideal client/assignment, and write for them.)
3. Take Unpaid Writing Projects for Experience
Take on unpaid work in your free time. Help out family and friends with your skills, then add those projects to your portfolio.
4. Use the Right Resources and Keywords
Search for jobs on Google, Indeed.com, LinkedIn, and other job sites. Use keywords like “content writing,” “copywriter,” “content marketing writer,” and “freelance writer.”
5. Never Stop Learning
Keep improving your writing skills. Take online copywriting courses, read mountains of books, and follow content writers you want to emulate.
Get awesome content for your brand website right here in our Content Shop. Sign up as a new client today and give us a test run. Over 20,000 successfully completed projects to date.
This post was originally published in March 2014 and completely updated in August 2020.
SEO, SMO, CMO, UXO, CRO… What does it all even mean?
It’s another one of those alphabet soups that digital marketers love, but make the rest of us want to pull out our hair.
However, if you look closely, you might notice something. Each of these acronyms has something in common.
It’s one word: optimization… Something else that digital marketers love.
Whether it’s the user experience, the search engine rankings, or the conversion rate of a website, savvy digital marketers will attempt to optimize anything and everything.
We’re going to focus on that last one right now: conversion rates.
According to research by Wordstream, the average conversion rate for a website hovers around 3%. But the top 10% of any given industry will demonstrate conversion rates of 11.45%.
How do you aspire to that jaw-dropping percentage?
You use one of the most powerful yet underrated tools in digital marketing: conversion rate optimization.
Let’s explore!
[bctt tweet=”What is CRO, or conversion rate optimization? It’s the process of tweaking your website & content to generate better conversions from existing traffic. In other words, convince them to ACT! More on the Write Blog ➡” username=”ExpWriters”]
What Is CRO in Marketing?
CRO stands for conversion rate optimization. According to HubSpot, it’s the process of adjusting your website and content to generate greater conversions from the traffic already landing on it.
Most forms of marketing focus on improving site traffic, generating better quality leads, or positioning your brand in front of your target audience. These are all important activities, but they’re only half of the marketing puzzle.
We’ve all clicked through to sites doing an amazing job marketing themselves with edgy social media posts, only to find ourselves not sold enough to commit once we’re on the landing page. This happens because the brand focused on external marketing and hasn’t optimized the user experience for conversion.
Just because you’ve attracted an audience doesn’t mean they’re showing up with cash in hand, ready to buy. In fact, only a small percentage of people who land on your site will go through with a transaction, whether it’s completing a transaction or signing up for a newsletter:
Lots of people will view your site. A handful of them will even put things into their cart, but only a sliver will go through with the sale. Source: Crazy Egg.
CRO is all about bumping up that 3.3% to a higher number by taking immediate, metric-oriented steps on your site. It’s a simple, powerful, and overlooked strategy for generating greater revenue.
No fiddling with keywords or social media settings required.
What It Really Means to Convert
Let’s talk about conversion real quick. In the simplest terms, a conversion happens when we turn one thing into another. In marketing, conversion specifically refers to people who engage in a specific desired activity that furthers your business goals. For example:
Curious readers into avid subscribers
Digital window shoppers into paying customers
Early-stage buyers into account holders
The mechanism by which you attract and convert your target audience into customers is called the sales funnel. Conversion is often considered the final step in the funnel, but you can have several smaller conversions along the way as a user moves from being a curious onlooker to a paying customer.
However, not every action a user takes represents a conversion. Conversion is not:
People clicking through from the search engine or social media to your site
People clicking around on your website
Although they’re both desirable actions, neither of these behaviors indicate that a user is moving closer to subscribing or purchasing from you.
CRO vs. SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s the process of analyzing and optimizing your digital presence to improve your position in Google so your target readers can find you. Typically, SEO focuses on things like keywords, metadata, and content structure to boost site traffic and get noticed by potential customers.
