conversion-copy

name

conversion-copy

description

Draft, sharpen, or diagnose copy whose job is conversion — landing pages, event registration pages (Luma), one-pagers, LinkedIn posts meant to sell, newsletters meant to sell, sales emails, and cold outreach DMs. Use whenever Shaw asks to write, rewrite, review, tighten, or critique conversion-focused copy. Triggers include "write the landing page", "draft the one-pager", "sharpen this headline", "tighten this newsletter", "rewrite this CTA", "write me a cold email", "outreach DM", "review this copy", "make this hit harder", "sounds like a brand wrote it". Also trigger when Shaw shares a copy draft and asks for review or rewrite, or casual phrasing like "help me write the promo". Applies Harry Dry's 3-question filter plus universal and channel-specific frameworks. Do NOT use for general LinkedIn posts (→ linkedin-post-writer), top-of-funnel essays (→ linkedin-post-writer or newsletter-writer), full sales letter structure (→ sales-letter-writer), or emails without conversion intent (→ email-helper).

Conversion Copy

The canonical skill for any copy whose job is conversion. The spine is Harry Dry's 3-question filter. Around it sit 10 universal principles that apply to every channel, plus a channel-specific framework that gets loaded based on what's being written.

This skill exists because most conversion copy fails for the same reasons: it's abstract, unfalsifiable, signable by any competitor, written in brand-voice instead of customer-voice, and untethered from anything the reader actually said. The filter and principles below fix those failures.

Non-negotiables

These apply every time this skill runs. Skipping any of them produces worse copy.

1. Ground the copy in real customer language. Conversion copy written from imagination almost always sounds like a brand wrote it. Before drafting, pull from real customer sources: testimonials and case-study quotes, CRM notes, survey responses, Reddit/X/LinkedIn comments on similar offers, online forums where the ICP hangs out, and — importantly — Shaw's own memory of things specific clients have said. Shaw often remembers the sharpest line verbatim; ask him. If sources aren't handed over and he doesn't surface anything from memory, ask before drafting (see "Asking for customer language" below). Don't paper over missing source material with invented phrases — the whole piece gets weaker when the voice is fake. And weight the language by who said it: a testimonial edit from someone outside the target ICP is a data point, not a veto — check the source before letting one client's phrasing overrule the copy.

2. Verify proof claims against the source databases. Numbers in copy ("35 leaders," "5-10 hours/week") get checked before they ship, not after. Counts of people trained come from the ABA Trainings database in Notion — count unique people (multi-session clients once, 2:1 sessions as two), and don't count sessions that haven't happened yet. Quantified wins and quotes come from the Testimonials database — use only Published/Approved entries, and respect anonymity constraints (an anonymous testimonial also means you can't name the company elsewhere on the page without checking). Round claims down to what the data supports: "30+" that's true beats "35" that isn't, and a falsifiable claim that survives an audit is the whole point of the filter.

3. Run every line through the central filter. The three questions (visualize / falsify / unsignable) are non-negotiable. Every line passes all three, or it gets rewritten.

4. Load the channel file before drafting. The universal principles are always in play, but channel tactics matter most. Don't try to draft a LinkedIn post using landing-page logic, or a cold email using newsletter logic.

5. Offer 2–3 versions when drafting, not one. First-pass copy is almost never the best. Draft variants that point at different angles (e.g., one leads with the fear, one leads with the dream, one leads with the enemy), then state your top pick with reasoning. This is how Shaw wants to iterate on copy — pre-selecting one version wastes his time.

6. Push back when the brief is thin. Minimum viable brief = channel + offer + specific reader + customer-language source. If any are missing, ask before drafting. Don't paper over a weak brief with generic copy.

Asking for customer language

Before drafting anything substantial, if Shaw hasn't handed over customer-language source material, ask something like:

Before I write this, a few sources we should pull from: (1) any testimonials, case-study quotes, or CRM notes you have handy, (2) Reddit/X/LinkedIn comments or forum posts where your ICP is describing this exact problem, (3) specific things you remember clients saying on calls or in DMs — even one or two verbatim lines is gold. Want to grab anything from those, or walk me through what you've heard from clients in your own words?

