Copywriting Project Questionnaire

Copywriting Project Questionnaire
Awesome — it's time to get down to business.

To write you the best possible copy, I need as much info as I can get on your product/service, your customers, and your business. Hence, this survey.

Yes, there are a lot of questions.

You're free to leave stuff blank; but remember, the more I know, the better the copy I can create for you — and the section on your customer especially is absolutely critical for good copy.

You can also provide me with any literature, documentation or web references if they contain a thorough answer to any of the questions.

You’ll note I’ve provided example answers below each question.

They’re extremely thorough.

In a perfect world, you would also have this level of detail. But you probably don’t.

That’s okay.

Just tell me what you know.

But one warning: DO NOT MAKE ANYTHING UP.

Only write down things you know to be true.

If you don’t know it, just don’t say it. Cool?

Okay. To start with, let’s cover a few core details about this project …
You Name/Company*
Example: Tyson McIntyre from Company name
Quick summary of the project*
Example: Sales page rewrite for my ‘Name of Program’ course
Project deadlines [Please include both hard deadline (when this must go live) and soft deadline (when you would like the copy)]*
Example: I will launch the course on December 14th. However, I need a week to set up and test everything, so I would like the ﬁnal copy done by December 7th.

About Your Copy
What’s the format of this copy?*
Example: Long-form sales page, email, product description, etc.
What is your expectation of the copy length? If you have any particular requirement for maximum (or minimum) length, or a rough wordcount or page count you’re targeting. Otherwise, I will determine what’s appropriate(recommended).*
Example: Happy to leave it up to you.
How will people end up at this copy? Direct click-through from a website? From your mailing list after a sales campaign? Google trafﬁc? etc. Please give me as close as possible to the EXACT sequence someone goes through to get this page. If there's a Facebook ad campaign, I need to see the exact ads. If you promote it via emails, I need to see the emails. If it’s via Google keywords you’re targeting with PPC ads, I want to know the keywords. I want to know exactly what someone is thinking ﬁve seconds before they get to this page. Depending on your copy, this could be one of the most important questions in this survey, so please don’t skip it.*
Example: I’ll drive trafﬁc to this mainly through sales emails to my email list. My list has a good relationship with me so they know about my brand. Also, the emails will do a lot of the selling, so they should have a good understanding of the product before they even land on this page. You can assume people are landing on this page knowing the course is called “Name of Program” and what it is about. I may also run this Facebook ad to promote it, which I have uploaded in a separate document so you can see:
What other copy do you like/want to resemble? Provide some links to examples of copy that you like, and why you like it — so I can understand your taste and reference, and write in a ‘voice’ that suits you. Or even better, if you have a particular page you’d like to be close to, let me know. Be as speciﬁc as you can — it helps me to nail what you're after.*
Example: I really like the Name of Program/Course sales page by Name of Company I like his style and humour. I also like the way he uses subheads to tell the story on the page.
If this is a rewrite job — please give me a) the old copy and b)everything you didn't like about this copy or are trying to improve. If applicable.
Example: You can ﬁnd the old version of this page here: I didn’t like the tone of that copy as it was a bit too aggressive, and I don’t think it told the full sales story. It also didn’t sell as well as I’d hoped.

Who Is Your Customer?
OK, here's the most important part of this whole survey: understanding who your customer is.

It’s critical to know the language they actually use, so for these questions, draw on your customer research and actual quotes

(not imagination unless you absolutely know them inside-out!).