SEO gets mixed up with CRO a lot, but the two do have quite a bit in common. In fact, it’s a good idea to focus on both as they work well together. In both cases, you’ll focus on:
Well-written, expert content that both elevates your standing in Google and improves conversion rates.
Optimized headlines, meta descriptions, and technical SEO to entice potential customers and improve the user experience.
Page layout. Well-designed pages are helpful from more than just a human perspective. They also help Google index your page and provide the most useful featured snippets.
Why CRO Matters If You Want to Succeed
Obviously, presenting a compelling user experience is important because it leads to more revenue for your brand. However, there are a few other reasons you should spend more time with CRO if you aren’t already:
1. Content Marketing Has Become the Dominant Form of Advertising Online
If you’re relying on paid outbound marketing like PPC or sponsored posts, you’re at risk of falling behind. These days, pretty much all digital marketing takes the form of content marketing. That’s an approach to marketing that emphasizes the creation of helpful, engaging content that provides your target audience with the answers they’re already searching for in Google.
It’s not enough to simply have a great product and assume your customers think you’re the obvious choice. Your customers have a lot of choices, and they want you to demonstrate your authority on the matter.
Question: Do you know HOW to demonstrate your authority using incredible content marketing? It’s time to learn. Check out my Content Strategy & Marketing Course to get the serious skills you need to make it happen.
2. CRO Forces You to Study and Adapt to Your Customers
The impressions you make on customers – often the first ones – heavily determine your conversion rates. That might seem like an obvious statement, but you’d be surprised as to how frequently this gets overlooked online.
How many times have you ever clicked onto a site and been put off by the colors, the font, or something else entirely?
According to psychology, the brand has about a tenth of a second to make a first impression.
That’s why a one-second page delay can decrease conversion rates by as much as 7 percent, or why simply changing the color of a button can increase conversion rates by 21 percent.
In the sea of content your readers sail upon every day, it’s also why 94 percent of marketers see personalization as vital to success.
But you aren’t going to know why people are clicking away unless you’ve taken the time to unravel the mysteries of customer behavior. Even worse, you may change the wrong thing and send those conversion rates plummeting further.
Signs You Need CRO for Your Site Right Now
So – you’ve done everything right. You’ve got great content on a well-planned site. Your product descriptions are the bomb. You’ve made it super easy for people to check out and you’ve got one hilarious newsletter that keeps your audience engaged.
Think you don’t need CRO? You’re dead wrong, especially if any of these signs apply to you:
You’re getting lots of traffic, but low or declining conversions. So, people are finding you. Your Google Analytics dashboard looks fantastic. Yet, sales are trickling in. That indicates something is going wrong in your funnel just before conversion, and you need to fix it.
You can’t identify where people fall out of the funnel. You’ve got half-finished signups, abandoned carts, unsubscribes galore… But you can’t spot any pattern to it all. That indicates a lack of analytics tools, and possibly a lack of understanding about the customer journey.
Consumer psychology is a new concept for you. Most of marketing hinges on understanding consumer behavior. You can’t sell to people you don’t understand.
Your website still looks exactly how you designed it… Six years ago. In 2014, mobile-optimized design was still considered cutting edge. In 2020, about 67 percent of the world accesses the web via a mobile device… And they aren’t going to waste their time on your site if it doesn’t work.
You’ve just revamped your site or are in the process of updating it. Is it “new decade, new site” time in your neck of the woods? Make sure to include someone on your development team who knows about CRO and start off with a high-converting web presence.
Customers are complaining. They might not be complaining to you, but they’re still complaining. If you’ve recently come across a Reddit post or a Yelp review talking about how difficult it is to do anything on your site, it’s time to get it looked at and optimized.
[bctt tweet=”Barriers to conversion rate optimization: ❌Requiring registration from users to access content or complete a purchase ❌Burying information like shipping charges ❌Overwhelming customers with forms. More on the Write Blog:” username=”ExpWriters”]
6 Strategies and Best Practices for CRO in Marketing
Optimizing your site for maximum conversion rates is the single most important thing you can do to improve your brand’s viability. Sometimes, all it takes is just a few tweaks to dramatically improve your audience’s response to the experience you create for them.
