If you are trying to sell your services online, your service description is going to be what makes or breaks the sale with every potential new client who comes your way.
We’ve been in this business for a while, and we’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. So in this post, we are going to show you how to write a service description that makes you stand out from the competition and hopefully convert a few more visitors into customers.
Know Your Buyer Persona
Every piece of writing that matters is written for an audience. A real… live… actual… person.
If you want to understand how to write a service description that is going to connect with a potential client, you have to know who they are first.
So before you even start drafting your sales copy, grab a notepad or stand at your whiteboard and do some brainstorming. Create what marketers call a buyer persona. While some buyer personas can get very specific (down to gender and age range), for your service description you really need to focus on answering just a few questions:
- Who is my ideal client?
- What problem are they trying to solve?
- What are their pain points in finding a solution?
- How could they object to my service?
For example, let’s imagine that you have an awesome network of guest post blogs that you’ve been using to rank websites for years, and you are finally ready to open it up to others. Your buyer persona might look something like this:
My ideal client is either doing client SEO or trying to rank their own website. They need relevant back links that they can trust to provide power. As far as pain points, they have either been burned by spammy links in the past or they just don’t know who they can trust. A lot of links advertised as “guest posts” are really just thinly veiled PBNs, so they may be wary of that. They want to know they are getting their money’s worth and they aren’t putting their websites at risk.
With a clearly established buyer persona like this, you can write sales copy that overcomes your client’s apprehensions ahead of time. Every other step in this guide on how to write a service description is going to rely on you first forming a clear picture of exactly who you are writing to.
Give Customers a Reason to Trust You
Keep in mind that you are competing for sales with plenty of other freelancers. You have to give the buyer a reason to choose you over the other guys–or at least add you to their short list.
Building trust is all about overcoming those objections that a buyer could raise. How you do this looks very different depending on what you are offering. Here are several ideas for how to build trust with your sales page:
Provide Samples. If you’re selling a creative service (like article writing, video production, or web design), provide samples of your previous work. Ideally, provide samples that are published publicly under your name so that buyer’s know you aren’t just using someone else’s work.
Provide Proof of Results. For services that aren’t immediately verifiable, you can reduce the customer’s sense of risk by proving that you have produced good results in the past. If you are selling back links, for example, you could include screenshots from a rank tracker that demonstrate your results.
Provide Testimonials. Social proof of satisfied customers is one of the best possible ways to build trust with potential clients. Top4 has already got this covered with our built-in customer reviews in our marketing platform top4.com.au, but sometimes it helps to highlight a particularly showing testimonial within your service description.
Focus on Benefits Over Features
This is sales 101, but it often gets overlooked.
People don’t care so much about what it is you offer. They care about how your offer will benefit them.
Of course, they want to know what they are getting for their money, but your first goal should be to highlight the benefits, not the features.
For example, let’s say you create video ads that are perfectly formatted to run seamlessly on Facebook. If you focused on features first, you might be tempted to start with something like this:
- 30-second video ad production
- Royalty-free music included
- Ready to run on Facebook and other platforms
By taking a benefits-first approach, however, you try to think of what value your services really provide, how they are going to make the customer feel, and how they are going to make their life easier. You might write something like this:
Imagine your target customer scrolling through Facebook, dodging stupid cat pictures and lame memes, when they suddenly stop. A crisp video set to a thrilling beat has caught their attention. Your product is live in front of them. Your brand is growing. And you didn’t have to do a thing to make it happen, other than trust your video marketing to a pro.
Make Your Offer Clear
Selling the benefits is important to show buyers that your solution matches their problem. But, eventually, you have to make it clear what they are getting for their money. You should spell out clearly what you will deliver, any special exceptions, as well as what you will need from the customer.
One of the main goals here is to prevent customer frustration. If they think they are getting one thing and you deliver something else, they aren’t going to be happy (and you might end up with a negative review). Likewise, if a customer doesn’t find out that they’ll need to fill out a page long questionnaire until after they place the order, they are bound to be a little bit annoyed.
A Formula For How To Write A Service Description
Okay, so now that we’ve covered some of the most important factors for sales copy, let’s take a look at a simple formula for how to write a service description. You’ll obviously need to adapt a little based on your specific offering, but this should be good to get most people started.
1. Highlight the Problem
Start your service description with a clear indication that you understand what problem the customer is looking to solve.
2. Agitate the Problem
Next, poke at the customer’s pain points. Make them really feel the problem in their gut. Remind them of all of the past solutions that they’ve tried and why they have failed.
3. Offer a Solution
Show them what you can do to solve the problem and how it overcomes all of their objections. Remember to focus on benefits over features.
4. Build Trust
If your potential client has gotten this far, it means that they think you might have what they need. So now is your opportunity to show off those samples, highlight testimonials, share screenshots, or do whatever else it takes to make them trust you.
This is also the place to point out relevant experience that you might have that could set you apart from the competition (maybe you’re a published author or you’ve worked for a big name in your niche, for example).
5. Provide the Details
Now that the client is ready to buy, you can lay out the offer. What they get, what they need to provide, etc. Keep it clear, but straightforward. Bulleted lists are helpful at this point especially.
6. Make Your Sales Pitch
Finally, invite them to place their order. It’s a simple thing, but psychologically, it has a powerful effect. If you end with a list of details, your customer’s instinct may be to go compare your offer to another seller’s. If you end with an invitation to seal the deal, they’re just more likely to choose you then and there.
Go Out There And Get To It
If you’ve been struggling to land clients, or you just want to grow your client base, tweaking your sales copy could very well be the edge you need. So now that you know how to write a service description that sells, the only step left is to put your knowledge into action.
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