How to Write FAQs that Sell: 10 Tips & Examples You Can Copy

Maybe I’m clever, or maybe I’m just lazy.

But I’m always looking to delegate repetitive tasks and not having to lift a finger.

Aren’t you?

And that’s the whole point of a sales funnel, right? 

You want to be able to sell while you sleep.

But there’s a key element of a high-converting sales funnel that people aren’t talking about. 

And without it, your selling while you sleep dream won’t ever become a reality. 

What is it?

A well-written Frequently Asked Questions section on your landing page (or FAQ for short).

You see, a lot of businesses out there just don’t know how to write FAQs and get customers off the fence.

And if you aren’t giving your FAQ section the attention it deserves, you are simply doing your business a massive disservice. That’s why in today’s article I’m going to show you:

• 10 expert-level tips I’ve learned over the years on how to build a FAQ that does the selling for you (and FAQ examples you can copy).

• How to construct this section so that it speaks in the voice of your ideal customer.

• *BONUS*—5 advanced techniques for optimizing your page for an even higher rate of conversion. 

Sound good? Let’s hop in and learn how to create high-converting FAQs for your business…

In a rush? Want to download this article as a PDF so you can easily take action on it later? Click here to download this article as a PDF guide.

The Most Common Mistake People Make with Their FAQ Section

Most business owners or entrepreneurs don’t think their FAQ sections are a big deal. 

They throw some questions together on a landing page that they think their audience will ask and call it a day.

This, however, is a critical mistake.

You shouldn’t write FAQs simply to fill space on your website. Otherwise, you’re missing an excellent opportunity to convince cautious buyers to come onboard.

Here’s a general stereotype of what an FAQ pre-sale page looks like from B2B SaaS company LinkPoint360.

You can see that these are just general questions about the company. 

In my opinion, these would be better left on the About Us page.

Now, eventually, they get more into the specifics of their product. But in the world of marketing, you have mere seconds to hook your customers in and answer their burning questions. 

So, don’t waste space in your FAQ section with questions and answers that don’t address your customers’ concerns about the product or service they’re about to buy. 

The goal is to put them at ease about the sale. Write your FAQ section with the intention of giving prospects peace of mind.

Why Do I Need an FAQ Section on My Website?

Even if you sell web design services or headphones—it doesn’t matter. You need an FAQ section on your website.

Because when a prospective customer hits your site, they might as well be walking into your brick-and-mortar store.

Now, unlike a real store, on your website there’s no one around to greet prospects or answer their questions online (unless you have a chatbot on your site).

And that’s where your FAQ section comes in.

If you know how to write FAQs well, it can give your visitors answers to specific questions related directly to what you sell.

Think about it from the customer’s point of view:

• They don’t know anything about your company
• They’re skeptical or reluctant to buy
• They want more information before pulling out their wallets
• They’re too lazy to call or email you—and why should they?

If the customer can’t find the info they need in your FAQs section, they’re going to go with a competitor.

Let me explain it to you with an analogy.

Think of your FAQs section like a shoe store. 

It’s a chance for your customer to pull you aside and ask, “Do you have this in a size 10?” or “What’s your return policy?”

FAQs let you advance the conversation with your customer without you having to be there.

(You see? Lazy, but clever.)

And the better your FAQs are at addressing your prospects’ questions, the more likely they’ll be to buy what you’re selling. 

Now let’s jump into the 10 tips that’ll help you get started.

Tip #1: If You’re Not Sure Where to Start, Try Some Generic Questions

Look at your industry and see what your competitors are doing.

Don’t copy them, but use them as inspiration. This will also tell you what your customers care about most when buying.

What questions does your closest competitor answer that you haven’t? Have you heard these questions from customers before?

Jot these down and whittle your list to 6 or 10 of the most commonly-asked questions.

Don’t be afraid to include questions with obvious answers. 

Even though people can probably guess the answer to some of these questions, that’s not the point. Remember, you’re trying to put the customer’s mind at ease.

Also, keep in mind that new customers don’t know, like, or trust you yet. So confirming the “basics” is important to them.

Take, for instance, the FAQs on the landing page builder Leadpages.

First off, let’s tackle the obvious: what can Leadpages actually do for their customers? 

After that, their questions mainly address a customer’s risk-avoidance mentality.

The overall tone of their FAQ answers questions like, “I don’t have to pay each time I use a feature or template right?” and “What happens after my free trial runs out?”

These questions are all relevant to would-be customers.

Tip #2: Talk to Customers as Often as Possible!

The easiest way to figure out which questions to include in your FAQ page is to talk with your customers.

User feedback is the best way to know what’s going on inside your customers’ heads. 

How else are you going to know why they’re not buying? 

