The difference between good copy and great copy are in the results achieved. In direct response, the number of actions the copy generates is what makes copy great. The more actions the copy drives, the greater the copy is.

My friend John Reese, a master at simplifying what we often tend to unnecessarily complicate, says it best. He says the only metric you should ever really count on is this: Yes or No.

That’s it.

Sounds simplistic, I know. But here’s the key point: your copy may get great feedback. It may entertain. It may inform, educate or even inspire. But if it doesn’t sell, it doesn’t matter.

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One of my former students made me realize something important.

In fact, his point was so well made because he drove it home using the very idea he was illustrating. While his comment was general in nature, I realized how beautifully it applied to copy … Particularly web copy.

But before I explain it to you, let me put the story in context so you can understand. In my Personal Selling class, we were discussing the natural human inclination to illogically and unconsciously assume that there is a parallel between a part and its whole — even when the two are totally unrelated or irrelevant to each other.

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I first taught this technique in 1998. While there have been tons of improvements since then, today I still see copy on so many websites, sales letters or emails using a language that only the person who wrote them understands.

People still seem to ignore their readers.

Abraham Maslow once commented, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Abraham Maslow may have been a psychologist, but he probably knew more about copywriting and particularly selling than what most people cared to admit.

Even now, most of the copy I critique disobey this important rule the most. Their sales message doesn’t communicate with their readers, particularly at THEIR level. Now, I’m not talking about a socioeconomic or educational level. I’m talking about the level at which they understand and, above all, make buying decisions.

They fail to use what I call “upwords.”

It’s an acronym that means…

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