Doing this helps to avoid unrealistic jargon

(so if you ﬁnd yourself writing “I desire asset management solutions I and my family can trust to provide quality customer service”, you should notice something’s not right!)
Who is your perfect customer? Demographics, income, job, location, beliefs, internet usage habits, etc. More speciﬁc is better(and more effective). And importantly: how do they describe themselves ? Don’t skimp on the detail here. To do this, you might ﬁnd it helpful to visualise 3-5 of your best prospects —real-life customers who you would love to clone.*
Example: Doctors who are struggling to balance their work and personal life. They are usually, between 35–45. They aren’t from one particular place; the majority of prospects tend to be from Western countries who are ﬂuent in English, but there are also some who speak English as a second language. About 75% are male. They’re not brand-spanking new out of medical school; they’ve either been working in a clinic for a while, with a view to start their own practice, or they’ve already started their own practice, but business isn’t exactly booming. They focus mainly on generating the money to keep the business afloat, or living up to the high expectations they (and the public) place upon themselves because they know that if they don't the consequences can be disastrous for their careers and livelihoods. They’ve already bought several business/making money courses already to try and learn how to be less dependent upon their 1 career, or to better invest the money they have made from it, so this won’t be their ﬁrst course; they are reasonably comfortable with learning online.
How well do they know you and your offer? (For the technically minded: ‘market awareness’.) Have they been on your email list for years? Are they on your email list at all? Are they just Googling for a solution right now?*
Example: I mainly plan to offer this product to people on my email list. I mail my list daily so I have a strong bond with them. So for this project you can assume they know me and my brand very well. (There may also be some afﬁliate trafﬁc coming to this page who know me less well, but I don’t want to bloat the page just for those people.)
Are we able to survey them if needed? I often use surveys as a tool to get to know your market’s desires and pains more deeply. This means you will need to have a list (preferably an email list) you can survey. (If you plan to sell to cold trafﬁc the answer is obviously ‘no’.)*
Example: No problem. I have an email list and we could survey it if needed.
What are their problems/burning pains/fears? Preferably, those which your product actually solves. What’s causing them to suffer every day? What does that suffering look like? What situation/outcome do they desperately want to avoid? What are they afraid of, guilty about, frustrated by, or seething mad at? I want you to go to town on this answer.*
Example: Their biggest burning fear is that they will look back at their life at all they missed because of how hard they had to work to upkeep an image of perfections and success as a 'busy' doctor. They suffer from degrees of perfectionism. They look at other successful career and business paths and assume that others do not have to handle as much responsibility as they do - that weight can be crushing at times. They feel as though they will let their patients down if they don't show up to work 110%, yet they are letting their family down if they do. This is the deep motivation behind why they keep buying business/making money products — this feeling that they need to find some way to make the same amount of money they do as a doctor in some other way. They want to stop feeling like they're putting "band-aids" on peoples problems due to conventional medicine practices.
What would their worst nightmare be? Imagine the problems you’ve just discussed were left untreated, and became the absolute worst they could be. Or alternatively, imagine the total nightmare situation these people fear. What would that scenario look like for them?*
Example: Their worst nightmare is that one of these days, they will make a mistake because they weren't paying attention - or a false accusation, and they will end up having their license to practice threatened. The consequences by the board of medicine can force them to go to a program (charging them over $30k) that deals more with addictions than depression or anxiety, so it doesn't end up helping. they end up losing their license to practice - threatening their income and livelihood would be the last straw.
What are their hopes/dreams/goals? What do they really want for themselves? Obviously, this would entail solving all the problems above. But is there anything else they want? What would an ideal day look like for them? What would they wish for if they had a magic wand, button or pill? What would they be able to do, feel or be, that they aren’t able to now? Don’t constrain this to reality. Just tell me their utter fantasy.*
