C = 4M + 3V + 2(I-F) - 2A: the (almost) mathematical formula behind millionaire salespages — CXL Institute Review

A practical and actionable explanation of how to use a replicable and methodologically proven formula to sell more.

I’ve been working as a copywriter for almost eight years. Over this time, I have had the opportunity to write for completely different formats and customer profiles. There were dozens of scripts for corporate presentations, hundreds of blog articles, and countless sales pages for direct sales and ad campaigns for Facebook Ads.

Whether the client is a multinational or a micro-entrepreneur, I notice a pattern in the feedbacks that remains today: the idea that I am “creative” and that I was born with the “gift of writing”.

Do you really think so?

Since 2018, when I started working with sales pages and ads campaigns for national e-commerce, I suspect that copywriting has much more to do with numbers and well-defined processes than with a natural aptitude for writing.

Word? Google Docs? Nope. At Carvvo, e-commerce that taught me a lot about direct response campaigns, my great companion was a spreadsheet. I used it to register the most common headline structures, a bank of product benefits according to each level of the funnel, and the results (with statistical relevance) of numerous tests performed on Facebook Ads.

Last week, while being led by the brilliant teachings of Momoko Price and Peep Laja, I was certain: persuasive texts are the result of a well-defined process of data collection and analysis.

Still don’t believe? So, here’s a practical and actionable explanation of how MECLab’s Conversion Heuristic Formula can help you to sell more.

What is the MECLABS Conversion Heuristic Formula

What elements should be evaluated in a conversion optimization process? Which of these elements have the greatest impact when your visitor says “yes” to your offer? Where to focus your team efforts?

These are just some of the questions that the Conversion Heuristic Formula, patented by the MECLABS Institute, proposes to answer.

This “formula” is a replicable and methodologically tested framework that uses mathematical symbols to synthesize the elements that can increase or decrease your conversion rate.

While the “C” represents the probability of conversion, the other side of the equation brings:

• the user’s motivation, represented by the letter (M);
• the clarity of the value proposition, symbolized by (V);
• the Incentive to take action (I);
• the Friction elements of the process (F);
• the Anxiety about entering information (A).

Image available at: MECLABS Institute website.

Contrary to what may appear at first glance, the formula is not a mathematical equation to be solved. According to the MECLABS Institute itself, its objective is to act as a “thought tool” to systematize tests and increase conversion probabilities based on changes made to each of the elements covered in the formula.

How to use each element in your favor

Now that you already know what is the MECLABS Conversion Heuristic Formula and what it can do for your conversion rate, let’s take a closer look and discover how you can manipulate each element to your favor.

Probability of conversion (C):

According to the MECLABS Institute, many students start to manipulate the elements on the right side of the formula before determining what the desired conversion goal is. That’s a huge mistake. Sometimes what your business needs is a higher revenue number and not only a higher conversion rate.

This is why the first step to manipulate the formula is to determine what your objective is. Answering questions like “Who am I trying to convert?” and “What am I trying to convert them to?” will help you to be more assertive!

User motivation (M)

As the number 4 in front of the M indicates, the user’s motivation is the factor that most interferes with the probability of conversion ©. Furthermore, it is the only element of the equation that cannot be controlled, as it signals an intrinsic factor to the user.

Despite this, you can understand the moment (when) and the reasons (why) that led the user to your page to understand how to shape your message and communicate the main value of your product or service.

To manipulate user motivations, those guiding questions suggested by the MECLABS Institute can help:

• Where is your website’s traffic coming from?
• What information does the prospect need to have before buying?
• What are your pains? What does he think is relevant?

Clarity of the value proposition (V)

A value proposition is the main reason a prospect should buy from you and not from your competitors.

According to Peep Laja, a winning value proposition communicates what product or service you are selling, what is your end-benefit, and what makes your offer really unique.

