10 B2B SaaS Copywriting Tips for Better Ad Performance

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Eden Bidani

I don’t need to be the one to tell you this, but B2B tech companies have it hard when it comes to getting their advertising to perform.

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They’ve got complicated products. And sophisticated audiences (who are all but totally allergic to buzzwords and fluff). And together, they make communicating your company or product’s value super hard.

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Having helped countless B2B companies over the past 9 years I’ve learned more than a thing or two about writing copy for these companies. 

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And today I’m sharing with you my top 10 copywriting tips – tips you can use right away (literally, try them out after you finish reading this) to evaluate your existing ad campaigns and improve their performance, stat.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Tip #1: Sell The Click, Not The Product

The first tip is more of a mindset shift: remind yourself that your ad is selling the click, not the product (as a whole). 

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Prospects don’t see your ad in isolation. They see it in the context of everything else that happens throughout their day, AND in the context of everything else they see on LinkedIn, Google, Facebook or whichever platform your ad is served to them. So unlike an ecom ad, the goal of your ad here is to build excitement and anticipation. You want your prospect to be inspired enough to click on the ad and go where they can learn more about what you have to offer. 

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This still applies even if you’re providing a free trial, or something else that is free.

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Because if you have an average contract value of $50,000-$100,000/year your prospect is NOT going to click on your ad and buy right away. 

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Instead focus on giving the prospect something – a tip, an idea, an emotional twinge – that will motivate them to click.

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This could be through: 

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  • The  messaging you use (make sure you’re talking about how you solve business problems, not just “hey our product is really cool”)
  • The type of call-to-action (CTA) (making sure it’s not too pushy for people who didn’t know you existed until now)
  • The visual in your ad creative (making sure it hits an emotional soft spot)

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Remember: You can always go into more depth on the landing page. But that won’t happen if your prospect doesn’t click through in the first place. 

Tip #2: Take Something Out Of Your Ad Instead Of Putting More In

Focus on getting one really memorable takeaway across in your ad copy. 

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Writing copy by committee is never a great strategy and it’s easy to end up with ads that are saying so many different things that the prospect won’t take away any one thing in particular. 

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Let’s say your product’s main value propositions are: it’s fast, it’s easy to use, and it saves money. 

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Instead of stuffing all of that information into the same ad, I would write 3 variations:

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  • Ad Variation 1: Fast 
  • Ad Variation 2: Easy
  • Ad Variation 3: Saves Money

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Test each message separately so you can see which performs better AND so the prospect can remember your core value proposition. 

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Pro tip: you can say the same message 1,000 different times or more by repurposing the way you communicate that message to the market through different creatives, ad types, and copy. 

Tip #3: Write First, Edit Later

There are so many times when we sit down to try to write an ad and it’s really hard.

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First get all your thoughts, ideas, and concepts out in a document, then let it sit for a couple of hours, and finally go back to it with fresh eyes.  

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If you just try to write it in one session it’s going to be messy and you’ll spend forever tweaking it. 

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The idea is that you get to write a really stupid first draft. But you KNOW that it’s going to be bad. So that gives you the chance to get the bad ideas out to make way for the good stuff. Your goal is to come back later to edit and make it better. 

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I’ve lost count of how many times my first line in the body copy becomes my headline or other parts of my copy shift places with each other because they’re better suited for a different part of the ad. But I’m only able to make these connections with fresh eyes. 

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Pro tip: you can use ChatGPT for brainstorming but even still you need to let the copy sit. Give yourself time to process it so you can edit it and not just run with it at face value.

Tip #4: Remember How People Interact With Ads

Each element of your ad is a part of the puzzle. 

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People will stop the scroll because the creative caught them. Then they'll look at the headline. Then they go up and read the body copy. And finally they go back down to the headline before clicking.

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The prospect's eyes are going all over the place which means you can’t afford to have copy that’s disjointed.

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The headline leads into the body copy and should support the creative. And the body copy should support the headline. All the elements have to work together. 

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As Eugene Schwartz once said “copy is not written, it’s assembled".

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Treat each element of your ad with equal importance and make sure it makes sense when you look at it from the eyes of your prospect.

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how-users-interact-with-ads

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Pro tip: you can’t create ads in isolation, you need your designer and copywriter working together to ensure each variable in your ad works together (headline, body copy, creative).

Tip #5: Use The Slippery Slope

Your first line of copy should get the reader excited to read the second line. The second line should motivate the reader to read the third line. And so on. Direct marketer Joseph Sugarman calls this the “slippery slope”. It makes sure your ad is interesting to read and that the ideas inside it are easy to digest.

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The best way to check and test your messaging for clarity and word choice is to read it out loud. 

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If you’re in the middle of a sentence and you paused for breath, you should place a period.  That will help your sentences flow more naturally one into the other.

Tip #6: Don’t Be Afraid to Try Long Copy

I have a bone to pick with people who say “nobody reads online!” Because of course they don’t – if they don’t have something interesting to read. 