Unlike SEO or other forms of optimization, CRO can have immediate effects for minimum effort. That might sound too good to be true, but it’s not!
Here are six things you can do today to optimize your conversion rates and transform more readers into paying customers.
1. Identify Your Metrics Before Getting Started
Like much of digital marketing, CRO is metric-oriented and data-driven. You need this information to understand exactly what your customers are doing at any given moment while they’re interacting with your digital presence. Otherwise, you’ll be completely blind with no way to tell if any of the changes you’ve made are actually effective.
You want to track metrics that give you a good sense of how your users are interacting with your site across the board. A few I particularly like include:
Exit rate/time on site. This will tell you how long users are spending on your site before they leave it entirely. You may also want to track interactions per visit.
Cart abandonment rate. Are users filling up their carts, and then walking off without checking out? Find out how often this happens by tracking the abandonment rate.
Bounce rate. Unlike time on site, a bounce rate tracks single-page sessions. In other words, how many users are viewing only a single page before leaving?
Click-through rates. This will give you a sense of how many qualified leads are actually coming to your site.
Traffic sources. Different types of traffic sources (direct visitors vs. search visitors, for example) have different levels of engagement.
New vs.returning visitor conversion rate. Are you attracting many new customers with few of them returning? Or is most of your business from the same individuals returning over and over?
Engagement rates. Are some pages getting more attention than others? Consider looking into why.
2. Start Tracking Your User Activity Before Doing CRO Activities
If you don’t have Google Analytics for your site already, get it set up. It’ll provide many valuable insights into where your traffic is going and how people are interacting with your site.
After that, I like using heatmaps for analyzing behavior. Heatmaps show you where visitors are clicking, or where their attention gets drawn. That’s powerful for identifying where to place CTAs, how to organize content, and whether the page design is working for the content it holds.
Heatmaps, like this one from Crazy Egg, can show you exactly where users are clicking or tapping. Source: Crazy Egg.
3. Know Your Brand’s Value Proposition
Have you identified your brand’s value proposition? It’s time to do that now. A value proposition includes all of the benefits your product offers, plus a recognition of your customer’s pain points. It’s how you’ll connect with your customers and set yourself apart from the competition. (If you haven’t identified yours, HubSpot has a great guide on doing that.)
According to HubSpot, knowing and expressing your brand’s value proposition can improve your conversion rates. It:
Informs your content, especially your CTAs
Highlights your solution as relevant to your target audience
Reduces consumer anxiety surrounding the buying process
4. Analyze Your Site From Your Visitor’s Perspective
Most people go into business because of something they’re passionate about, and that’s great. But being so close to your passion project can make it difficult to spot pain points or tricky navigation that’s only easy for you because you use it every day.
When you start a site analysis, make sure to approach it from your customers’ experience. Note any unusual flows, poorly placed CTAs, or ill-chosen colors.
I also recommend you use the metrics above to try to figure out why users are behaving on a certain page in a certain way. For example, if your heatmap shows that users aren’t scrolling down a page, try to identify whether it’s a content problem or a design problem.
You may even want to consider having a third-party reviewer take a look at your site and record their experience.
Make sure you’re displaying the information your users are looking for. Source: XKCD.
5. Start with Your Lowest Hanging Fruit
Once you’ve made a list of the improvements your site needs, take a moment to prioritize them in terms of difficulty and complexity. You may have entire pages that need to be overhauled, but that can take a long time. Since CRO can have immediate effects, start with the easiest changes first. For example:
Move to more complex projects, like a new site homepage, after you’ve done the little things.
6. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Input
Finally, if you’re really struggling to identify strategies for optimizing your conversion rates, ask your readers! Consider running a survey on your social media, website, or newsletter. You can even gamify it with a series of fun tasks to entertain and encourage responses.
