Have you been told to use bullet points in copywriting, but you’re not totally sure what that means (or WHY it’s actually worth doing)?
As readers’ attention spans get consistently shorter, bullet points are an effective way to get your message across quickly, easily, and in a way your audience will want to read.
And yet, I’ve seen so many marketers lazily slap a bullet point list of features on landing pages and wonder why they don’t work.
That’s why, in this article, I’m going to break down my 3-stage method for creating bullet points that sell.
Ready to get started? Let’s dive straight into it.
A 3-Step Formula for Using Bullet Point in Copywriting
Step One: List Out ALL of Your Product’s Features
Before you do anything, take a piece of paper or a Google Doc and create a list of all your product’s features.
This sounds like it will take forever, but it’ll be worth the effort.
You don’t need to write out long descriptions either; just bullet point the core features of what you’re offering.
For example: for a web development agency, I might include something like this on my list:
- User-friendly interface
- Drag and drop editor
- Lightweight themes
- Integrates with 3rd party marketing tools
Notice that none of these are benefits yet. That’s in step two.
For now, let’s get clear on what the difference is between a feature and a benefit.
A feature is something that’s part of the product.
A benefit is what your customer gets from it – specifically, how will this help them solve their problem?
For example: a feature might be “user-friendly interface.” A benefit would be something like “reduces time to complete tasks by 70%.”
You see how a feature is the HOW something works. The benefit is the WHY someone wants it to work in the first place.
Go over your list of features by looking at your product through a customer’s eyes. Make sure to be as comprehensive at this stage as you can.
Step Two: Turn Those Features into Benefits
Now that you’ve got a list of features, it’s time to turn those into benefits.
Look at each feature and ask yourself: “Why would someone care about this?”
If you find yourself saying things like, “Well…I guess they just do,” STOP right there and go back to the drawing board. That’s not a benefit yet.
You need to get super-specific here and actually answer the following question: “What problem does this feature solve?”
This often requires you to do some research into what your target customers already think about or want in that area of their business.
For example: “User-friendly interface” is a feature. But why would someone care about that?
Well, maybe they want to make it easier for their clients or team members to use the product.
So that’s the benefit, right? Maybe, it depends on your audience. But I bet we can go deeper.
Because remember, a feature is the HOW something works. A benefit is WHY they want it to work.
Ask yourself: WHY would your customers want it to be easier?
Maybe if things are easier, people can get done faster. If they get done faster, they can work on other ways of growing the business. And if they can do that, we’ll see quicker growth.
Ok, let’s return to the question: what’s the benefit of a user-friendly interface?
Saving time to free up more bandwidth for the things you love.
That’s your benefit right there!
You’ll probably find that most features boil down to the same types of benefits:
- Health
- Wealth
- Time
- Relationships
- Energy (which I suppose could be health, but I distinguish between them)
- Ego
And a myriad of others, though some marketers will claim there are only 3-4 reasons why people buy things.
Some even try to narrow everything down to two:
- To avoid pain
- To gain pleasure
Technically, that’s right. But not a whole lot of great copy was written in technicalities. You need to get specific with what kind of pain people want to avoid and what kind of pleasure they want to gain.
If you can do that, you’ll be well on your way to more powerful bullet points in copywriting.
Step Three: Combine the WHY & the HOW
Now you have everything you need for your bullet points.
Just use the following formula: WHY + HOW.
In other words, you’re structuring your bullet point to lead with the benefit and end with the feature.
This gets your audience excited (because they’ll see the benefit) and the feature gives them more confidence (because they can see a clear path to that benefit).
Ok, but how many bullet points should you have?
Well, that depends.
Are you targeting a very specific audience? Then three or four bullet points might be enough to convince them.
Are you going after a more “wide open” market where people could have different needs and objections depending on who they are? Maybe aim for six bullets – two each in the top three reasons why someone would buy, plus some specific examples.
This is also a good time to remember that you’re writing for your customer, not yourself or even your company. So if their interests are different than yours, make sure the focus of the bullet points reflects what matters most to them first and foremost.
It also depends on the type of copy you’re writing.
If you have a long-form landing page, you’d likely have a few different short lists of bullet points scattered throughout the page.
But an email would look odd if bullet point lists kept popping up.
It will be different for every audience and different for every type of content. It’s not the most fun thing to read, but it’s the truth.
And the only way to know what types of bullet points your audience is responding to is with A/B testing.
But always remember the more bullet points you have in your copy, the less likely people will be to actually read it.
So don’t overdo it or make them long and convoluted. Make sure each point is clear and concise with its own unique benefit that makes sense for YOUR audience.
And that’s all for today. This was a quick, 3-step approach to using better and more persuasive bullet points in copywriting.
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