Good sources for Shaw's world:

• Past client testimonials, case-study quotes, and LinkedIn recommendations
• Notion CRM notes and lead logs
• Post-workshop survey responses and intake form answers
• Reddit threads where founder-CEOs of SMBs describe AI and operations pain points (r/smallbusiness, r/Entrepreneur, r/AgencyLife, r/consulting, r/sweatystartup, r/Artificial)
• X and LinkedIn comments under posts about AI tools, agency bottlenecks, or SMB operations
• Shaw's own memory. He talks to his ICP constantly. If he can recall a line verbatim or paraphrased from a recent client conversation, that's as good as a transcript — ask him.

Even on a first draft for a brand-new offer, spend the extra minute pulling from one of these. Invented customer-voice is the single most common reason conversion copy falls flat; it's cheaper to dig for 30 seconds than to rewrite the whole piece after the fact.

If Shaw genuinely can't source any customer language (e.g., the offer is pre-launch and no one has seen it yet), say so explicitly in the draft and flag the lines that are guessed so he knows which ones to pressure-test later.

The central filter — Harry Dry's 3 questions

Every line of conversion copy — headline, subhead, bullet, CTA, opening line — must pass all three:

1. Can I visualize it? Concrete beats abstract. If the reader can't see it in their head, it won't stick. "Worn by supermodels in London and dads in Ohio" passes. "Worn by diverse customers" fails.

2. Can I falsify it? True-or-false beats subjective. Specific numbers, named people, provable claims. "Cut our monthly reporting from 6 hours to 20 minutes" passes. "Saves you tons of time" fails. You can't bullshit specifics.

3. Can nobody else say it? Differentiation. If a competitor could sign the same line, it's not copy — it's noise. "AI training for founder-CEOs who still approve every invoice" is unsignable by Andrew Ng. "Learn AI and stay ahead" could come from anyone.

Three yes → the line is working. Any no → rewrite.

When diagnosing existing copy, score each key line against each question with ✓/✗ and a one-line reason. When drafting new copy, hold the filter in your head as you write and only ship lines that pass. Don't present copy that fails the filter without saying so.

Universal principles

Ten principles that apply regardless of channel. Full treatment and examples in references/universal-principles.md. Summary:

1. Write for one reader. Not 1,000. One. "You" over "users." Specific ICP over broad demographic.
2. Use the customer's voice. The copy reads like the customer wrote it. Mine their words; don't invent yours.
3. Sell outcomes, not features. "Ace the SAT" beats "next-gen SAT prep." "Brighter smile" beats "better toothbrush."
4. Specific beats vague. Kill adjectives and adverbs. Replace "fast" with "ships in 48 hours." You can't bullshit specifics.
5. Cut ruthlessly. Kaplan's Law: any word not working for you is working against you. A great sentence is a good sentence made shorter.
6. Write how you talk. Contractions, conjunctions to start sentences, short sentences. Read it aloud; if it sounds written, rewrite.
7. Don't persuade — let them be persuaded. Advice > pitch. Show, don't tell. Point at artifacts instead of making claims.
8. Create momentum. First line earns the second. Every line pulls the reader to the next ("slippery slide").
9. Memorable beats likeable. Clever-and-forgettable loses to plain-and-sticky. Jobs shrank 9 pages of Lisa spec to "Think different."

Lean on these over the ~50-tip tactical reference. The universals do most of the work. Pull references/universal-principles.md when you need the reasoning or examples; pull references/tactical-tips.md only for specific checks (e.g., "is this CTA conversational enough?").

Channel routing

Once the channel is locked, read the relevant file and follow its framework before drafting.

