Do swipes matter?

The first time I came across the word ‘swipe’ file I wasn’t quite sure what it meant.

After all, to swipe means to ‘snatch' or ‘steal’ and it did NOT make sense in the context of copywriting. I mean… you can’t copy an ad word for word as it won’t work at all.

The main purpose of swiping is to simply collect ads that worked so that you can swipe learn from them.

Except… most people don’t.

Here’s what you should do instead:

1. Study the ad and its promotion
   
   The ad served a particular purpose. The ad has context - a specific customer, product and heck, even a time frame. This is part of the learning process that makes you understand why an ad worked the way it did. This brings me to another important point -
   

2. Don’t question a swipe
   
   I remember a friend of mine reading a swipe from this copywriter we mutually know.
   
   It had:
   - spelling mistakes
   - broke so called ‘rules’ of copywriting
   - wasn’t legible in places
   
   but…
   
   the reason we were told to read that ad was because it simply worked.
   
   An ad isn’t good because it impresses copywriters. An ad is good because it sells well.
   

3. Swipe ads that made you click
   
   You may not notice this but you tend to click on ads or posts based on simple things like the title.
   
   In my case? some of the Substack articles I click are simply based on the title. I love reading personal lessons and these tend to share a similar headline format.
   
   I’ve clicked on them way too many times for me to ignore the data.
   
   YouTube is another example.
   
   Pay attention to what makes you click. This is the real stuff that works.
   
   Identify themes.
   Understand why they worked on you.
   Try to replicate them.

As you build your own swipe file, you’ll notice that there’re a few common traits across ads, yourself and the underlying persuasion techniques that NEVER go out of style.

It’s a habit that rewards you slowly, but it also gives you a keen eye for research, patterns and simple (but effective) writing that sells.

After all, that’s the heart of copywriting and I would have zero qualms with an ad that reeled me in without even realising.