In direct-response copywriting, you must always give The Prospect a reason to act now. 

Not later, at her convenience. Now. 

Because if you give people time to make a decision, they’ll usually take it. And you don’t want The Prospect to take her time, to feel comfortable. You want her to feel tension, pressure, FOMO. (Because if she leaves, she may never come back.) 

This is the nature of direct marketing. It must compel immediate action. (Otherwise, it’s a branding ad, or what David Ogilvy called “general” advertising.)

And to do so, professional copywriters manufacture incentives. 

For example, you can incentivize action by: 

1. Dimensionalizing the savings: 

• “Buy 2, get 1 free”

• “Get 3 for the price of 2”

• “Save $40… like getting twice as much for free!”

2) Creating urgency:

• Timing deadlines: “Save 50%, offer ends at midnight”

• Trial deadlines: “Start for just $1, today only”

• Scarcity deadlines: “Only 30 units left”

3. Removing the risk of ordering: 

• “Order now, pay later”

• “Money-back guarantee”

• “Double-your-money-back guarantee”

After writing a direct-response promo, always ask yourself:

“Is this ad giving people a reason to act now?”

If the answer is no, the work will likely underperform. 

LEARN TO PERSUADE

✅ Join thousands of email subscribers
✅ Less than 0.4% of readers unsubscribe
✅ Never miss a Micro-Article or -Interview
✅ Get instant email access to VGC's founder
✅ Be first in line to get new, free Micro-Courses

Hey there, thanks for reading. :)

If you want more “micro” content, feel free to explore 100s of articles, interviews, courses, and series — all free. 

Enjoy!

Eddie Shleyner
VeryGoodCopy, founder

P.S. If you like VGC, you’ll love VGC Plus. Instantly unlock every post right here.