Optimization is a major goal in digital marketing, whether it’s optimizing for the search engines or conversion rates on a site. CRO is one of your most powerful tools when it comes to strategizing how to encourage readers to transform into avid subscribers or paying customers. Hopefully, I’ve left you with a few ideas about how to optimize your conversion rates and increase your revenue.
However, while you’re revitalizing your CTAs and metadata, make sure all of your content is up to par. An expert writer who knows the ins-and-outs of writing that converts can help you perfect your message to compel your readers to act.
Your customer service representatives could be causing your business heavy losses.
In fact, businesses lose up to $75 billion a year because of bad customer service.
The bottom line?
You can’t have great marketing without awesome customer service representatives.
It’s a fact, fam.
In the past nine years of running my content agency, Express Writers, I can’t reinforce enough how true of a statement this is. When we do have the right people in our customer service representative team, 85-90% of prospects who start a chat with us convert into customers.
Wow!
So, how can you do it, too? How do you:
Find the right people to hire as customer service representatives?
Know how to differentiate between great and awful picks in the hiring process?
Lead your team of representatives, so you keep winning by keeping your customers happy?
In this blog, I’ll answer all your questions.
Let’s dive in!
[bctt tweet=”Businesses lose up to $75 billion/year due to bad customer service (@forbes). Great marketing doesn’t work without awesome customer service reps. Learn to find the right hires and lead your team to keep your customers happy ❤” username=”ExpWriters”]
You already know about customer contact centers, where callers go when they need help with problems or questions. Solving these problems and answering these questions is what customer service representatives do.
At Express Writers, my customer service representatives are the first people potential clients talk to. They’re our front liners: the experts who give buyers their first glimpse of what they can expect if they decide to work with us.
Helping potential customers understand product information
Taking new orders
Processing billing
Taking care of customers’ accounts
Solving problems and issues behind complaints
Taking care of returns and cancellations
Being a customer service representative is more than just picking up a phone call and answering a few questions.
It’s being a company’s voice, heart, and soul.
[bctt tweet=”Customer service reps should be your company’s voice , heart , and soul . Find the right people to embody your company’s vision, and you’ll notice huge gains.” username=”ExpWriters”]
And when you find the right people to embody your company’s vision, you’ll notice a huge change in your success level.
Here’s why.
Why It’s Important to Hire the Right Customer Service Representatives
Ever eat at a restaurant with a grumpy, frowning waitress who acted annoyed by your little requests?
I bet the experience was unpleasant. You probably picked another place to eat the next time you dined out.
That’s how important customer service representatives are. They’re the people who determine if customers love or hate you. They can make or break your business.
“But what if I have a great product? Won’t they skip over my unpleasant customer service representatives?”
Well, yes. Maybe some of them will.
But remember, you have competitors. And customers are picky about spending their money.
In fact, 90% of Americans consider customer service an important factor when deciding whether or not to do business with a company.
When asked what made them fall in love with a brand, 73% said it was friendly customer services representatives.
According to a HubSpot survey, 80% of customers stop doing business with a company due to bad customer services.
So, you can put all your bets on your products and pray your customers will ignore your bad customer service…
But chances are you’ll still see your sales dropping and your faithful followers abandoning you for your competitors.
How to Find and Hire Excellent Customer Service Representatives
So now you’re sorting through the piles of resumes on your desk (or computer).
You’re not sure what to look for. The right degree? 5 years of experience? 10? Awards, maybe?
Hint: None of these will tell you if you’re hiring the right customer service representative.
Here are three things to look for instead.
1. People Who Are Hungry
Average people spend 22 years of their lives learning, and then stop.
Geniuses spend their whole lives learning.
Michelangelo was one of them. “Ancora Imparo,” he said at age 87. I’m still learning.
And while you probably can’t hire another Michelangelo, you CAN find people who share his hunger for learning.
They’re not hard to miss. They’re always craving knowledge. Always stretching for growth, even when it’s uncomfortable. They’re eager for challenges, hungry for new skills, and willing to step out of their comfort zones.
These are the people you should hire.
