Hiring a Sales Page Copywriter: What Managers, Business Owners and Recruiters Should Know
You’ve heard of sales page copywriters, but what do they actually do? And, are they the right professional to hire?
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The term “sales page copywriter” seems self explanatory, yet many managers and team leaders don’t really know how to best utilize their skills.
Learn more about what sales page copywriters do, how they price their services, types, specialties and more.
Want to speak with an experienced sales page copywriter? Learn more about my sales copywriting services.
It makes complete sense that you want to hire the best professional copywriter for your marketing projects. After all…
The difference between hiring an “okay” copywriter versus a great copywriter could equate to a measly $1000 in sales or $1M+!
But, when you start seeing specialty copywriter titles pop up on resumes, should you pay attention to them?
As you peruse LinkedIn profiles or writer portfolio sites, you’ve likely already come across the term “sales page copywriter,” but what do they really do? Are they only used for sales page copywriting? What’s really within their scope?
And, if you’re currently comparing multiple candidates, how do you figure out which writer is the best?
This article serves as a guide about sales page copywriters, offering up hiring information that is relevant to marketing managers, business owners and recruiters. With the information provided here, I hope you gain a better understanding about how to leverage skilled sales page copywriters to fulfill your marketing needs.
Spoiler: In some cases you need them; some cases you don’t.
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Sales page copywriting is a type of marketing writing with the primary goal of selling a product or service immediately after customers read the sales page copy.
It differs from other types of copywriting in that it is “close to the sale.” While other types of copywriting may boost brand awareness or encourage other CTAs, sales page copywriting is often the “last step” in the customer funnel before purchasing.
A sales page copywriter is a trained professional who understands how to write such make-or-break pages.
Types of Projects to Hire a Sales Page Copywriter For
Most sales page copywriter candidates can handle a multitude of projects. However, since sales pages are very close to the sale – meaning the sales page is usually one of the last pages customers see before they convert – they require some additional skills to create.
That being said, here is something to remember if you’re in the process of hiring a sales page copywriter:
All sales page copywriters are copywriters, but not all copywriters have the skills to create sales pages. Make sure you spot the difference when interviewing candidates.
The tactics that sales page copywriters use help them create hard-hitting copy, often seen in modular sections on a sales page. Sales page copywriters often possess effective direct response copywriting skills.
Sales Page Projects
As the name suggests, a sales page copywriter is the best professional to hire when you need to create a compelling sales page that will drive significantly higher sales than benchmark… or just about anyone else.
If you’re not a marketing professional – yet you’re the one tasked to hire a sales page copywriter – I’ll break down some common projects to inquire about during your search.
Long-Form Sales Pages
“Long-form” refers to the length of the sales page. They can range from hundreds to a few thousands of words in length – all broken up into bite-sized sections.
The actual word count of these long-form sales pages is obsolete. If a sales page copywriter candidate says they can hit a certain word count, they are probably not very experienced.
Customers convert better with compelling, shorter copy, rather than having to read paragraph upon paragraph of text.
Long-form sales pages are best used when selling high-ticket items, complex services and/or 1:1 professional services where the business (often a solopreneur) needs to build rapport in order to secure a sale.
Short-Form Sales Pages
Short-form sales pages are best for opt-in pages, event sign-ups and low-ticket items that are easier to secure. Most sales page copywriters still use modular tactics in their writing, sectioning out the page based on a variety of factors.
If your marketing team wants to incorporate upsells, downsells and one-time offers within the sales funnel, short-form pages are often used.
Video Sales Letter (VSL) Scripts
VSLs are now widely used across various industries, and sales page copywriters are often the best professionals for the job, especially because most VSL and sales page tactics are similar.
One thing to know about scope: Sales page copywriters typically do not offer services outside of the actual writing of the script (no design, no videography). However, your chosen sales page copywriter may be able to help with on-video copy and video metadata outside of the script.
Additional Sales Assets
I mentioned earlier how sales page copywriters have specialized skills that not all other copywriters may possess. So, how can you utilize a sales copywriter hire in other ways to make them even more valuable to your business?
