Someone has a great idea. But, as with any great idea, there’s no telling whether or not this idea will sell. In some scenarios, it’s then up to a copywriter and designer to help them figure out how likely it is to succeed with a “proof of concept” test.
What’s a Proof of Concept Test?
Let’s dig into this with an example. Say you work at a travel company and someone has an idea for an email that will send people alerts when hotels in a certain city go on sale. Great idea, right? That person could, of course, spend all the time to design and develop that email series and then try to get subscribers. If he gets lots of subscribers, great! His idea was a success.
But if no one’s interested, he wasted all that time designing and developing an email no one wants. So, what he could do instead is a proof of concept test. He could build something that would allow him to test whether or not people are interested in his email before he builds the email.
How Do You Test It?
In our example, the best way to test it is to build a sign-up box onto this travel company’s website and see if people sign up for it before creating the email they’re “signing up” for. This might sound a little disingenuous to some people. “They’re signing up for something we might not even give them!” This is true and, if you decided not to create the email after all and you feel strongly about it, you could always send a single email to let them know that the hotel alert email has been discontinued and you won’t be sending anything to their email address.
A very important note, though: Don’t do a proof of concept test that requires people to pay for something. If you take people’s money and don’t have a product to deliver, you will be in a whole heap of trouble. Proof of concept should require a simple action like clicking or signing up.
Writing Proof of Concept Copy
Now, how do you write proof of concept copy? It’s simple: write for the project as if it weren’t a test. That is, write exactly what you would write to get people to take that action. Don’t write anything like “We’re considering starting a hotel email. Are you interested?” or “We’re sorry, but the hotel alert isn’t available.” Write it as if that hotel alert exists; something like “Sign up now to get email alerts when hotel prices in Boston drop!” The copy has to be real sales copy to truly test whether or not someone would really and truly take the action.
Read More: Some Other Copywriting Projects
As a copywriter, you’ll be given lots of different projects, which makes for exciting and diversified work! Here are some other projects you’ll likely be assigned:
- Why Landing Pages Are the Perfect First Copywriting Projects
- How to Sell a Sales Page Project
- Writing Subject Lines for Solopreneurs
- 4 Steps to Write a Wildly Effective About Us Page
Your Turn
Have you written proof of concept copy? If so, what was your experience? Let us know in the comments below!
Last Updated on November 14, 2023
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