According to John Brubaker in his Entrepreneur article, “You don’t have to micromanage the hungry. They’re so self-motivated they’ll push themselves harder than you could push them.”
2. People Who Are Humble
When I started out hiring my own customer services representatives, I was attracted to the same things that catch a ton of interviewers’ eyes.
The decades of experience. The awards. The numerous accolades.
And no, there’s nothing wrong with these.
But surprisingly (or not), the people with all these credentials are sometimes the hardest to work with. They’re 100% sure of their skills. They’re inflexible and unwilling to grow and learn. They don’t take criticism positively.
On the other hand, it’s a dream to work with humble people. Even if they aren’t as experienced. They’re open to learn and change, and it won’t be long before they overtake others with more experience.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A great man is always willing to be little.”
Take his advice and go for great in the hiring process.
Smart doesn’t necessarily mean degrees, honors, or awards.
It means wit, flexibility, and the ability to learn fast.
When hiring, look for people who think outside of the box. Look for individuals who are empathetic, quick to pick up new information, and determined not to give up on problems until they’re solved.
[bctt tweet=”How to hire amazing customer service reps to complement your marketing: 1️⃣ Find people hungry for growth & knowledge 2️⃣ Find humble people 3️⃣ Find fast-learning smarties – people with wit & flexibility ✅” username=”ExpWriters”]
How to Lead a Great Team of Customer Service Representatives
Of course, hiring is just the first step on a long journey of leading your team of customer service representatives.
To gain their loyalty, prepare them for dealing with customers, and enjoy their best work, follow these four steps.
1. Focus on Results
Give your representatives freedom.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them guidelines on how to do their job. You should.
But once they’re trained and ready, let them choose their own schedules. Allow them to solve problems in their own unique ways. Give them the flexibility to think outside of the box when they need to.
If you work remotely, ditch the apps that take random screenshots of their computer screens. Stop nitpicking and asking for detailed reports covering every minute of their day. Trust them, and you’ll be amazed with the trust and loyalty you gain back.
This is so true with my own team of customer services representatives. I’m overwhelmed with how much trusting them and focusing on results has made them happier and harder workers.
“A sense of freedom — the ability to choose what you work on, as well as how, when, and where you perform your work — is a growing priority for talented professionals across sectors and industries, and one of the core elements of a fulfilling career.” – Harvard Business Review
2. Train Your Reps to Make Customers Feel They’re #1
When customers reach out, they’re looking for a “wow” experience with a company. They want to feel valued, special, and listened to.
So, if there’s one thing you can teach your customer services representatives, it’s empathy. You want them to step into your customers’ shoes. See the world with their eyes. Understand their needs and problems, and desire to solve them.
A great example is one of our customer service team members, Content Strategist Kira. What she does is go back and forth with prospective clients, answering their questions and providing them with the information they’re looking for. On live chat, she doesn’t even ask for their email right away, so they never feel like they’re being “turned into leads” or “moved down the funnel.”
Our chatbot (punnily named “The Write Bot”) is only set up during offline hours. During working hours, I always make sure there’s a real human our customers can reach out to.
3. Encourage Self-Growth
You don’t want your customer service representatives to be like robots. You don’t want them churning out information they’re reading on a pre-made script.
Instead, you want them to be the voice of your company. You want them to be experts on what your company stands for and does, so customers feel they’re in excellent hands.
To do this, always encourage your representatives to grow. Train them, give them access to free materials and books, and dig up amazing resources for them.
This is how I do it at my agency. I give my team access to my courses and books, recommend blogs and authors to follow, and even curate content for them to read. The more they grow their expertise, the more they can gain trust from customers.
4. Create a Family Feeling
Make sure your customer service representatives feel supported. Let them know you (and other team members) will always be there when they have problems or questions.
This is exactly what we do at Express Writers. I created a special channel on Slack called #offtopic for my key members. On this channel, my team can chat about their day, share their experiences, and enjoy a close family feeling.