Example: Speciﬁcally to the topic of this product (product type), what they really want is a step-by-step system that shows them exactly what to do, to package together an offer that allows them to see more of the patients that appreciate their work and are happy to pay. They want to see less of the patients who view them as a transaction. They want this product to be clear and customized to how their medical practice can implement strategies to help them administratively. They want it to be push-button simple. (This isn’t realistic, but it’s what they want.) And the reason they want that is the conﬁdence it would give them. A new client coming in wouldn’t faze them at all — they’d know exactly what they needed to do to have someone pay them cash for their services. They’d love to know what successful functional medicine practice owners know, and have the same conﬁdence they assume those functional medicine practice owners have. In a longer-term sense, their REAL desire is ultimately to be the proud owner of a practice that does not rely on insurance companies for income cash flow and they can run their practice according to what THEY feel is best for their patients based on their own understanding of medicine. They don’t say it, but one of the reasons they got into this ﬁeld is that so many people held it out as this utopia where you make a lot of money to see patients you love — then you do whatever else you want. They would love that.
What are the barriers standing in their way? What's stopping them from achieving those goals? What's STOPPING them from solving their problems, and achieving what they want? Put another way, why have they put up with the problem for so long? Do they not know how to solve it? Do they not have time? Can they not afford it? Are they overwhelmed by options? Are they afraid of what might happen if they tried? Do they have misconceptions?*
Example: It’s not so much a matter of time or money as that they don’t know where to ﬁnd this system they’re looking for. If it were in a course they would buy it right away. Since they’ve already bought a few programs they have just the slightest fear that it might not exist, though they are still willing to try to ﬁnd it. They believe that if they just knew what all the "happy doctors" knew, this problem would go away, but they still feel they don’t know it yet.
Tell me about their journey to this moment. How long have they had this problem? When did they start searching for a solution? What brought them to you?*
Example: The problem started when they ﬁrst became a new doctor. The pressure to perform, has been with them from the ﬁrst time they ever started practicing medicine. Or perhaps shortly after that. That was exciting but they soon realized if they were going to be ‘happy' about this they would need to choose to say no and give up career advancement opportunities and risk other bureaucratic consequences (or even patients dying). They have never felt like they've had a firm grasp on the balance of work and life. They have missed more and more of their children's lives as the years have gone on because of work. They’ve technically been searching for a solution the whole time, looking for and buying other people’s business/investment/make money programs. Nothing has truly solved the problem for them though, which is why they’re still willing to buy another program if it could. They’ve been on my email list for several months and trust that I know what I’m talking about.
Are they aware of any other solutions for the problem (competitors etc.)? If so, which? How much do they generally know? Have they bought any competing solutions? What was their experience if so? Name speciﬁc names and brands if you can. Have the other solutions they’ve tried not worked? Do they feel ripped off or cheated by any of them?*
Example: Oh, they know (and follow) a bunch of other business and investment coaches. Probably people like [influencer] , and [influencer] . They’ve probably bought products/programs such as [course/program/solution name] or [course/program/solution name]. These have generally been helpful, especially the parts that contain ‘systems’ to follow. This is what they really want. But it hasn’t left them feeling satisﬁed. The imbalance still remains. But nobody has outright ‘ripped them off’ or anything. As a side note, they never ﬁnished the majority of these programs. They got through part, but not all the way through. This would be a problem in selling them another course.
Is there anyone else other than the reader involved in the purchase decision? A boss, a spouse, a committee? If so, who, and what will THEY get out of the product?*
Example: These people are generally have spouses as other stakeholders in the decision. Some are married and they will need to convince their spouse, though generally this kind of purchase is quite easy to justify to a spouse as an investment in their career, so I don’t think this is a big problem.

