conversational copywriting Archives - Page 2 of 3

January 29, 2021 by Nick Usborne

This is a great story, from my hometown of Montreal.

Feigang Fei is the owner of a Chinese restaurant called Aunt Dai. It has all the usual dishes you’d expect… from Imperial Rolls, to Orange Beef, and General Tao Chicken.

Going by the choices on the menu, there’s nothing particularly special about either the restaurant or its menu.

What is different is that when you open the menu, you’ll find not only the names, pictures and prices of the dishes, but also some thoughts from Feigang Fei.

Here is what he says about their Orange Beef…

October 28, 2020 by Nick Usborne

People have different takes on what it means to be a “copywriter”.

Back when I started, long before the web came along, the definition was pretty simple.

We were the writers who wrote print ads, TV commercials, radio spots, billboards, and point-of-sale materials.

That was pretty much it.

In the online world, things are a little more complicated.

April 4, 2020 by Nick Usborne

Over the last two or three weeks I’ve been spending a lot of time working on chatbots.

I’ve co-founded a chatbot agency, and I’ve written a number of chatbot scripts.

The more time I spend writing these scripts, the more I see shifts in how I write conversational copy for longer-form channels, like email and web pages.

It’s like the lessons I learn from writing for bots are flowing into everything else I do.

Here are three of the ways chatbot copywriting is shifting the way I write.

March 9, 2020March 5, 2020 by Nick Usborne

Rehearse your writing by reading it out loud.

Think of yourself as a performer.

You’re performing your craft… writing for yourself or for a client.

You’re a virtuoso with words.

And in common with every other performer, you need to rehearse your work.

Think about it…

January 30, 2020 by Nick Usborne

“Oh my goodness, the web changed everything!”

“Oh wow, social media changed everything!”

“Yikes, text messaging changed everything!”

All true.

But it’s not just new services that change everything. It’s not just about the software.

It’s also about the devices we use.

January 8, 2020 by Nick Usborne

Take your pick. I cover the same ground in both the video and the text on this page.

Some people prefer video. Others prefer reading.

Still reading?

OK then. Let’s start with a real-life conversation.

There are a couple of reasons why we pause when talking.

One reason is to place emphasis on what we just said.

The second reason, and the most common one, is that we pause as a signal that it’s the other person’s turn to start talking.