Sales-Driven Email Sequences
Why not get the highest email engagement to send the highest number of customers to your sales page? While not all emails within a sequence may lead directly to a sales page, versatile sales page copywriters may possess the skills to get more action on your emails.
During the hiring process, be sure to ask sales page copywriter candidates about any email copywriting experience they have. Copywriters will oftentimes bundle entire sales flows into their sales page projects, which means they can write all the steps before sales conversions as well.
Ad Copy (Social Media, Google)
In some cases, your social media ads or Google ads will take customers directly to a purchasing page. However, even if your ads lead to a long sales page with the hopes of converting, most ad copy can be considered direct response copywriting as well.
Inquire about a sales page copywriter’s previous experience in ad copy. The copy that you use to attract customers to your landing page is also best optimized by someone who knows how to communicate with your audience and knows how to inspire actions right then and there.
Product Description Pages
For ecommerce sites, the product description pages can be loaded with compelling messaging and information. They are best optimized by a sales copywriter.
Since the product description page is usually one of the last pages before a purchase – and they’re the reason someone would add a product to their cart – sales page copywriters can use many tactics to encourage higher conversions.
All Parts of a Sales Funnel
In general, if the goal of a sales sequence is to sell a product or service, the entire funnel is best written by a sales page copywriter.
Sales pages copywriters can optimize your lead magnets and opt-in pages to keep encouraging the audience to take whatever CTA occurs next in the funnel. Their hard-hitting copywriting skills may even help you reduce the number of steps in your funnel, which can help increase the number of sales.
Typical Pricing Models for Sales Page Copywriters
Marketing teams invest in hiring sales page copywriters simply because the cost of missing out on sales is too high. That’s why even a more expensive sales page copywriter is often worth hiring. And, compared to novice sales page copywriters, a skilled copywriter can increase the number of sales by tenfold.
As you interview sales page copywriter candidates, keep in mind the most common ways projects are priced, especially if you plan to hire a freelancer.
Project-Based Pricing
Project-based pricing is the most common type that freelance copywriters use. This is a set number based on length of the sales page, complexity, turnaround time and experience level of the copywriter.
Sales page pricing can range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, especially if you’re hiring a skilled sales page copywriter to create copy for high-ticket, “big ask” products and services.
When you approach a sales page copywriter for services, they will give you a set quote based on what you’re looking for.
For example: In my copywriting business, I always get on discovery calls with potential clients so I can learn exactly what they are looking for. The copywriter you will potentially hire should do this too.
While pricing sheets may make it seem like a copywriter knows what they’re doing because they can give you a set price upfront, managers and business owners should be wary of generalized pricing, because it may not include everything you want. And what’s worse, you don’t want to have to pay for things you don’t need.
So, every time you discuss pricing with a sales page copywriter, make sure they’re giving you a customized quote after speaking with you.
Hourly Pricing
Hourly pricing may come up during your interviews with sales page copywriters, although this type of pricing is not as common. One of the biggest drawbacks as a client is that you won’t necessarily know how much you’ll have to pay by the end of the project.
Chances are, if you ask the sales page copywriter for an estimate as to how many hours the project will take, you might as well just use fixed project pricing.
Retainers and Monthly Fees
When it comes to a single sales page project, monthly retainers are most likely not needed. Even if you hire a sales page copywriter to build out an entire funnel, monthly pricing may still not be needed, otherwise you risk paying for services that never occur in the coming months.
Retainers and monthly copywriter fees only apply if you have ongoing needs. For example: If the writer will also be creating your email newsletter or SEO content, monthly fees could work.
However, in the case of sales pages, it’s unlikely that your organization will release a new product to promote every single month, so monthly retainers are likely not the most appropriate.
Performance-Based Pricing (Royalties)
As a client or hiring manager, working with a copywriter who gets paid via royalties may give you a false sense of reassurance, especially if the copywriter does not ask for anything upfront.
You may think, “This copywriter is so confident in their work, they are telling me they’ll just take the royalties.”