Great Customer Service Representatives Go a Long Way
You can create the best product or service in the world…
…and still be abandoned and ignored by customers because of bad customer experience.
So if you’ve been seeing a drop in sales or getting bad reviews, it’s time to step up your game and hire great customer service representatives.
Your business can lose a ton of money if you stick to your traditional B2C campaign. This is because consumers have radically evolved in the last decade. Here’s proof:
Foot traffic to retail stores has declined, causing an avalanche of store closures.
Millennials are the largest adult generation to date, and their habits include ignoring paid ads, using ad blockers, and resisting outbound marketing practices.
So, what can you do to save your business? Well, it’s simple. All you need to do is adapt to the way consumers want to connect to brands today. It boils down to four words: direct to consumer marketing. In today’s blog, I’ll show you exactly what it means, why you should do it, and how you can start up your own successful (but not costly) D2C campaign. Ready to start? Let’s dive in! [bctt tweet=”Scary fact: Your business can lose a ton of money if you stick to a traditional B2C campaign. ? Why? Consumers’ buying habits have radically evolved in the last decade. The antidote? ? Direct to consumer marketing. Learn all about it:” username=”ExpWriters”]
What is Direct to Consumer Marketing?
Direct to consumer marketing is simply marketing done without middlemen. While a traditional B2C campaign involves a retailer, an ad agency, a publisher, and other middlemen, a D2C marketing campaign involves only the brand and the buyer. Here’s how HubSpot defines the term.[bctt tweet=”What is direct to consumer marketing? Marketing done without middlemen. It’s just the brand and the buyer. ?” username=”ExpWriters”] So, let’s imagine you’re selling shoes. Here are two scenarios for your marketing campaign. Traditional B2C Campaign:
You sell your shoes at a retailer like Walmart, paying for ads to get your brand in front of potential customers.
Buyers walk into the store and interact with your brand through salespeople not connected with your company.
You have no way of knowing if buyers are happy with your product.
Direct to Consumer Marketing Campaign:
You sell your shoes straight to customers through your online store.
If they have questions, they can ask you directly.
They order and you send your product straight to their doorstep.
You get feedback and suggestions to improve your brand and better fit it to your target audience.
Direct to consumer marketing is minimalist, simple, and involves nurturing personal relationships with customers.
3 Reasons Why You Should Commit to Direct to Consumer Marketing
Thinking of starting a direct to consumer marketing campaign? Here are three big advantages to convince you to begin right away.
Advantage #1: You Can Deliver a Personalized Message to Potential Consumers
Direct to consumer marketing allows you to collect data straight from your consumers. Because you know your audience well, you can craft a brand message that speaks straight to them. And this works. In fact, 34% of all consumers make an unplanned purchase when they read personalized content from a brand. What’s more, 86% of all buyers say personalization has an impact on their purchasing decision.
Advantage #2: You Can Give Consumers the Option of Personalizing Your Product
For instance, consumers can request specialized print or packaging. You can add in freebies based on your knowledge of a particular buyer. A great example of personalization is The New York Time’s NYT Cooking subscription.Source: nytimes.com
Subscribers to NYT Cooking get their own personalized digital cookbook. They can use it to discover, save, and organize recipes they love on the platform.
Advantage #3: You Can Get Rid of the Profit Share
This is obvious when you’re selling your products at a huge conglomerate like Walmart. But even if you sell your products online, a middleman like Amazon still lowers your profit share. A professional account on the platform plus fees add up to as much as 15% of your product’s price. On the other hand, direct to consumer marketing allows you to eliminate the middleman and gain all the profit. You can even beat out your competition by offering your products at lower prices.
How to Start Up a Direct to Consumer Marketing Campaign that Works
A powerful direct to consumer marketing campaign won’t sprout up overnight. It requires hard work, consistency, and the valuable tips below.
1. Find Your Brand Voice
Branding is essential in direct to consumer marketing. This is because your brand comes in direct contact with your consumers. So, you need to be clear about who your audience is, your mission, and your brand style.
