Conversion Copywriting Isn’t Enough Anymore (Here’s What Works)

For years, conversion copywriting has been treated as the gold standard in marketing.

If the landing page converts, the copy is working…right?

But what if conversion isn’t actually the most important metric anymore?

In this episode, I’m sharing why the copywriting is no long only about getting the sale. It also needs to speak to the right clients who stay.

Because if someone buys once and disappears, something in the marketing experience was misaligned.

Values-First Marketing shifts the focus from quick conversions to long-term relationships. And messaging that reflects your values clearly helps the right people recognize themselves in your work.

When that alignment exists, marketing becomes easier, trust builds faster, and clients stay longer.

What You Can Expect In This Episode:

• Why conversion rates don’t tell the full story about your marketing
• How Values-First Marketing filters the right clients before the sale
• The concept of trust velocity and why it matters now (no one is talking about this!)
• The difference between fear-based urgency and inherent urgency (and why it matters for your bottom line).
• Why copywriting isn’t actually about convincing people.
  
  

If your clients are giving you a headache, this episode will help you rethink what your messaging so that it brings in your best-fit clients that you love to serve!

➡️ SHOW NOTES: Grab all the links and resources mentioned in this episode on the blog here!

https://www.megankachigan.com/conversion-copywriting-retention-strategy

FREE RESOURCE: Copy not converting? Increase your conversion rate in 5-minutes a day when you join my free 5-day challenge “Why Isn’t This Converting?”

CONNECT WITH MEGAN:
Join My Inbox Community → www.megankachigan.com/email
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LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-kachigan-loehr-9957684b/
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Join the Why Isn't This Converting?" Free 5-Day challenge to get more clients from your copy by clicking here!

Know exactly what to fix in your copywriting with this "Why Isn't This Converting?" Free 5-Day Challenge. You'll get bite-sized email prompts where you’ll apply one simple, high-impact fix in just minutes to make your content convert without having to re-write everything or constantly guess at what's going to work.