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People binge on Netflix series, video games, novel trilogies, and more for hours in one go. 

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When you have people's attention you can keep sharing with them new details. But you have to earn their attention, first. (Which won’t happen with clickbait.)

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What can you give them in your ad that will make them feel they got value from this interaction, no matter how fleeting it was? 

  • Did they learn something new?
  • Did you make them feel something?
  • Did you make them think for a second?

If you can do at least one of those three things you’ll earn their attention. 

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It’s hard to do this in 150 characters which is why long form copy is so powerful. 

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Don’t be afraid to push up until that 600 character limit if needed. 

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Long copy will also lead to a greater dwell time and provide so much more context and opportunity for you to build motivation so they have a reason to click through. 

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The takeaway here is that people will read your long form ads if it’s interesting to them. But they won’t read even short copy if it’s terrible.

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Side note: When writing ad copy I create 2-3 variations for the headline and the body, usually testing out different lengths (short vs long). 

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Here’s my simple but effective copywriting template I use in Google Docs:

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LinkedIn ads template | Eden Bidani

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Pro tip: it’s easy for ads to get stuck in the same creative loops, don’t forget to brainstorm new creative concepts to test. 

Tip #7: Try to Use Your Voice of Customer As Much As Possible

If no one in the product marketing or CS team is interviewing your customers do this ASAP. 

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Get on a call with them and ask them questions such as: 

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  • How do you use the product?
  • What is the impact of your product?

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The goal here isn’t to get testimonials, it’s to understand how your customers talk. 

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You’ll walk away knowing the benefits that matter to them and challenges. 

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I’d also recommend talking with sales and asking them what are the top customer objections that prospects say and exactly how they describe it. 

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Using the same words and language your customers use allows you to communicate in their voice. 

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These insights are so powerful that not even ChatGPT can brainstorm this for you. 

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For example I used to work with a company that created $700 work bags and I interviewed a customer that mentioned she used to carry around a “mom bag”.

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What did she mean by that? “A shapeless, old ugly bag.” 

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That word “mom bag” is so unique and reflective of the voice of our customers that using that in our landing page copy instantly resonated and resulted in tremendous lifts in conversion rates. 

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Five customer interviews can be all it takes. 

Tip #8: Clear Before Clever

Jay Abraham once said sometimes the easiest way to sell a horse is to say “horse for sale”. 

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You have a fleeting moment with your prospects engaging with your ads. 

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So even if you have to use specific, complicated terms (for your sophisticated audience) you need to focus on making your copy as clear as possible.

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For example, try to simplify your language as much as possible. Yes, this might result in you using less voice of customer, or using a different brand tone of voice, and other elements of your messaging. But clear will always convert best. 

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Consider the words you are using and find synonyms that imply the same meaning with less cognitive load. 

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John Carlton refers to these as “power words” for example: 

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Sometimes you want to say fast but you should be saying swift. 

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Swift implies a very different connotation than fast. 

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It’s a whole different level of sophistication above “fast” but it’s still a simple word. 

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How would you say this same thing to a friend? Is a great frame to have. 

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Remember to avoid complicated and overdone words like omnichannel 🤮

Tip #9: Tie Benefits Back to Something Realistic

Everyone LOVES to talk about benefits – think: “Grow your business!”, “Transform your workplace!", “Win more customers!”, or “Optimize your life…!” 🙄

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It’s not that it’s not true. They are. But they’re just so high-level and vague people struggle to grasp them.  You need to tie them back to something tangible  – something realistic that your prospects identify with. Otherwise, they just come off as fluff. 

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So make sure the claims you make in your ads are specific. And even better, back up your claims by connecting them to a feature or capability of your product.

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Take the step to connect your benefits back to something realistic. 

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Pro tip: even better than talking about how your benefits connect to something realistic, SHOW PROSPECTS HOW this happens with supporting images or videos. 

Tip #10: Make Sure Your Copy Passes the “So What” Test

You should be totally skeptical about your copy (just like prospects will be). 

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People aren’t stupid — even if they fall victim to clickbait they will bounce from your landing pages. 

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Every time you look at your copy ask yourself so what? And pick it apart to see where it’s fluff. 

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Sit back and look through to see where you’re missing proof points or what can be removed. 

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You’ll be able to find all those tiny things that will throw people off reading your ads. 

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At the end of the day your audience will look at the total sum of your ad (headline, body copy, creative) and if there are elements out of place such as:

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  • Run on sentences
  • Improper formatting
  • Typos and obvious errors

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All of these details will affect whether the audience feels they can trust you with their click. 

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So what allows you a third person frame to find what looks off, and what can be stronger. 

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Pro tip: search for free ad mockup software on Google to find tools you can use to see what your copy will look like to your audience within the platform you’re advertising. 

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Hope you found this article helpful! 👏

‍Connect with me on LinkedIn and let’s keep the conversation going. 

And if you’re in need of copywriting assistance check us out at CAPE Agency.

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Eden Bidani
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