A. Create Buyer Personas
The first step in molding your brand voice is knowing who your audience is. Only by understanding their needs, desires, and beliefs will you be able to truly reach them with your product. So, how do you create buyer personas that work? First, collect data on your buyers. You can do this by using Google Analytics and doing surveys. Find out who’s buying from you. Then, find similarities in the data. You can use these similarities to come up with fictional characters your brand speaks directly to in a marketing campaign. For instance, you find out most of your buyers are women over 40. They’re stay-at-home moms who don’t feel guilty about spending money for their kids. Use this information to create your buyer persona. For example, you can call your 40-year-old stay-at-home mom Mildred. She loves splurging on her kids, but she’s worried they’ll end up spoiled. Create your message around Mildred’s needs and beliefs. Whenever you sit down to create or improve a product, write content, or start a marketing campaign, do it to improve Mildred’s life.
B. Put Your Mission Statement Out Front and Center
What is your brand’s mission? How does it stand out from your competitors? How can your brand serve your consumers? Write the answers to these questions down, then use the information to create a tagline consumers can’t resist. Here’s an excellent example from Mailchimp.
C. Come Up with a Brand Style Guide
Your brand style guide will keep you consistent as you market straight to consumers in all stages of the buyer’s journey. Here are three things to consider as you craft your style guide:
Custom colors
Custom design
Font size and style
Once you come up with a style guide, make sure to stick to it on all your campaigns. [bctt tweet=”How to find your brand voice for D2C marketing and speak directly to customers ?: 1) Create buyer personas. 2) Put your mission statement front and center. 3) Create a brand style guide.” username=”ExpWriters”]
2. Work on Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is what makes direct to consumer marketing work. It’s not like traditional advertising campaigns, where brands relentlessly push their products in buyers’ faces. Rather, it’s building a strong relationship with consumers over time. It starts when a consumer makes one light interaction with your brand. If they’re happy with the interaction, they’ll make another one. Soon enough, you’ve developed a strong relationship with them. This is where inbound and content marketing come in. Here’s how it works. First, you give people valuable stuff for free. Let’s say a potential customer is a writer who wants to find out how to correctly connect sentences. To answer his question, he goes on Google and types, “how to connect sentences.” This is what he finds.When he clicks it, he gets an entire blog packed with easy-to-digest rules and clear examples.Source: grammarly.com
Is he happy? Of course! The next time he has a grammar question, he returns to the site to find the answer. What this leads to is trust. This user now sees Grammarly as an authority in the industry. After many light interactions over time, he trusts Grammarly as his go-to source for answers. Now, if the user is looking for a spelling and grammar checker to use as he writes, Grammarly is definitely the first one he’ll think of. He’ll subscribe without even considering its competitors, because he already has a meaningful relationship with the brand.Source: grammarly.com
That’s how subtly and powerfully great content leads to brand awareness. [av_image src=’https://expresswriters.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/free-masterclass-CTA2.jpg’ attachment=’79031′ attachment_size=’full’ align=’center’ animation=’no-animation’ styling=” hover=” link=’manually,https://contentstrategycourse.com/masterclass/’ target=’_blank’ caption=” font_size=” appearance=” overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’][/av_image]
3. Start a Powerful Inbound Marketing Campaign
What about paid ads? Do they fit into a direct to consumer marketing campaign? The truth is, paid ads will get you in front of your target market sooner. When you pay for ads, you can quickly get on page one of Google’s SERPs.But does that guarantee you’ll get a ton of sales and conversions? No. In fact, the writing is on the wall for today’s generation of paid ads. Here’s the #1 reason why: buyers don’t trust paid ads. Look at these facts that prove it:
A third of internet users use ad blockers. This doesn’t only mean they won’t see your ads, this means they paid money just to be left alone from ads.
The Return on Advertising (ROA) for ads went down to 0.66x at the end of 2018 from a decent 11.88x in 2016.