Transcript

For years, conversion copywriting has been treated as the gold standard in online marketing. If a landing page converts, if a email sequence generates sales, if a launch brings in revenue, then the copy is considered successful. And to be clear, conversion absolutely still matters. If your copy doesn't convert, it is not doing its job. But there is a shift happening right now in marketing, and that is this. Conversion alone is no longer the most valuable metric. A more meaningful question, I believe, is is someone still your client 2 years later? Are they still in your community, still in your world, still reading your stuff? Because when someone buys ones and disappears, that means something in the marketing experience was misaligned. Because most marketing conversations still revolve around conversion rates, funnel performance, launch revenue, and none of that is bad. But sustainable businesses look at a different metric that I think other ones are maybe forgetting about or not giving as prime consideration. And that is LTV, lifetime value. When clients stay longer, refer others and continue working with you, that signals something deeper than just persuasive copywriting. HubSpot has a great article on client retention, and the 1st step to retention is to acquire the right kinds of customers. I've liked that whole article in the show notes for you. And this is where values 1st marketing changes the conversation. Because instead of optimizing only for quick sales, Values align messaging instead attracts clients who actually want the experience you provide. Sales become smoother, relationships last longer, and marketing feels far less exhausting. So let's take a deeper look at why conversion copy alone isn't enough anymore, and what actually is working today? So conversion copywriting rose to prominence for a good reason, but I think people are starting to sense that it's just not quite enough anymore. Yes, it's part of the process, but it's not the full story. As online businesses grew, founders needed marketing that produced measurable results. So copywriters began specializing in optimizing, landing pages, email funnels, sales pages, launch campaigns. Every element of the marketing funnel could be tested and improved, which is great. Yes, absolutely, we need to be doing all of this. So the question guiding most copywriting projects became simple. Does it convert? But conversion rates click through rates and revenue numbers, those are great because they provide this immediate feedback. They make it easier to evaluate what works. But I believe that this focus also creates a blind spot. When marketing prioritizes conversions alone, it often emphasizes tactics like urgency, scarcity, emotional pressure, more aggressive calls to action because that can make the quick sale. Absolutely, those strategies can produce sales quickly. However, they don't always attract the right client. They can attract clients who maybe aren't the best fit, become a headache, ask for refunds. And that is not what you want to be dealing with. So when messaging polls in people who are not aligned with your values or your process, you start experiencing problems like refund requests, high turn, dissatisfied clients, and then ultimately that is the road to founder burnout. So in other words, a funnel can actually convert extremely well, and still damage the long term health of the business. So conversion copywriting itself is not enough. So if conversion rates aren't the full picture, what should businesses be measuring instead? So I would argue that a powerful metric to look like, like I said, is LTV, the lifetime value. Because that answers the more meaningful question of how long do clients stay? And how much value does the relationship create over time? Yes, there is a monetary value, an ROI to that. And I would argue, just as important, there is an ROI in terms of just your joy in your business, the sustainability of your business that it creates as well. And that ROI is just as important. And we know that it is easier to retain a client and more expensive to acquire new clients. So instead of just asking how many people bought, I would also ask, do they continue working with you? Do they refer others? Do they upgrade into higher level services? If clients stay for years, you're marketing likely attracted the right people. If clients leave quickly, you're messaging may need to be revisited. This is why values-based marketing matters so much. This is, I see this happening in my offers too. I'm like, this is what they were designed for. A lot of my copy clarity club members, which is a lower price point entry point, a lot of them upgrade into higher level services because I know them. I know their business, they trust me, they've seen the results of my initial work with them. And they upgrade into higher level services. Or if that is not right for them, they have invited me paid to speak in their paid masterminds. And so on, so there's value there that keeps coming in. Um, again, both monetary and just the relationship. These are people that I enjoy working with that I'm proud of putting their message out there. So when your values, your, sorry, when you're messaging clearly reflects your values, the ideal clients recognize themselves in it. They understand how you work, what you prioritize, and whether their relationship will feel aligned. And that attracts the people who you really want in your offers. So if you want to see how powerful aligned messaging can be, I invite you to take a look at one of our favorite episodes and most downloaded called How Owning Her Brand Voice, Doubled Her Revenue. with Holly Haynes of Crush the Brush. She's absolutely fantastic and that is linked in the show notes as well. Because when messaging truly reflects your authentic values and voice, it doesn't just increase conversions. Yes, it does that, but it strengthens your long-term client relationships as well. So the other thing about values 1st marketing is that it filters and qualifies before the sale. Many founders think that marketing should attract as many customers as possible. And yes, bigger numbers maybe don't necessarily hurt, but you need the strong messaging in place because it's simultaneously does 2 things. One, it