If you want to increase the clarity of your value proposition and, consequently, optimize your conversion, it is worth analyzing the four elements proposed by MECLABS:

• Appeal: is your offer desirable?
• Exclusivity: where else your client can get your offer?
• Credibility: how much proof of your claims do you have?
• Clarity: your prospect clearly understands what you are selling?

Incentive to take action (I) and Friction elements (F)

Basically, friction is any element that makes it difficult for the prospect to take the desired action. Forms with many fields and pages that arrange information in a disorganized way are some common examples.

Incentives, in turn, are the elements that facilitate the path that prospects take to the desired conversion. A call to action inserted at the right time can be a nice example.

To reduce friction and increase conversion, you need to keep two different components in mind:

• Length-oriented friction: usually caused by the number of steps in a process, layout, or form.
• Difficulty-oriented friction: This happens when your website is so confused that your users need to make an effort to take action. Usually, it is directly related to design aspects.

Anxiety (A)

Finally, anxiety is psychological friction caused by the feeling that the purchase process is not safe enough or that the product or service will not be able to meet the user’s expectations. It is directly related to uncertainties, objections, and perceived risks.

Each type of objection requires taking a specific action to reduce anxiety. Some of the most common best practices involve the use of social proof, either through customer testimonials and case studies to attest to the veracity of results or third-party seals to prove site and checkout security.

In practice: 5 steps to use MECLABS Conversion Heuristic Formula to boost your copywriting

Okay. You already understood how the Conversion Heuristic Formula works and what each element means. But… how to apply all this information to optimize the copy of your sales page?

Throughout the classes, Momoko Price reveals her process for reaching much more assertive copies using the MECLABS Formula. I synthesized part of the methodology used by the copywriter in 5 steps!

1. Find out about your users’ motivation by applying surveys with your website visitors: the best way to understand the motivation behind buying your product is to know the opinion of your visitors. Simple questionnaires, applied via pop-ups, can help you to discover the main desired outcomes, the most latent pain points, and which are purchase prompts. Visitors will also help you understand the main objections to the purchase process.
2. Listen to your customer base to improve your value proposition: customers are the biggest source of insight when it comes to value propositions. Since they’ve already paid for and used your product, interviewing them will help you to understand what are your products’ unique benefits, delightful features, and deal-breakers. You can also use these interviews to mine amazing testimonials.
3. Prioritize the results of questionnaires and interviews: now that you’ve gathered all this information, prioritize it! Using spreadsheets and pivot tables can help you gain even more clarity about repeating patterns — including the most frequent phrases and expressions.
4. Find the intersection between what your visitors want to find and what your customers most appreciate about your product: your unique value proposition is there! Instead of staring at the blank sheet and trying to write from scratch, listen to your visitors and customers and use all the data you collect to make your copy assertive and persuasive.
5. Use Conversion Heuristic Formula to guide the order of elements on your page: it’s no use reducing friction before showing your visitor that he’s in the right place (motivation!) and that your product is different (value!). Structure your sales page so that motivation and value appear before anxiety reduction and incentive.

So, do you still think that a good copy is the result of creativity, or have I managed to convince you to believe that copywriting is all about data and method?

Tell me in the comments and I’ll see you next Sunday!

This article was originally posted on fefy.com. It is part of a series of 12 posts sharing my main learnings during the Conversion Optimization Minidegree, provided by CXL Institute.

You can read the previous articles on the links below

• Week 01: 5 conversion rate optimization best practices to increase your results
• Week 02: The (almost) mathematical formula behind millionaire salespages
• Week 03: Neuromarketing, emotional content strategy and influence design
• Week 04: Google Analytics for Beginners: an almost illustrated guide
• Week 05: Landing Page Optimization and Conversion Research
• Week 06: Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager
• Week 07: User Research and Fast and Rigorous User Personas
• Week 08: Heuristic Analysis, Google Analytics Audit and Voice of Customer Data
• Week 09: A/B Testing Foundations, How to Run Tests, and Testing Strategies