However, performance-based pricing is rarely offered to SMEs. Royalties are usually reserved for expert copywriters working with established, big-name businesses who have a great potential for significant sales.
So, if you’re a SME or lesser-known brand, a word of advice: If a copywriter offers to get paid solely via royalties from their sales page, they’re probably desperate to work with you. And maybe you are their first client.
Factors That Influence Sales Copywriter Pricing
Pricing is often a huge deciding factor when hiring a sales copywriter, so here are some things that influence the price of copywriting services. This list should help you better analyze the cost versus sales potential when hiring.
Experience and Track Record of the Copywriter: Experienced and successful sales page copywriters can ensure a certain quality and outcome of their work, justifying their higher prices compared to a less experienced copywriter.
Scope and Project Complexity: Length of the sales page is often the biggest factor in project complexity. And if the copywriter is also tasked with other deliverables outside of the sales page, that will also influence pricing.
Turnaround Time: Rush fees can significantly increase the product price. In my copywriting business, rush fees can range from 10-100%+ of the project price. Other copywriters may charge a fixed rush fee price.
Value of Your Product or Service: If you’re wondering why the price of your product matters, oftentimes the amount of copywriting needed varies depending on the price of your product. In general, lower-ticket items can be promoted using a shorter sales page, whereas sales pages for high-ticket offers need significantly more copywriting to ensure they’ll get the desired conversion rates.
Results You Can Expect from a Sales Page Copywriter
Aside from encouraging more sales that originate from your sales page, I want to define a few more reasons why an organization needs sales page copywriters:
Conversion Optimization: Sales page copywriters understand the psychology of selling, non-salesy persuasion techniques and the proper sequencing of sales funnels. All of this specialized expertise can help an organization maximize movement through a marketing funnel, boost the number (or percentage) of conversions and increase ROI on marketing spend (namely, ads and traffic generation).
Clarity and Communication: Sales page copywriters can help new and established brands translate their complex offerings into compelling marketing messages that the target audience can easily understand. Their work can also help differentiate your brand from competitors and encourage customers to “convert now” rather than possibly in the future.
Time Savings and Expertise: Aside from the monetary and ROI benefits of hiring a sales page copywriter, their work can save small teams and solopreneurs a significant amount of time, especially their own time wasted on poorly written copy.
Types of Sales Page Copywriters to Consider
To complicate matters further, there are a few different types of sales page copywriters you may want to interview ahead of hiring. Let me break down these types to help you understand how they benefit your marketing needs in unique ways.
Niche (Specialist) Sales Page Copywriters
A niche sales page copywriter might have specialization in SaaS, health and wellness, financial services, ecommerce or any other specific industry. In most cases, these specialists only work with clients from one specific niche, so they already possess a fairly deep understanding of your industry.
They may already have a good idea about what kinds of messaging works with your target audience and can lean on their previous work for ideas about your project. Additional benefits of hiring a niche sales page copywriter include:
They understand industry jargon. Since sales pages need to speak directly to your audience in order to get the sale, using targeted language is important. Niche copywriters can provide highly sophisticated language for your sales pages, giving more authority to your products and services.
They understand compliance and regulatory requirements. This is especially important for highly regulated industries like pharmaceuticals. Hiring a copywriter who is already well-acquainted with industry regulations (and messaging regulations) will smooth out and speed up the process of working with them. No back and forth or endless rounds of revisions from a novice writer!
Generalist Sales Page Copywriters
Initially, you may shy away from sales page copywriters who have never written for your industry before, but I would suggest giving them a chance (at least for an interview).
Generalist sales page copywriters focus primarily on the psychology of selling and the effectiveness of various marketing tactics that can be applied across industries.
So, while they may have never written copy within your industry, their ability to connect and convert a human audience is universal. While working with this type of copywriter may require more initial briefing about industry jargon and specifics, they will be able to translate all of the specialized information into compelling copy.
Direct Response Sales Page Copywriters
Since the goal of sales page copywriting is to achieve optimal conversion rates, many sales page copywriters automatically fall into this category.
That being said, you may find that some sales page copywriters focus more intensely on measurable results and immediate action than others. These writers may be very focused on KPIs, historical data and marketing projections.
