How to Write Sales-Boosting Bullets

There’s an art to creating bullets that drive sales. And if you do it well, you can be persuasive without resorting to hype. We’ll walk you through a 5-step process for writing sales-boosting bullets that will take your copy from so-so to oh-wow regardless of your voice, style, or industry. We’ll also provide examples of well-used bullets we’ve discovered so you can draw inspiration from sales bullets “in the wild.”

What You’ll Learn:

• Write sales-boosting bullets that will take your current copy from basic to exciting, converting copy—regardless of your voice, style, or industry

Table of contents

Understand the Purpose of Sales-Boosting Bullets
Why Sales Bullets Matter
Download the Resources
Write Sales-Boosting Bullets
Step 1: Identify Your Biggest Benefits
Step 2: Write Your Bullets
Step 3: Edit Your Bullets
Step 4: Format & Arrange Your Bullets
Step 5: Write Your Transitions
Sales-Boosting Bullet Checklist

Understand the Purpose of Sales-Boosting Bullets

Why Sales Bullets Matter

Why do you need bullets in your copy?

1. Bullets are teasers; they build curiosity and urgency while drawing attention to your product’s unique benefits
2. Bullets are short; the punchy snippets of text engage people even when they aren’t reading carefully—which, let’s be honest, is most everyone on the web
3. Bullets convert; they focus people’s attention on the deep benefits of your product, moving them closer to the sale

Of course, bullets aren’t as easy to write as you might think.

There’s an art to creating bullets that drive sales, and if you learn how to do it well, you can be persuasive without resorting to hype. Your bullets can be written in your brand’s voice and style (even in “boring” or technical industries) and still build desire and drive action.

That’s what this article will help you do. We’ll walk you through a 5-step process for writing sales-boosting bullets that will take your copy from so-so to oh-wow regardless of your voice, style, or industry. We’ll also provide examples of well-used bullets we’ve discovered so you can draw inspiration from sales bullets “in the wild.”

Download the Resources

The Benefits Analysis Spreadsheet will aid in your bullet ideation process and help you write sales bullets that sell. You will also use the Sales-Boosting Bullets Checklist as a quick reference to ensure your sales bullets are the best they can be.

Write Sales-Boosting Bullets

Step 1: Identify Your Biggest Benefits

Bullets are nothing more than a list of benefits, written to tease and fascinate your readers so you can move them closer to the sale.

You may have 3 bullets or a page full. Generally, short-form landing pages have 3–5 bullets, while long-form sales pages have more. Some long-form sales pages have as many as 20 to 30 bullets!

Here’s an example of some bullets from one of DM’s long-form sales pages. As you can see, we use quite a few bullets.

The bullets touch on the benefits our customers will get when they purchase one of our Workshops. To further highlight the benefits, we bolded keywords and phrases that reinforced the benefits. Bolding also helps people who skim.

Keep in mind, not all your benefits will go into bullets.

So, at this stage, you want to decide what benefits you’ll use in your sales copy (overall), and which ones will get featured in bullets.

Let’s start by listing your benefits.

Use the Benefits Analysis Worksheet to list your features in Column A and your benefits in Column D.

You aim to understand which features deliver which benefits, and how. You also want to translate those benefits into tangible improvements to your customers’ life and wellbeing.

Work across this worksheet, starting with features or benefits, whichever is easier. Be specific. Include as many details as you can.

• What are the product features/specs that make it more useful or valuable to your customers?
• What are the advantages of having access to that feature?
• What motives or desires are satisfied by that advantage?
• What’s the outcome, or life change, your customers experience because of that feature. These are your deep benefits.

Once you have a list of the benefits you’ll use in your sales copy, decide which ones you want to feature in your bullets. Once you know that, you’re ready for Step 2.

Step 2: Write Your Bullets

Bullets are sometimes called “fascinators” for good reason: they condense your benefit into a teaser that builds desire and curiosity. In this step, we’re going to turn each benefit into a teaser.

Here are 4 powerful qualities you want in a sales bullet:

1. It’s useful and highlights the transition from the “before state” to the “after state.”

You should know your customers before and after state, so use this information to your advantage. Highlight how your product will help move people from there before state to their desired after.

Drill down to deep benefits, not the top-level, generic benefits. If possible, translate product benefits into life-changing, emotional benefits. For benefits that aren’t emotional, aim for something actionable or measurable.

2. It differentiates your product as unique.

Give your system, process, type of information, etc., a name, so it’s proprietary. You might also mention that no one else knows it or does it.

3. It creates a sense of urgency or importance.

Urgency sells! If there’s a reason your customers need this benefit now, be sure to say so. If the benefit is important to their well-being or happiness, mention it.

4. It focuses on specific details, not generalities.

Instead of mentioning generic features and benefits, dial into the details.

For instance…

Generic: “Cast iron skillets can last a lifetime.”

Specific: “Our artisanal cast iron cookware is made from strictly controlled raw materials in our Smaland factory. Made without harmful chemicals, these pans have an exceptionally long life span, which explains why we provide a 25-year cast iron warranty.”

Let’s look at an example from Glossier’s (a makeup brand) product page.

Notice how they focus on the specific benefits you’ll enjoy when you use their product.

The bullets hit on the struggles their target audience experience (finding makeup that accentuates your features, rather than hide them), and how their product solves that issue (in this case, the “super sheer, adaptable shades that won’t hide your freckles, or cover you up”).

Here’s another great example from Lauren Belgray, Owner of TalkingShrimp.com.

Lauren uses a variety of lengths and dials into the key desires of her prospects. She even goes as far as to ask her prospects to imagine themselves experiencing the benefits of her product, thus asking them to picture themselves in their desired after state.

Need Help Getting Started?