attracts the right people, and 2, it repels the wrong ones, and you want it to do that. It protects the health of your business and that filtering occurs in your copywriting. So, When your values are not clear in your messaging, people may buy without fully understanding your approach and that creates friction later. Values aligned messaging, sets expectations early. And a question I often get is like, do I need to share my political beliefs or my religious beliefs? And I think in the climate today, that's a big question, and I would actually say, no, I don't think you necessarily have to. If that is like a line in the sand for you and and that's something that you really strongly need people to know about you, then absolutely put that on your about page, put that on your website. I know there are a ton of other consultants, website designers, SEOs who say, yes, absolutely, just explicitly state that. Um, and then for other people, I think, putting it out there on their social platforms or even on their website, it doesn't feel like the most appropriate place where they can fight that battle. Um, those people are, you know, writing into their senators or whatever else or evangelizing in other ways. And and that's how they're doing it. So it does not necessarily have to be something that you bring into your business, your values can be other things. Right? Like, I would say one of my values is simplicit. You don't need this overly complicated marketing plan, and it's also us value in my life as well, simplicity. don't need. A ton of things. I'm kind of a minimalist. Um, so it flows both ways. So I think bottom line is that values align messaging, when I'm saying that, I mean that your content communicates things like how you approach your work. What you believe about the problem that you solve. Who your work is designed for. When those signals are clear, the right clients recognize the fit immediately. The wrong clients will just move on. And even though that might seem counterintuitive at first, it's one of the healthiest dynamics in marketing. The goal isn't just more customers. The goal is more of the right customers. And that's why 7 out of 8 of my down for you clients stay with me for over a year. The retention is there. My messaging really brings in the right people. And this also plays a huge role in brand loyalty. When people resonate with your values, that's so fundamental. It's so found foundational that they don't just buy once. They stay. And that, I think, really is the goal that you want out of your copyrighting. And I know that so many founders, one of their 1st questions to me as a copywriter is how can you match my authentic brand voice or how can you make my messaging aligned and truly resonate with my best fit people? And that is such a good question, and I would say that my job is to really translate what you believe into language that other people recognize. You know what you stand for. You know how you want to help clients. You know what makes your approach unique or I can definitely spot that for you and translate those beliefs into clear messaging. Because that's often just, it's so hard to write your own copy. You're way too close to your own work. I know I have a lot of health practitioners talking about like, for example, like the role of your lymph nodes or this is a thyroid problem, but like when you put that on your website, your ideal client doesn't know it's a thyroid problem. Otherwise, they wouldn't be like coming to you, right? If they knew that much. They need to know what the actual symptom is. The thing that they were experiencing. They don't know that connection yet to like, this is a thyroid problem. They probably can't even point to where their thyroid is, but you as the expert know that, and it's your common everyday language. So it is my job to not dumb it down because we want to show off how smart you are because you are so smart. Um, but really to translate your heart for that into language that they actually speak. Like, what are they actually experiencing and what are they actually saying? I am taking and extracting those insights and organizing them into language that is clearly and consistently communicated across platforms. And when that translation happens, marketing feels lighter. Content becomes so much easier to create, and the right people begin reaching out. That is the real litness test of, is it working? And this is why also why messaging clarity is so important before optimizing tactics like sales pages or funnels. And this is something that I look for within my copy clarity club members as well. And I have an example of a real sales page copy audit, so you can totally see what this process looks like with me. For a real sales page audit. So that is linked in the show notes as well. So when I say, like, for example, I also have my free, why isn't it converting challenge? And so yes, why isn't converting is the 1st like symptom? But it's not necessarily the end goal for me. So I would definitely still highly recommend joining my why isn't this converting 5 day challenge. It's totally free. It's a simple way to spot where your messaging might be losing momentum or creating misalignment. And inside, we walk through how to identify the hidden gaps between your messaging and what your audience truly needs to hear. In 5 very simple steps. It's totally broken down. There's before and after examples. All the good things. So that is linked for you in the show notes as well. Okay, so the next thing I want to talk about is something so important. I'm like, why why is no one else talking about this? So, This is like an overlooked advantage. So we know we have all overheard too much about the trust recession, right? Trust has become one of the most important currencies in modern marketing. You know this. But what no one is talking about is trust velocity, how quickly someone feels safe working with you. Because the statistics show that it used to be like 7 to 8 touchpoints before a sale. That has now like doubled. The minimum is like 14 or more before a sale happens. So when messaging feels generic, vague, or overly polished, people hesitate and that creates slow trust. And when we can sniff AI in your writing, people run the other direction, trust