Sales & Conversion
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
OK, so here's the thing about business copy that nobody wants to admit: most of it is absolute garbage. You know what I'm talking about - those websites that sound like they were written by a committee of MBA consultants who've never actually sold anything in their lives.
I learned this the hard way when I spent two weeks obsessing over whether every heading on a client's site should start with a verb. Two weeks. While their competitors were launching new features and capturing market share, we were stuck in grammatical paralysis.
The uncomfortable truth? Most businesses treat their website copy like a digital brochure when it should be treated as their best salesperson working 24/7. After writing copy for dozens of SaaS startups and e-commerce stores, I've discovered that the difference between copy that converts and copy that just sits there looking pretty comes down to a few specific principles that most copywriters completely ignore.
Here's what you'll learn from my experience writing copy for everything from SaaS platforms to e-commerce stores:
Why the "about us" approach kills conversions (and what to write instead)
The 3-second rule that determines if visitors stay or bounce
How to structure copy so it works as a marketing laboratory, not a static brochure
The psychology behind copy that actually moves people to action
My specific framework for writing headlines that grab attention in crowded markets
Industry Reality
What every business owner has been told about copy
The copywriting industry loves to overcomplicate things. Walk into any marketing conference or scroll through LinkedIn, and you'll hear the same advice repeated like gospel:
"Know your customer avatar." Create detailed personas with names, ages, coffee preferences, and weekend hobbies. Spend weeks building fictional characters that may or may not represent your actual customers.
"Features tell, benefits sell." Transform every feature into a benefit using magical copywriting formulas. Your "dashboard" becomes "complete visibility into your business performance."
"Write like you talk." Be conversational, but not too casual. Professional, but not too formal. Find that magical tone that appeals to everyone and offends no one.
"A/B test everything." Test headlines, buttons, colors, font sizes. Optimize your way to conversion perfection through endless experimentation.
"Storytelling is king." Every piece of copy needs a narrative arc. Your software solution becomes the hero's journey of business transformation.
Here's the problem with all this conventional wisdom: it assumes you have unlimited time and resources to perfect your copy. Most businesses don't. They need copy that works now, not after six months of testing and optimization.
The bigger issue? This advice treats copy as an isolated element instead of recognizing a fundamental truth: your copy is only as good as the strategy behind it. You can have the most persuasive headlines in the world, but if your visitors can't find your site, it doesn't matter.
Most copywriting advice also ignores the elephant in the room: distribution. Your beautiful copy is worthless if it's sitting in an empty mall with no foot traffic.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
A few years ago, I was working with a B2B startup on their website copy. They had beautiful, benefit-focused copy written by an expensive agency. Every feature was carefully transformed into a customer benefit. The messaging was "on-brand" and perfectly polished.
The problem? Their conversion rate was 0.8%. Despite having solid traffic from paid ads, visitors were bouncing faster than a rubber ball on concrete.
The client was frustrated. "We followed all the best practices," they said. "We have clear value propositions, compelling calls to action, social proof. Why isn't it working?"
That's when I realized something most copywriters miss: they were writing for everyone and connecting with no one. Their copy was generic enough to appeal to any business but specific enough to resonate with none.
But here's what really opened my eyes: when I analyzed their traffic sources, I discovered something the beautiful copy completely ignored. Most visitors weren't coming through the homepage. They were landing on random pages from search results, social media, and direct links.
The agency had written the copy assuming a linear journey - homepage, about page, services, contact. But that's not how people actually use websites in 2025. Every page is a potential first impression.
Their copy was also trying to be everything to everyone. Instead of speaking directly to their actual customers - technical founders at early-stage startups - they were using vague language that could apply to any business. "Streamline your operations" instead of "Stop spending 3 hours a day manually syncing data between your tools."
The final straw? Their copy was written like a company brochure instead of a conversation. Every sentence was perfectly crafted, but it felt like talking to a robot. No personality, no opinion, no reason to care.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After seeing this pattern across multiple clients, I developed a completely different approach to business copy. Instead of starting with personas and benefit statements, I start with three fundamental questions:
1. What specific problem does this solve right now?
Not "improved efficiency" or "better results." What exact pain point does someone have at 2 AM that makes them Google search for a solution?
2. Who has this problem and where do they hang out online?
This isn't about creating fictional personas. It's about understanding real behavior patterns and the actual language your customers use.
