Make it stronger: add the facts only you know

CopyZap never invents facts. That keeps your copy honest, but it also means a new version can only be as convincing as the facts in your original. Most marketing copy is missing a few things that make people act: a price, proof with numbers, a low-risk first step, what happens after someone gets in touch. Only you or your client know them.

Make it stronger asks for those facts, one short question at a time, and writes your answers into the new versions. Real facts mostly lift Persuasion, the part of the score where most copy has the most room to grow.

All the ways to make it stronger

Make it stronger is one feature with two moments: before the run, on the check screen, and after the run, under the score. Before the run there are three ways to give CopyZap a fact. Whichever way you use, every fact ends up in one list, Facts CopyZap will use, and the three new versions are written with those facts from the start.

Before the run: on the check screen

After the run: on the result

Before the run: answering the questions

The questions come as a short chat. Here is how a chat for the Tidewell demo page could look:

Step by step:

1. CopyZap looks for what's missing. While it reads your copy, the box says “Looking for what is missing… You can generate without waiting.” This takes a few seconds.
2. The first question appears, with an example answer under it, starting with “e.g.”. The example is written in your copy's language and has ___ wherever your own number, date or name goes. CopyZap never suggests a figure, a price or a currency for you. The questions themselves are always in English, like the rest of the app.
3. CopyZap checks your own page for an answer. For a moment you see “Checking your page for an answer… a moment.” The answer field and the buttons are locked until the check is done (never longer than about 10 seconds).
4. If your copy already holds an answer somewhere it isn't doing its job, such as a figure inside a testimonial or a free offer hidden in a button label, CopyZap shows it under the question as Your page already says: “…”, word for word. Click Use this to put it in the answer field, starting with “From my page:”. Check it, change it if you want, then send it. Nothing from your page is used unless you send it. If no passage appears, your page doesn't answer that question.
5. Answer in your own words and click Send (or press Enter). One short sentence is enough. Click Skip if you don't know or it doesn't apply, or Done to stop the chat.
6. CopyZap reads your answer (“Reading your answer…”, a few seconds), turns it into a short fact in the list below the chat, and asks the next question. The most useful questions come first, because most people answer only one or two.
7. It may ask once to clarify. If an answer is vague, for example “our clients improve about 50%”, the next question can be “50% of what?”. It never asks to clarify twice in a row, and never about a passage from your page or a question you skipped. If your answer also covers a later question, that question isn't asked.
8. The last question. The chat has up to 5 questions; the line next to the buttons says “Question 2 of up to 5”. When CopyZap has nothing more to ask, it ends with “Anything else that is true and should be in the copy?”. Typing “that's all” (or “eso es todo”) ends the chat too.
9. When the chat ends, it says “That is all CopyZap needs.” Start the chat again starts it over with the same questions. Facts you added by hand stay.

The list: Facts CopyZap will use

Under the chat, Facts CopyZap will use shows exactly what goes into the new versions. Check it before you generate.

• Take out removes a fact. It isn't used and isn't added back later in the chat.
• Add a fact in your own words adds anything CopyZap didn't ask about, such as an award, a language you work in or a second location. Type it and click Add (or press Enter). It goes into the list exactly as you typed it.
• A run takes up to 6 facts, each up to 400 characters. When the list is full, take one out to add another.
• An answer you typed but didn't send isn't used. The list warns you: “Your last answer is not sent yet.”
• With nothing in the list, it says “None yet: CopyZap uses only what your copy says.”

How to answer well

• Only what's true. Everything you write goes into copy your client's customers will read.
• Your own figures and your own currency. CopyZap never adds a currency for you, so write “from 4,500 MXN a month” or “from $290 a month”, not just “4,500”.
• Specific beats general. “We reply within one business day” works; “we're fast” adds nothing the copy doesn't already claim. “Over 200 businesses since 2014” works; “lots of experience” doesn't.
• One fact per answer is fine. Short and plain is best: CopyZap keeps your wording.
• Don't know? Skip. A skipped question costs nothing and changes nothing.
• Working for a client? Ask them for their price, proof and next step before you run. Or run without answers first, show them the result, and use Make it stronger and run again once you have their answers.
• Style changes don't belong here. “Make it warmer” or “shorter” goes in Ask for a change after the result.