Who Are You?
Now that we know who your customer is, it's time to talk about you.

Imagine your ideal customer — the one we've just described — is sitting in front of you, and you’ve told them you could help.

Why should they trust you? Assume you’re talking to your perfect prospect. Don’t use jargon unless they LOVE jargon

(pro tip: nobody loves jargon… even customers in B2B markets are people who speak in real English!)
Why should they trust you? Give the most potent summary of your credentials that you can. A qualiﬁcation? Written a book? Sold thousands of products? Hundreds of happy customers? Been in business for 20 years? Tell me how you’d introduce yourself to a skeptical prospect.*
Example: I’m a doctor's business coach who has built my own successful functional medicine practice. As a business coach I have helped several physicians take control of their practices and breathe easier knowing they don't have to keep living the exhausting pattern of pleasing everyone, yet missing out on their own life and their own family. I also am one of the early pioneers of functional medicine and have travelled across the U.S. consulting practices to help them implement the principles of functional medicine into their business. You can see more about me on my website at "companyname.com"
What is your/your company’s story/history? Give details as relevant; more detail for an About page or sales page; just an outline for a sales email or home page. You can provide a link to this info, but please ensure that all the information is easily accessible there.*
Example: I began as a medical physician myself at a clinic. Soon I realized the hospitals did not care for their doctors, and I decided I wanted more control. So I started my own practice. My early years were a struggle to balance compliance with insurance companies, billing, staffing, my patients and my family. After missing out on much of my children's younger lives, and suffering from a life-changing stroke in my early thirties, I decided to start looking for a fundamental change in how I was practicing as a doctor. I stumbled across the early stages of functional medicine. Studied it. Began applying it with my patients. Learned how to package my services in a way people would pay cash for, and started my own functional medicine practice. I was able to stop being forced into conventional paths of medicine by "compliance" dictated by insurance companies, and actually solve my patients root issues so they would stay better. I won multiple awards and became a speaker. I then started coaching several of my peers how to make the same changes in their practices.
What is your product’s Unique Selling Proposition? What’s different, better, more reliable or special about what you do/offer? There’s always something. If you’re stuck, try these questions: What’s the one thing you would wish for your customers above all else after using your product? What’s better about your approach/product than the market leader? What unpleasant thing do other methods involve that you avoid?*
Example: As far as I know, "Program Name" is the only comprehensive system out there for approaching a functional medicine practice profitably. It’s a graded, step-by-step system that not only shows you how to implement a cash-based functional medicine system into your practice, but also exactly how to create an administrative process that provides you the time you want to live your life more in harmony with family and work together. This is something that nobody else teaches. And of course, my brand adds its own level of uniqueness — my customers have a unique trust with me. That’s actually a game-changer for people who’ve bought tons of courses they haven’t completed. It’s super easy to consume — it's weekly progress that can be customized for your business.
What Have You Got For Me?
Assume you’re still in front of your perfect prospect at a bar, and you have them interested.
They want to know what you’ve got. Time to make your pitch!
"What have you got for me?" In a few lines, sum up your ‘elevator pitch’ for what you have and what it will do for your customer. Relate this back to the customer’s burning pains/fears and hopes/dreams. How does your offering solve their problem or help them attain their goal? If this is your dream customer, what is the dream solution they’ll get?*
Example: I’ve created a program for physicians that will ﬁnally turn their medical practice from an overwhelming prison, to a cash-based medical practice with the staffing and system in place to secure the time you want for your family and hobbies. You will get the exact strategies for pricing your packages, what equipment to buy - what staff you need - what processes you need to make sure your practice runs smoothly - how to gradually phase out using insurance to bill patients who come in - and functional medicine training. Basically, it’s everything you need to stop worrying about missing out on your life, or worrying about avoiding a 'crucial mistake' under pressure that could cost you your license.
"What comes in the box?" What is actually included? How many modules? What bonuses? How many weeks worth of service? What's the procedure? (Note: it may be helpful to just link me to this if you have it somewhere. Especially if this is an online course, seeing a syllabus and list of bonuses will probably be easier than you writing it here. Also, if this is an information product, please make sure I have a copy.)*
Example: It’s probably easier if I just set you up with a copy of the course/program/services so you can see. Basically it’s just the course/service, no added coaching or anything. There are around 90 short videos and pdfs that take you through the whole process or show examples of me doing it.
"But couldn't I just ..." Think of the other options that your prospect has (which you mentioned earlier). Why do you think you're superior to those options? Are you cheaper? Proven to be more effective? Have more reviews? A special mechanism that no other option has? etc.*
Example: Nobody else has a system like this for building a successful cash-based medical practice. Everyone else just has a vague description of how as a doctor you can "get into real estate", or "start practicing functional medicine today". Plus they say things like”[whatever your market says]", which is intimidating and not very practical. That’s what you’re up against if you try learning from someone else … my system is WAY more nuanced than that.
What do previous customers say? In other words, testimonials. Do you have these online or saved somewhere?*
Example: I only have a few beta testers so far, but I’ve attached these in a separate document here .
Why do non-buyers say they didn’t buy? (If applicable) The counterpoint to the question above — what objections have prevented people from buying? We’ll need to crush these in the copy.*
Example: I have a survey that I use to ask people why they didn’t buy. I have some of the answers in a separate document here . The most common reasons are “I can’t afford it”; “I don’t think market research is my biggest problem”; “I feel like I already have a good system for market research”; “I’ve bought so many other courses I should ﬁnish before I get another”; and “I don’t have enough work yet to justify investing in more courses”.
What’s the guarantee you offer? If applicable. In general, these are a good idea.*
Example: This particular product doesn’t come with a guarantee. Or, 60 day money-back guarantee, etc.
How much does it cost? If there are multiple offers, please provide details of each different offer.*
Example: The course costs $X.
"Why should I buy it now?" Is there a time limitation, an impending price increase, a closure of the course, or any other form of genuine scarcity on the offer?*
Example: I may run sales on the product where the price is lower for a short window. That would be the only scarcity on the product.
Your Contact Details
What's the best way for me to get in touch with you?*
Example: tyson@companyname.com
Should be Empty:

Copywriting Project Questionnaire

About Your Copy

Who Is Your Customer?

Who Are You?

What Have You Got For Me?

Your Contact Details