Direct response copywriters tend to have a signature style of longer-form copy, psychological triggers and strong CTAs.
Sales Page Copywriting: What's In and What's Out of Scope?
Unless you have worked directly with sales page copywriters, it can be hard to understand what is truly within their scope.
This next section is for recruiters, business owners and hiring managers who need a little more information about what you can expect from sales page copywriters (and what you can’t).
Within the Scope of a Sales Page Copywriter
Since sales page copywriters possess valuable, hard-hitting copywriting expertise, your projects can include the following tasks without issue:
Project Research: The sales page copywriter can (and should) conduct research about the organization, product or service, competitive landscape and target audience.
Writing of the Copy: This would include creating the compelling headlines, body copy and understanding what types of modular sections should be included in your sales page (e.g. testimonials, objections, features, benefits, guarantees).
Updating the Copy Based on Feedback: All sales page projects should include multiple rounds of revisions with the client or marketing team. Experienced copywriters have a very smooth process and can speak to that during your initial discovery call.
Outside the Scope of a Sales Page Copywriter
While the exact skillsets of each copywriter you interview will differ, here is a list of skills and tasks that are not normally offered by sales page copywriters.
Website Design and Development: Copywriters generally do not offer web design or development services unless they have a background in those areas. Copywriters are strictly responsible for the words, and will deliver their copywriting via an unformatted text document.
Graphic Design: Copywriters cannot assist with choosing images, brand colors or other design elements. Even making decisions about fonts and text size is not within their scope.
SEO Writing Skills: Copywriters do not inherently know how to write SEO-friendly content. You would need to hire an “SEO copywriter” or task another SEO professional to optimize the sales page if it is meant for organic traffic.
Technical Implementation: Copywriters are not required to help you upload the copy onto a landing page or help you set up funnels.
Ongoing Sales Page Performance Analysis: Once the copywriter creates the initial sales page copy (and it is approved by your team), the copywriter is not responsible for ongoing performance management or making ongoing updates to the copy. Some copywriters will give you multiple versions for testing, but this testing is to be done internally by your team.
If you need any of these skills and tasks completed alongside the sales page copy, you may need to hire additional professionals. Feel free to inquire about these services with each candidate and/or build them into your initial contract.
Sales Page Copywriter
Amanda Kostro Miller
Talk to an Experienced Sales Page Copywriter Now
I am a sales page copywriter with experience across various industries. Learn more about my full suite of sales copywriting services or book a call to discuss your project needs.
Most discovery calls occur within 1-3 business days, and a project quote can be provided within a few hours of speaking!
FAQs About Sales Page Copywriters
The following FAQs aim to help you understand what to look for in sales page copywriters and how to best vet them ahead of hiring.
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Sales page copywriters can be found through common recruiting avenues such as referrals, job platforms (e.g. Upwork, LinkedIn) and agencies. Some of the more direct ways to find sales copywriters is to conduct searches for portfolios and do direct outreach based on the results.
You may have to interview a few sales page candidates before finding the best writer for your organization. For each, it’s imperative to ask for previous samples and client results.
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Before signing on to a project with a sales page copywriter, you’ll first need to discuss scope, timeline, deliverables and goals. To ensure you and the copywriter are on the same page, the copywriter should ask to get on a discovery call before giving you a price.
Once you begin working with your chosen copywriter, they’ll need details about your product or service, target audience, unique selling proposition, competitors, past marketing materials, testimonials and more.
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Writing the copy for a sales page typically takes 1-2 weeks after contractual confirmation and an initial project kickoff call. The next phase is the revision process, which can be completed within 1-2 business days.
However, keep in mind that your sales page will also have to be designed and developed before publishing. Those non-copywriting tasks can add a few weeks to the total project time.
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No reputable copywriter can guarantee specific revenue, but they can aim for increased conversions, especially above benchmark.
If you are concerned about ROI and effectiveness, ask your copywriter to provide multiple versions of copy for testing. This will ensure you have the highest performing copy from that specific copywriter.