What CopyZap does with your facts

• Every fact is used, in your copy's language and voice, exactly as given. Numbers aren't changed and claims aren't made stronger.
• Built-in guards: a number you never typed is dropped. A currency you never named is taken out. “More than”, “at least” or “+” that you didn't write are taken out, so “about 120 sites” never becomes “more than 120 sites”. “Up to” stays when you wrote it.
• Each fact goes where it helps. The offer and a reason to act now go next to the call to action; proof goes where the copy makes its claims.
• Each fact is used only for what it says. If you write “clients grow 30%” without saying 30% of what, it stays that general. Separate facts stay in separate sentences, so a free consultation and a price are never merged into one promise.
• Your facts aren't flagged as claims to verify. Check before publishing knows they came from you. Anything a version adds beyond them is still listed.
• You can see them on the result and in the report: a line “Facts you added: …” sits at the top of Comparison & rankings at the bottom of the result, and the exported report lists them too.
• They stay with the result. If you later ask for a change, your facts count as part of the text and are kept.

The questions depend on the goal

CopyZap asks only for what helps the copy reach its goal. Copy that informs, teaches or builds a brand never gets asked for a price or a deadline. CopyZap asks about each kind of gap only once.

The questions also depend on the kind of text

A web page has room for many facts; a slogan has room for one. So the kind of text decides how many questions CopyZap starts with and what they're about. The chat can add a question to clarify an answer, plus the final “Anything else?”, up to 5 questions in all.

If you change the copy, the goal or the kind of text on the check screen, the questions are looked up again and the chat starts over. While that happens, the screen shows “Updating the questions in ‘Make it stronger’… The screen unlocks in a moment.”

When nothing is missing

Strong copy, and many short texts, already have what they need. Then the box says “CopyZap found nothing important missing. If something true should still be in the copy, say it below.” The chat asks only whether anything else true should be in the copy. You can still add facts in your own words.

If you skip it

You can click Looks right, generate at any time. Under the button, CopyZap reminds you: “You have not answered ‘Make it stronger’ yet: a few real facts usually raise the score.” The run then uses only your copy, exactly as it would without this step. After the run, the run again card gives you a second chance.

After the run: Make it stronger and run again

Most people skip the questions on their first run: they want to see a score first. That's fine. Once the score is there, CopyZap tells you what your copy is still missing and offers a second run with your answers. This is the Make it stronger and run again card.

The card, line by line

• “Your copy is missing …” names up to three things only you know, in plain words: for example “what happens after someone contacts you”, “what makes you different”, “your price”, “proof with numbers” or “a clear offer”. They come from the questions CopyZap found for this copy and this goal.
• Answer and run again takes you back to those questions.
• A new run uses credits: about as many as the first run.
• Weakest part shows which of the four score parts holds the best version back. Click Why? to read the scorer's own reason. It is usually Persuasion: that's the part real facts help most.

When the card appears, and when it doesn't

Right under the score, above the ranking, only when all of these are true:

• you generated without adding any facts. If you answered even one question before the run, there is no card;
• Make it stronger found questions for this copy. If your copy already holds the facts its goal needs, there is nothing to ask and no card;
• the run was made just now. The card doesn't appear on a result opened from History or from its link;
• the best version has a score.

No card, but you still want to add facts? Click Start over, then Continue, and answer the questions on the check screen.

Step by step, after you click Answer and run again

1. You're back on the check screen with the same copy, goal, kind of text and part choices. CopyZap's reading is kept, so going back costs nothing.
2. A line above the questions reminds you of the score to beat: “Last run: best version 76 / 100. Answer the questions below: your answers go into three new versions.”
3. The questions start again, and answers from your page are offered with Use this. Answer in a few words; skip what you don't know. See how to answer well.
4. Check Facts CopyZap will use, then click Looks right, generate. CopyZap writes three new versions with your facts in them from the start, and scores them all.
5. The new result shows both runs under the score, for example Last run: best 76 → this run: best 78 (+2), about the same. Your facts are listed as Facts you added. The line only appears when nothing but the facts changed; if you also changed the copy, the goal or the part choices, the two runs aren't comparable.
6. Both results stay in History. The card doesn't appear again on the run that used facts.

The real example from the clip

Every fact went into the new best version, and its call to action now offers a concrete first step: “Start with a free 20-minute call. … we'll respond within one business day.” The score went up a little, and CopyZap called it what it is: about the same.