decreases. Um, it's the opposite of trust at that point, right? It's not even neutral anymore. It's a negative. But on the other hand, values 1st messaging and marketing accelerates the trust process. When readers encounter messaging that reflects their own beliefs, their own story, their your story is mirrored in theirs. Your priorities are mirrored in theirs. Then they feel understood, aligned, and confident in moving forward. And that is what reduces the friction that is associated with buying decisions. Instead of feeling pressured, moving forward feels like the next natural step. They're excited to work with you. It creates a relationship that feels good on both sides. And this idea closely connects to relationship-based marketing, which I discussed in another pop, very popular episode with Nikki Raush called Getting More Clients Through Relationship Selling. I've linked that in the show notes as well. Because strong relationships and trust-based communication create far more sustainable sales systems than aggressive bro tactics ever could. And that brings me to a conversation about urgency because I think inherent urgency can, in the right fit, actually be a very good, strong, powerful thing. It's a common urgency is a common tactic in conversion copywriting. But hear me out here, not all urgency works the same way. Fear-based urgency often relies on pressure. Countdown timers, artificial scarcity, and exaggerated consequences. And while, yes, statistically, those techniques can produce quick sales, though actually, I would argue that in today's economy, maybe not so much as they did before. They also create regret and distrust after they purchase. Yes, they can create a quick cash injection, but is that worth the loss of trust? I would argue, no, it's not. So I'm gonna say values-based messaging approaches urgency differently because psychologically, yes, there is something about urgency that works, but how can we do it ethically? How can we do it? Without pressuring. So, I call it inherent urgency, and that answers a simple question, which is why now? It helps the reader understand why the timing matters without forcing the decision. Without, without relying on fear as the driving emotion. So maybe why now answers like why the problem has reached this tipping point for them, why it's this bleeding neck problem? Um, maybe a new opportunity is available or the solution is finally accessible. This kind of urgency respects the reader's agency while still creating momentum. It's also far more aligned with long-term relationships that sustainable businesses depend on. So they are still purchasing and entering your program with a sustainable and regulated nervous system, not a nervous system that's like, 0 my gosh, I have to buy now. And then they're in, they're like, 0 my gosh, why did I do that? Um, so it carries that positive momentum with them and they're still eager to to work with you after the purchase is made. So I have another whole blog post on ethical urgency strategies that has been a great conversation piece and how we can do that in a way that works. And also, it includes a lot of feedback from people in the online business community as well of like what people like and don't like about it. So you can kind of go there and pick and choose what feels good to you, what works for you. Um, and I, ethical marketing, it doesn't have to remove the urgency. But it does have to use it responsibly, which for me means I'm not including fear-based tactics in there. I'm talking about what is the inherent urgency of the offer? Why do they need this now? That is what I want to talk about. Versus relying on, you know, the countdown timers, which, to be honest, feel like so 2020. Okay, anyways, moving on, let's talk about the future of conversion copywriting because it still matters. Obviously, it needs to convert. That's the 1st step before we can talk about retention. Um, or it's really both. It's 2 sides of the same coin. So clear messaging, compelling offers, and strategic funnels will always play a role in successful marketing. Absolutely. But the next evolution of copywriting, and before you hire a copywriter, you need to know that they are focusing on something deeper than just immediate sales. When marketing clearly communicates your values, their right clients recognize themselves in it. Trust builds faster. Retention increases, and referrals grow naturally, which ultimately makes marketing so much easier. So instead of constantly chasing new leads, your marketing starts supporting the long-term relationships, which make business so much more fun and honestly, like so much more beautiful too. And that's where the real leverage of in business lives. So if your marketing currently feels like it requires constant effort without creating consistent momentum. You're constantly like pushing that big boulder uphill. The issue may not be in your strategy. It may be in your messaging. And that's exactly what we explore in my free 5 day challenge. Um, again, that's linked in the show notes where we identify the hidden leaks in your marketing and help you adjust them in a way that feels aligned with your values. It takes just a couple minutes a day. It's really broken down into the small chunks. That are like the biggest needle movers based on the 100s of copy audits that I've done with my copy, Clarity Club members. as well as what I'm seeing in my behind the scenes work as a done for you copywriter with my 6 and 7 bigger clients. So, I want to end with encouraging you to join that because the best copywriting isn't about convincing someone, the most compelling copywriting. is really just stating, The truth about your offer, and letting that be compelling enough. Using the inherent urgency as well as the psychology, biopsychology, that is part of ethical marketing. And ChatGPT, AILLMs, they don't inherently know this. This is where a copywriter comes in. So I encourage you to start with the free challenge to get a taste of what this is like. Um, and if you're like, nope, I know that this is for me, I would love a real copywriter brain on what I'm doing. Copy Clarity Club, the doors are open for you. You can get the link to all of those in the show notes. I will see you there, and I will talk to you again next week.