3. What would someone need to see to take action today?
Not eventually, not after nurturing, but right now. What information, proof, or incentive would move them from visitor to customer?
For that B2B startup, here's exactly what I did:
The Research Phase: Instead of writing copy in isolation, I spent a week analyzing their customer support tickets, sales calls, and user feedback. I wasn't looking for demographics - I was looking for the exact words their customers used to describe their problems.
The Language Audit: I discovered their customers never said "streamline operations." They said things like "I'm tired of copying data between Airtable and Slack every morning" or "Why does it take me 20 minutes to generate a simple report?"
The Entry Point Strategy: Instead of writing one perfect homepage, I created specific entry points for different traffic sources. Someone coming from a Google search for "Airtable Slack integration" sees different copy than someone clicking a LinkedIn ad about "startup operations."
The Conversation Framework: I threw out the formal "professional" tone and wrote like I was explaining the solution to a friend over coffee. This meant using actual examples, admitting limitations, and having opinions.
Here's the specific copy structure I use:
Headline: Lead with the specific problem, not your solution. "Spending hours every week manually syncing data?" performs better than "Automated Data Integration Platform."
Sub-headline: Immediately validate their situation. "You're not alone. 73% of startup founders waste 5+ hours weekly on manual data tasks."
Problem Agitation: Get specific about the pain. "Every morning, you copy yesterday's numbers from Stripe to your spreadsheet, then update your team in Slack, then manually generate reports for investors. It's mind-numbing work that pulls you away from actually building your company."
Solution Introduction: Position your product as the obvious answer. "What if all of this happened automatically?"
Proof Points: Use specific examples, not vague benefits. "John from TechStartup saves 6 hours every week and hasn't manually updated a spreadsheet in 3 months."
The key insight? Stop trying to appeal to everyone and start speaking directly to someone. It's better to deeply resonate with 100 people than to mildly interest 1,000.
Problem-First Headlines
Instead of leading with your solution, start with the specific problem your audience faces daily
Customer Language
Use the exact words your customers use to describe their pain, not marketing-speak
Multiple Entry Points
Create different copy for different traffic sources instead of one generic homepage
Conversation Tone
Write like you're explaining the solution to a friend, not presenting to a board
The results were dramatic. Within 30 days of implementing the new copy approach:
The conversion rate jumped from 0.8% to 3.2% - nearly a 4x improvement. But here's what's more interesting: the quality of leads improved significantly. Instead of tire-kickers asking generic questions, they were getting qualified prospects who already understood the value proposition.
The bounce rate dropped from 78% to 34%. People were actually reading the copy and engaging with the content instead of immediately hitting the back button.
Most importantly, their sales team reported that prospects were coming into calls already "sold" on the concept. The copy was doing the heavy lifting of education and persuasion, allowing sales conversations to focus on implementation rather than explanation.
But the real validation came six months later when the client told me: "Our copy doesn't just convert visitors - it converts our own team. When new employees read our website, they finally understand what we actually do and why it matters."
This approach has worked across different industries and business types. The key is understanding that great copy isn't about writing skills - it's about understanding your customers better than they understand themselves.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
After implementing this copy approach across dozens of projects, here are the key lessons that apply to any business:
Research beats creativity every time. Spend more time understanding your customers and less time crafting clever headlines. The best copy feels obvious to your target audience.
Specificity is your superpower. "Save time" is forgettable. "Save 6 hours every week" is memorable. The more specific your claims, the more believable they become.
Every page is a landing page. Stop designing copy for a linear journey that doesn't exist. Each page should work independently to convert visitors.
Personality beats perfection. People connect with humans, not companies. Let your actual voice come through instead of hiding behind corporate speak.
Copy is a system, not just words. The best copy works with your distribution strategy, not against it. Align your messaging with how people actually find and consume your content.
Test the big things first. Before you A/B test button colors, make sure you're solving the right problem for the right people with the right message.
When in doubt, be more specific. The biggest copy mistake is trying to appeal to everyone. It's better to be perfectly relevant to 100 people than somewhat relevant to 1,000.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups:
Lead with the workflow problem, not the feature solution
Use customer support tickets as copy research goldmines
Create separate messaging for different user roles (founder vs. employee)
Include specific metrics in your proof points
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores:
Focus on the outcome, not the product features
Use customer reviews as source material for copy
Address specific purchase objections directly
Create urgency without being pushy