Latest / The Copywriting Podcast with Fexingo: Sales Letters, Headlines, and Persuasive Writing / How a Conversational Tone Lifted Response 27 Percent
Transcript
- Lucas: There's a principle in copywriting that sounds almost too simple to be true. But every time I see a clean A/B test, it holds up. Write the way you speak. Luna: And yet so many companies still send out copy that reads like a legal brief. Why is that? Lucas: Partly habit, partly fear. They think formal equals credible. But the data tells a different story. Let me give you a concrete example from a B2B SaaS company that ran a neat test last year. Luna: You know, it's tests like these that remind me why I love that we do this show ad-free. No sponsor pushing their own agenda — just the data. Lucas: Right. And if that independence matters to you, listeners, buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo helps keep it that way. So about that test — they sent two versions of a promotional email to the same segment. Lucas: Version A was written in a formal style: third person, no contractions, very proper. Version B was conversational: second person, contractions, casual phrasing. Everything else was identical. Luna: What was the result? Lucas: Version B lifted click-through rates by 27 percent. Not a tiny bump — nearly a third more people clicked because the copy sounded human. Luna: Twenty-seven percent. That's huge for a simple tone shift. Lucas: Exactly. And it's not an outlier. I've seen similar lifts in direct mail, landing pages, even subject lines. The pattern is consistent. Luna: So why does conversational work so well? Let's unpack that. Lucas: Part of it is cognitive fluency. Formal language forces the brain to work harder. You're decoding complex sentence structures. Conversational language flows naturally. Lucas: Another piece is trust. When you sound like a real person, you lower the reader's guard. They feel like they're hearing from a peer, not a corporation. Luna: So it reduces resistance. That makes sense. But are there cases where formal is better? Like for luxury brands or legal services? Lucas: There are niches where a more formal tone can signal authority or craftsmanship. But even then, I'd argue conversational doesn't mean sloppy. You can be conversational and still be professional. Lucas: Take Warren Buffett's shareholder letters. They're conversational. He uses contractions, short sentences, occasional jokes. But he's talking about billions of dollars. Luna: True. So it's not about dumbing down. It's about being clear and approachable. Lucas: Exactly. Here are three quick rules. First, use contractions. 'Don't' instead of 'do not', 'you'll' instead of 'you will'. Second, address the reader as 'you' — not 'customers' or 'users'. Third, read your copy aloud. If it sounds stiff, rewrite it. Luna: And what about word choice? Any specific words that kill conversational tone? Lucas: Words like 'leverage', 'optimize', 'facilitate' — they scream corporate. Swap them for simpler verbs. 'Use', 'improve', 'help'. That alone can shift the tone. Luna: I also find that starting sentences with conjunctions — 'and' or 'but' — makes it feel more like speech. Lucas: Great point. Your high school English teacher will cringe, but it works. People talk that way. So your copy should too. Lucas: Back to the test — the company also tracked unsubscribe rates. The conversational version actually had a slightly lower unsubscribe rate. So the casual tone didn't annoy people. Luna: That's reassuring. So the risk is minimal. Lucas: As long as you stay authentic. If you're a financial advisor writing about retirement, you can be conversational but still respectful. You don't need to say 'Yo, check your 401k'. Luna: Right. Match the tone to the audience, but always lean human. Lucas: Exactly. The takeaway is simple: stop trying to sound like a business. Sound like a person. Your response rates will thank you. Luna: And if you want to hear more tests like this, you know where to find us. Lucas: Plus you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's what keeps these episodes ad-free and focused on what works. Luna: Next time, we'll look at how adding a specific benefit in the subject line can lift open rates. Until then, keep writing like a human. Lucas: See you next episode.