Got “Segue Block” When Selling in Copy? Here’s Something to Try

There’s a saying among copywriters that goes something like this:

“If you have writer’s block, you haven’t done enough research.”

In other words, if you know your audience well enough, any copy you write should just flow out.

I definitely agree with that in almost all circumstances — especially when it comes to the copywriting world. After all, copywriters have to learn everything about their clients’ markets/businesses/products, and so on.

But in my opinion, more research only works when you have the “blank page syndrome” type of writer’s block. You know, when you stare down that blinking cursor in your empty Google or Word Doc (not Apple Pages, that program royally sucks).

Sometimes, the writer’s block comes later in the copy.

You’ve told your story, and you know your own offer… but you can’t tie the two together. You can’t nail that segue/transition.

Every time you try to link them, it sounds so artificial. It sounds so disjointed and jarring. And most importantly…

It doesn’t sound like YOU.

I’ve run into this as a copywriter plenty of times — especially writing email copy.

A successful email is all about tying the body copy smoothly to the CTA. Yet when you attempt to link together a story from your life to your product, it just won’t flow right.

Not to worry: I have a simple solution for you.

Write Like You…

Talk.

Yep, that’s it.

You probably do this already (and you definitely should if you don’t)

Kind of like how I’m writing right now (if you ever meet me, I kinda talk like this).

But now I’m going to suggest to you a small technique to take this a step further:

Let’s say you’re writing a story-based piece of copy, like an email. You can’t nail that segue to tie the story to the CTA.

To solve this, let’s do what I’ll call the “Friend In a Bar” exercise. Imagine you’re talking to a friend at a bar. You’ve had a few drinks — the inhibitions are down a bit. Now, you’re talking to them excitedly about this product and trying to persuade. What would you tell them when you’re about 3 drinks deep?

I don’t necessarily mean the substance or meaning of the copy itself. The offer, angle, etc. is all the same. I mean, how would you phrase things?

Actually have this conversation out loud with yourself, though, imagining your friend is there on the other end. Recite the whole story from beginning to end, but in a way that you might speak to your friend.

I bet when you do this, you’ll naturally flow from the story to the “lesson” to the CTA. I’ve done it a ton of times when I had a fantastic email prepared for a client that was missing that transition, and it worked every time.

What’s really interesting is if you sit back down in silence and write this, I’ve found that your idea kind of “fades away”. You get stuck again.

So I will actually speak to myself out loud as I write and it helps me smooth out that transition.

What About Voice-to-Text?

At this point, you might be thinking, “why not just do voice-to-text for the whole thing?”

You’re right: I’ve heard some copywriters and business owners alike use voice-to-text. Personally, I don’t use voice-to-text because sometimes the voice assistant converts my speech into gibberish, forcing me to practically write sections from scratch.

But I’ve seen it work for other people, especially for shorter copy, like emails.

It can work if you’re working on long-form sales letters, too. The only caveat is that you might not do such a long piece of copy in one go. You might write some sections and voice-to-text others.

But my point is: voice-to-text can be a great tool for using this simple technique for tying together the story, the transition, and the CTA.

One thing to keep in mind: even if you write like you talk, you’ll have to cut out extraneous “ums,” “uhs”, and other assorted filler if you use them.

For a More Natural Segue

Tying a story together with an offer is a tried-and-true selling method, whether you’re writing a sales letter, email, and even case studies in certain instances.

Copywriters and business owners often nail both the story and the offer, but then struggle to tie them together so it flows.

All you have to do is remember that you’re having a conversation with the reader. Nothing more. That means by talking out the transition with yourself, you can find the right the words to tie everything together and create a wrinkle-free piece of copy.

Struggling to find the right words for your copy? Contact me today. Let’s see what we can do.