Enter content marketing. Content marketing is the cheaper, more successful way to gain higher conversions and brand success over time. Take a look at these stunning facts:
The conversion rate of content marketing is 16%.
Leads generated from organic SEO have a close rate of 14%. Leads generated from paid advertising are less – at just 2%!
So, let’s say you have 10,000 visitors on your site each month.
The conversion rate to leads is 16%, meaning you’ll have 1,600 leads per month.
The close rate for leads is 14%, giving you 224 sales per month.
If an average sale is $10, you’ll earn around $2,240 per month as a result of your content marketing.
The amazing news is content that converts like crazy doesn’t have to cost even ¼ of what you’ll earn. Visit our Content Shop to find out how to get a weekly blog for as low as $425/month.
Here are three elements modern buyers search for when shopping online. Integrate them with your brand and those buyers will return to you again and again.
A. Convenience
Direct to consumer marketing is all about convenience. It’s about buyers not having to go to Walmart because they can shop directly at your online store while they lounge on the sofa at home. In fact, buyers love convenience so much that 8 in 10 Americans now shop online on a regular basis! If this tells you to do one thing, it’s this: Give consumers even more convenience when they buy from you. Design your website so it’s easy to navigate. Provide them with a ton of payment options. Give them simple forms to fill out. The more convenience buyers enjoy, the more they’ll love you.
B. Great Customer Experience
At Express Writers, we have a commitment to No Client Left Behind. This means we match our high-quality products with amazing customer services. If you do less than this, you brand won’t survive. It’s that simple. Let’s look at an example. Imagine you want to buy an online course that’ll teach you to become a compelling copywriter. You go online and search. There’s a bunch of GREAT options out there, and maybe you narrow it down to two. On the outside, these two programs offer the same output: You’ll learn to be an amazing writer when you complete it. Also, the prices for the two courses are similar. However, you have a problem. You’ve maxed out your credit card and you want to purchase the program through PayPal. You look through the forms but neither brand offers an option for PayPal payments. So, you contact both companies. The next day, Company X sends you this reply.Disappointing. But you perk up when you see the reply from Company Y.Of course, we know which company gets the sale.
C. A Platform to Voice Their Concerns, Suggestions, and Questions
To create a strong relationship with customers, make sure they know where to go when they have questions, concerns, or suggestions. For example, for my course, The Practical Content Strategy and Marketing Course, I created a private Facebook group called Profitable Content Marketers.Group members can express opinions, make comments and suggestions, ask questions, and thrive in an environment of like-minded people.
Direct to Consumer Marketing: Safeguard Your Brand in Today’s Fast-Changing Environment
Today, the traditional methods of marketing that worked like magic in the past are growing stale.
Retail stores are closing as shoppers flock to online stores.
Consumers resist paid ads by investing in ad blockers.
Shoppers search for a meaningful relationship with brands before buying.
The amazing news is you don’t have to worry about these changes when you start your own direct to consumer marketing campaign. D2C is a sure-fire way to safeguard your brand following in a fast-changing world of business. Want to get premium content for your direct to consumer marketing campaign? Visit our Content Shop to get all the details.
[bctt tweet=”What is direct to consumer marketing? Marketing done without middlemen. It’s just the brand and the buyer. ?” username=”ExpWriters”] So, let’s imagine you’re selling shoes. Here are two scenarios for your marketing campaign. Traditional B2C Campaign:
Source: nytimes.com
When he clicks it, he gets an entire blog packed with easy-to-digest rules and clear examples.
Source: grammarly.com
Source: grammarly.com
But does that guarantee you’ll get a ton of sales and conversions? No. In fact, the writing is on the wall for today’s generation of paid ads. Here’s the #1 reason why: buyers don’t trust paid ads. Look at these facts that prove it:
Source: expresswriters.com
So, let’s say you have 10,000 visitors on your site each month.
Disappointing. But you perk up when you see the reply from Company Y.
Of course, we know which company gets the sale.
Group members can express opinions, make comments and suggestions, ask questions, and thrive in an environment of like-minded people.
