Case study: RiskOptics
A good click-through rate (CTR) confirms your email piqued your prospect’s curiosity — an especially challenging task when you lack behavioral intel on them, such as past content downloads.
So, how do you whet their appetite? Send several offers via a curated newsletter.
That’s the strategy Darci Terlizzi, Senior Digital Marketing Manager for cyber risk management SaaS company RiskOptics (formally Reciprocity), employed as part of her larger lead nurturing program. She had enticing offers: expert analysis, free conference passes, and webinar invites. But leads weren’t biting.
Why?
Lackluster content.
Specifically, the content was vague and uninspired. And it was “content.” Not copy. It was informational instead of persuasive; bland rather than punchy; and formal when it should’ve been conversational.
Another issue? Voice and tone. RiskOptics strives for smart, witty, and playful. What Terlizzi got from her previous writers was pretty “lackluster.”
Since Terlizzi’s goal was to compel action, I leveraged two persuasive formats, storytelling and conversion copywriting, to up her clicks and conversions.
Some industries are perfectly suited for the hero’s journey brand narrative, and cyber risk management is one of them. Because the customer is up against REAL villains (hackers!) — as well as figurative ones like limited resources, rising regulations, and the complexity of their roles.
My first step, then, was to position RiskOptics as CISO and infosec professionals’ trusted sidekick, guiding and helping them throughout their mission. How’d this translate onto the page? By leaning into the crux of any good story: conflict. And the devices — narrative, metaphor, simile, etc.
Conflict doesn’t just make for a good story, though. It’s persuasive.
In fact, the most popular copywriting formula (Problem, Agitate, Solution) centers around it, which is why I used PAS, along with an array of other tools:
✔ Voice-of-customer data for copy that sounds like the prospect (not marketing).
✔ Copywriting frameworks — because who doesn’t love a proven formula?
✔ “Call to value” instead of “call to action”: think “Up Your Influence” vs “Download eBook.”
✔ Specificity to bring prospects’ moments of highest tension and pleasure to life.
✔ Urgency, scarcity, FOMO, and the rest of the persuasion techniques.
✔ Fascinators, future pacing, and benefits stacking to sell prospects on the solution.
✔ And many more…
This new, strategic approach did not go unnoticed…
“Auroriele excels at crafting sharp copy and pointed CTAs that focus on driving conversions,” says Terlizzi, adding that, “RiskOptics’ upper management took notice of the punchier CTAs, routinely giving them digital high fives.”
Of course, none of these fixes would’ve been possible without a deep understanding of RiskOptics’ target audience. For that, I leveraged the company’s market research and personas, as well as mined their case studies and testimonials for voice-of-customer data.
“Three months after we began using Auroriele’s copy in our newsletter, we saw a nearly 110% increase in average CTR,” recalls Terlizzi.
Not only did the copy improvements solve Terlizzi’s initial problem of low click-through rates, but they also resulted in record-breaking conversions.
Positioning infosec professionals as heroes and painting their day-to-day “battles” with vivid imagery on the page proved wildly successful. For example, one promotional section highlighting their role in fighting the global cybercrime epidemic BROKE conversion records.
Future pacing prospects’ lives after acting on a different offer (including stacking all the benefits they’d enjoy) broke that prior conversion record. RiskOptics sold out of its promotional offer!
Terlizzi was so pleased with the results, she has since employed my services for her other demand-generation programs, as well as recommended me for specific projects in the company’s content and customer marketing departments.
“We rely on Auroriele for the timely delivery of on-point, well-researched copy that has our target audience top of mind,” says Terlizzi.
Struggling to move the needle on your email CTR and conversions? Book your FREE, 30-minute consult to see how I can help!