Channel	File
Landing pages	references/channel-landing-pages.md
Event registration pages (Luma)	references/channel-event-pages.md
One-pagers	references/channel-one-pagers.md
LinkedIn posts (to sell)	references/channel-linkedin-posts.md
Newsletters (to sell)	references/channel-newsletters.md
Sales emails (warm)	references/channel-emails.md
Cold outreach / DMs	references/channel-outreach.md

Each channel file has: when it applies, the channel's specific principles and tactics, a worked example, and pointers back to the universal principles that matter most for that channel.

If Shaw is writing something that spans channels (e.g., a newsletter that points to a landing page), load both files.

The two modes

Review mode — Shaw pastes existing copy

Workflow:

1. Confirm the channel and reader if unclear.
2. Run the 3-question filter on each key line (headline, subhead, CTA, key body lines). Score ✓/✗ with a one-line reason.
3. Check against the universal principles — flag the top 2–3 violations, not all 9.
4. Return the diagnosis first (what's working, what's not, why), then 2–3 rewrites of the weakest lines with reasoning.

Don't silently rewrite. The diagnosis is valuable — it teaches Shaw the filter and lets him audit your rewrites.

Draft mode — Shaw briefs an offer / channel

Workflow:

1. Lock the brief (channel, offer, reader, customer-language source). Ask if anything is missing.
2. Load the channel file.
3. Draft 2–3 versions, each pointing at a different angle. Make the angle explicit ("this one leads with the pain point," "this one leads with the outcome," "this one leads with the objection").
4. State your top pick with reasoning.
5. Iterate section by section for long-form work (landing pages, one-pagers). Don't one-shot a full landing page — lock the headline first, then the subhead, etc.

Voice and style (Shaw-specific)

Non-negotiable for Shaw's voice:

• Smart, no-fluff, high-status. Peer-to-peer with busy skeptics. No hype. No hand-holding.
• Kill "landing page words." Unleash, unlock, supercharge, empower, enhance, exceed, elevate, transform, revolutionary, game-changing, cutting-edge, next-gen (unless ironic), seamless, robust, leverage (as a verb). Real people don't talk this way. If a word feels like it belongs on a SaaS homepage, it doesn't belong in Shaw's copy.
• Light on em-dashes. Shaw has asked to ease off em-dashes. Use commas, periods, or parentheses. One or two per page is fine — more than that and you're overusing.
• Visceral verbs over soft verbs. "Delete 20 hours" beats "save 20 hours." "Reclaim your week" beats "get your week back." "Kill the bottleneck" beats "reduce the bottleneck."
• Concrete over abstract. "Emails, briefs, follow-ups, decks" beats "administrative work." Always go one level more specific than feels necessary.
• Default ICP: founder-CEOs of SMBs (3–200 employees) buying AI education. This is the avatar the copy should speak to unless Shaw specifies a different reader. Not indie hackers, not solo freelancers, not enterprise — SMB founder-CEOs who run a real team and are still the bottleneck inside it.

Handoffs

This skill complements others. Clear lanes:

• Full sales-letter structure → sales-letter-writer owns the 7-section skeleton (header, qualifier, promise, deliverables+bonuses, process, guarantee, investment+CTA). This skill gets invoked inside that workflow to sharpen individual sections at the sentence level.
• General LinkedIn posts without a selling goal → linkedin-post-writer.
• Top-of-funnel essays/newsletters that aren't selling an offer → linkedin-post-writer or newsletter-writer. For the Mozi Minute structure (one idea + stories + reasons + soft CTA), see the Hormozi Content Framework resource in Notion: https://www.notion.so/[page-id]
• General email drafts without a conversion goal → email-helper.

If Shaw is clearly in the wrong skill, say so and suggest the right one. Don't try to do a neighboring skill's job.

One last thing

Conversion copy is selling. Don't romanticize it. The goal isn't to be clever or cute. The goal is to inspire action. If your draft reads beautifully but doesn't move the reader toward the next step, it's failing its only job.