Don’t try to format all your bullets the same. It’s actually preferable to vary their length and structure (like Lauren did in the example above). Here are 3 tips to begin your bullets:

• With a number
• With an action verb
• With “how-to” or “why”

Structure some bullets as a phrase, others as sentences. Incomplete sentences are totally okay.

Use parentheses to add conversational asides and additional information, such as page numbers or modules where information is found, or features that make the benefit possible.

Step 3: Edit Your Bullets

After you’ve written your bullets, don’t assume they’re ready. To boost sales, your bullets need to meet 3 to 4 of the qualities we listed in Step 2:

1. Draws out the usefulness of your product
2. Differentiates your product as unique
3. Creates a sense of urgency or importance
4. Specific details (not generic or vague)

Go back and grade each bullet you’ve written. Give it 1 point for each quality. If it “kinda” meets 1 of them, you can give it half a point for that quality.

Be aware, it’s rare for a bullet to get all 4, but you want it to score at least 2.5. Don’t feel bad, though, if none of your bullets get a good grade. Even professional copywriters fall short now and then.

Here are some tips on how to improve each section:

To Add Usefulness…

Explain how each benefit makes life better. You may also detail the tangible outcome of having that advantage.

To Add Uniqueness…

Compare your product to the standard solution, or focus on ways your product/training can be used for unusual outcomes.

To Add Urgency…

Even if there’s no deadline for purchasing, you can create urgency by tying your product to the events going on now in your customers’ lives.

NOTE: Urgency is one of the hardest qualities to include in bullets. Don’t worry if there’s not a good way to add it.

To Add Specifics…

Comb through your bullets to find anything that feels vague or generic. Then add the features, specs, and stats that will help you make highly specific claims and prove them with clear, detailed proof.

Now Rev It Up…
One of the biggest tools you can use to level up your copy is to leverage the Zeigarnik effect, which is all about opening up information gaps that can only be filled by accessing the product. Essentially, you are boosting curiosity and FOMO (fear of missing out).

To boost curiosity, mention an outcome your prospects desperately want, but don’t give away how it’s achieved.

John Benson’s (CEO of Digital Publisher, Inc.) does a great job at this. One of the bullets claims the product will save time, but rather than explain how he instead details the current problem his audience is experiencing (writer’s block or not enough time). This leaves the audience with a burning question: how will it help me save time?

So, go back through your bullets and think, “when I read this, does it leave an interesting, unanswered question in my head?”

Remember, the hype isn’t necessary to make bullets work. The secret to revving up bullets is to build curiosity and the fear of missing out.

If your product promises a solution or information that your prospect wants, simply telling them you have the answer creates desire. The key is to target your prospects’ fears, hopes, and deepest desires.

Now, go back and fix your bullets—creating desire, curiosity, and urgency with specific details. Aim for a grade of 3 or 4 on each of them, but don’t stop until they score at least 2.5.

Step 4: Format & Arrange Your Bullets

The beginning and end of any list are where people tend to focus their attention. That being the case, it’s important to put your strongest bullets at the beginning of your list, and your weakest bullets in the middle.

Review your bullets and arrange them:

• Put your strongest, most compelling bullets are at the top of your list
• Put your next strongest bullets at the end of your list
• Put your weakest bullets in the middle

Start strong so you can overcome objections and dispel skepticism right away. End strong because people will start to focus again at the end of a list.

You may also break up your list into subsections of bullets if you have a ton.

Now that your bullets are written and arranged for high impact, let’s take a minute to review their format.

When every bullet is structured the same, it can lull your readers into believing they know what’s coming, which makes them lose focus. Big mistake!

To keep that from happening, vary your bullets.

• Use a variety of different words to varying pacing and so they don’t all sound the same
• Vary the length and the structure so they don’t all look alike
• Bold and italicize keywords or phrases that you want to stand out to your prospect
• It’s okay for some to be complete sentences, others to be phrases
• It’s okay for only some to have parentheses
• Some can be a sentence while others are a question

Step 5: Write Your Transitions

Now that your bullets are written and optimized, add them to your landing page copy.

But remember, bullets should never interrupt the flow. They should feel like a natural part of the presentation. So, you need to create a transition into and out of your bullets.

Transition to Your Bullets:

Getting into your bullets is as simple as telling people what you’re about to tell them. Some frequently used transition phrases are:

• Here’s everything you’ll get…
• Take advantage of this offer so you can…
• By signing up, you’ll get access to…

Transition Back to Your Sales Copy:

To move on from your bullets, you can say something like, “And that’s not all…” and then talk specifically about one of your biggest benefits.

You might also consider turning your last bullet into a paragraph and adding a phrase similar to this one, “And as an extra gift for taking action today…”

Use this checklist as a quick reference to ensure your sales bullets are the best they can be.

And that’s it! Once you’ve integrated your bullets into your copy—and everything flows smoothly—you’re set.

Sales-Boosting Bullet Checklist

• Do your bullets build urgency?
• Do they focus on unique benefits rather than generic features?
• Do they communicate the value of your product?
• Are they detailed and specific?
• Do they begin with a number, an action verb, or “how-to”?
• Are they varied in length and structure to keep people engaged and reading?
• Do you lead into your bullets with a quick explanation of what the list details?
• Do you transition smoothly out of the bullets and back into your sales copy?

Follow these steps:

1. Identify your biggest benefits.
2. Write your bullets, turning each benefit into a teaser.
3. Grade them. Aim for at least a 2.5 on every bullet.
4. Fix them. Keep working with them until they score a 4, if possible.
5. Arrange your list for maximum impact, with your strongest benefits at the top and your weakest bullets in the middle.
6. Now that they’re in order, vary their length and format. (You don’t want to lull your readers to sleep!)
7. Add your bullets to your sales copy and create transitions into and out of them.