How To Use Conversational Writing to Create More Effective Marketing

Writing like you were taught in high school or college isn’t going to do your marketing any favors.

In fact, most copywriters need to unlearn their old habits once they start down this career path. 

That stuffy, boring, structured academic writing isn’t going to cut it. 

Instead, copywriting is conversational. 

And to write conversationally, you need skill and experience. 

As a professional copywriter, I’ve spent years learning to write in a way that mirrors how we talk. Once I finally let go of the old rules, it became fun (rather than daunting).

If you’re thinking, “If I write as I talk, will my audience even believe I’m an expert? Won’t it look unprofessional?”

The short of it is that any writing you do for your brand’s marketing has two goals: to connect with your audience and persuade them to act. And that old kind of writing was meant to inform. Besides it’ll never connect or persuade. 

Your goal isn’t to be professional (though you can write conversationally and still be professional). Rather, your goal is to serve your audience. And if their eyes glaze over the second they read your copy (or worse, stop reading altogether) then you’re not doing a very good job of serving them. 

So, what is conversational writing? What are some examples? And why the heck does it matter? Let’s dig in. 

What Is Conversational Writing?

You’ll know you’re writing conversationally when your writing feels like a one-on-one conversation between you and your audience. This involves intimacy, shared language, and loose sentence structure. 

Conversational writing includes:

• Contractions — I had a high school English teacher (Hello, Mr. Fouchey) who was a *stickler* about this. We’d get marked down heavily if we used a contraction. But in conversation, it’s very rare to say “do not” instead of “don’t”. And that carries over into conversational writing. 

• “And” and “But” at the beginning of sentences — Another big no-no, starting your sentences with prepositions was writing suicide. But in conversational writing, it’s all gravy, baby. 

• Shorter sentences (with less structure) — Copywriting is all about getting your message across in the most clear, concise, and engaging way possible. And often that means short, choppy sentences. So get comfortable ditching the long-winded, structured sentences. 

• Jargon and slang — If your audience reads words that they’re familiar with, they’re more likely to connect with your writing. Including industry terms, audience jargon, and appropriate slang are all green flags in copy. 

• Uses “you” and “I” — Academic writing uses the third person, always. But in copywriting, you’re aim is to connect with the reader. You do this by speaking to them directly (using “you”).

• Simple words — The shorter the words, the better. The more common the words, the better. You don’t want to use a complex word the reader has never heard and then lose their attention as they try to figure out what it means. 

• Transition phrases (often) — We’re always trying to strategically move the reader along. This means we transition between ideas regularly. Smoothing these transitions isn’t fluff, it’s essential. This includes phrases like, “Before/After” and  “In other words.”

• Shows emotions — Connecting to emotions is the bread and butter of copywriting. This is how we persuade the reader. And it’s how we keep them engaged. When we speak to a direct emotional experience compellingly, your reader is much more likely to follow your lead. 

Okay, now that you’ve got an idea of what components make writing conversational, let’s look at some examples.

Conversational Writing Examples

First off, this whole blog is an example of conversational writing. 

I’m using short sentences and common words. I’m using slang and loose language. Instead of following the “writing rules”, I’m stringing words together in a way that’s easy to digest. 

Let’s do a comparison.

Academic writing is all about looking smart and studious. It can look like this:

• “Tomatoes are grown in nutrient-rich topsoil. The soil is built up over hundreds of years from decomposition, rain, and other weather phenomena.”

While formal writing would impress your professors, it imposes a cognitive burden on your readers.

So, how would I change that to make it conversational? Aka, to make it sound more human?

• “Tomatoes grow from topsoil, where they get all the yummy essentials for growth. That soil is crafted from hundreds of years of natural cycles. Think of organic material breaking down, rain pelting the Earth, and all the other stuff weather does.”

Did you catch my use of words like “yummy” and “stuff”? That type of language would get you thrown out of a college classroom, for sure. 

Okay. But Why Does It Matter?

I’ve hinted at this, so you might already get it. But writing conversationally matters because of your goal. 

Academic writing aims to inform, show intelligence and knowledge, and stay neutral. 

But copywriting? The goal is to serve your audience, connect with them, and persuade them to take a specific action.

For the average reader, reading something dry and academic requires a lot of brain energy. It doesn’t come easy and it can be boring. 

Conversational writing is easier for the brain to understand and digest. It’s what makes your reader see themselves (or an aspect of their experience) in your writing. And those are the conditions that your writing needs to meet for your audience to take action. 

You with me?

Good. Let’s look at tools you can use to help make your writing more conversational.

Tools for Conversational Writing

I’ve got a couple of tools that I use daily as a professional copywriter. In some way, they each help me make my writing more effective, engaging, and conversational. They are:

• Hemingwayapp — After I’ve written a piece, I’ll copy and paste it into this website. It gives me the readability (reading grade level), amount of words, uses of passive voice, and frequency of adverbs. It also tells me which sentences are hard and very hard to read. I’ll use this information to make tweaks. For copy, we’re aiming for a 3-6th grade reading level and short, easy-to-read sentences. 

• Verbatim Voice Tool — While this tool has some similar features to Hemingwayapp, it varies in a couple of major ways. It will tell you the tone and sentiment of your piece. It will also break down vocabulary and cadence by word and sentence length. You’ll also get to see your use of punctuation and the number of times you used “you” versus “me”. It’s a wonderful tool to help break down brand voice into measurable elements. But it also is great at showing you where your writing could be more conversational. 

Using these tools helps immensely. And improving a couple of key areas could be the difference between stuffy and connective writing.

Conversational Writing Can Increase Your Conversions

The goal of your marketing is to convert the reader. Maybe that means making a sale, booking a call, following you on social media, or joining your email list.

And your conversions will increase if you go with looser, more conversational writing. 

The more your reader can relate your words to their experience, the more likely they are to stick around. 

If you’re struggling to write conversationally, try the tips I’ve given in this blog. 

And if you’d rather pass your writing along to someone who’s already taken the time to learn this skill, I’d love to help. 

You can follow this link to see what it’s like to work with me and book your free 30-minute strategy session.