This should set the focus in part, or in whole, for your FAQ section.

For example, when we offered our done-for-you sales funnel service, we had an email automation set up for customers who were on the fence. If someone left our demo page without signing up, we’d send them a series of emails asking why they had left, and if we could help.

This was a great way to get people replying to our emails with questions we could then incorporate into our FAQs section.

You could also hire an account manager to manually follow up with leads who don’t respond to your automated emails.

Manual follow-up creates a dialogue between you and your customer. So use this interaction to understand them even more.

Tip #3: Include a Call-to-Action on Your FAQs Page

We’ve written a lot about how CTA buttons are essential for conversions.

Similarly, one of the simplest ways you can positively influence conversions with an FAQ section is to include a CTA button close by.

Check out this example from the American Cancer Society.

In this case, their call to action is to get donations. 

See the red “donate” button towards the top right of the page? 

Note the high level of color contrast so the button quickly catches the eye.

Added to that though, the CTA actually follows visitors down the page. 

The screenshot above was from the top of the page. 

But when you scroll down a few paragraphs (like in the screenshot below), the top banner with the donate button actually follows you down too. 

Check it out…

And here’s a screenshot of ¾ down the page…

See how the CTA is still in view?

With a banner like this, the CTA stays clearly in view, no matter how far down the page prospects have gone.

You may also want to consider linking within the text of your FAQ section to whatever the next step in your funnel is. 

For instance, adding a hyperlink with some copy within an answer that reads, “You can donate here when you sign up in 30 seconds” is a great way to make it easier for people to move forward to the next stage quickly. 

Nice touch, yes?

Tip #4: Nest Valuable Social Proof Next to or Within Your FAQs

Most people reading your FAQs are looking for reassurance. They want to know how X feature works or gather info on your billing and refund policy.

Remember, people are inherently risk-averse. 

To earn a sale, the content of your website, including your FAQ page, must overcome the inertia of risk perception.

I would say the best way to do this is by adding social proof to your FAQs. 

Social proof could be as simple as placing a few vanity stats close to your FAQs section—specifically if they mention notable customers.

The idea here is that you are leveraging the credibility of known third parties, since you are less well-known to your customer.

Check out how Quadient, a document management platform, does it. 

Not only do they call out their 96% customer satisfaction rate, but they also point out notable past customers like Gartner, Forrester, and Aspire.

Now you might be thinking, “Okay, Matt, but I don’t have logos, stats, or testimonials to insert.”

Not a problem.

You can always look for other similar vanity stats to reference.

For example, you can search for relevant quotes from historical figures or even large brands who have written an article on a related topic. 

Quote them and include their picture or logo.

A word of caution, though: relevance is key here.

You can’t just take famous people’s pictures or companies’ logos if they don’t fit in your landing page. Make sure they relate to what your company is or does.

Tip #5: FAQs Are Boring—Make Questions & Answers Personal, Conversational, & Memorable

When you’re writing your FAQs, think of them like conversations you might be having with clients over the phone.

That means you should speak from the “we” perspective to represent your company.

Don’t get fancy with high-level language. Keep it simple. People will understand you better and you’ll avoid alienating potential customers.

I also recommend phrasing the questions in such a way that they’re from the customer’s point of view (i.e., use language like “I” and “my”). 

The customer will automatically think, “Okay, this is me talking”. 

We even do this on our own FAQs on our Pricing page.

People sometimes prefer to read it like this because it’s showing action through a back-and-forth dialogue. Kind of like what you would read in a novel when two characters are talking.

You’ll also want to take the extra effort to make your FAQs more memorable. Consider the story of Fidelis Cloer as inspiration.

Fidelis is featured in the documentary Bulletproof Salesman. 

This documentary tells the story of how Fidelis sold armored cars in wartime. 

On one occasion, a client asked Fidelis if he believed in his product enough to sit in it and drive while he was being shot at. 

Fidelis, strongly believing in the quality of his product, quickly agreed to do so to prove his point. 

In a display of equal parts courage and confidence, Fidelis drove through live gunfire to demonstrate just how well his product protected the driver. 

And in the end, Fidelis stepped out of the vehicle, completely unscathed.

The client, of course, ended up buying one.

While I don’t recommend using live ammunition to show off your product, how can you answer your customer questions more creatively? 

Maybe it’s the answer to a question about how a 30-day refund works. You might try a whacky approach, like this:

“Not only will we give you a refund, no questions asked, but I will personally buy you lunch and a cup of coffee and set you up with a competitor’s product, free of charge.”

The point here is that your FAQ page does not have to be boring. 

It’s just one more opportunity to make an impression. Use them to show that you care about your customer and want to make their lives better.

Tip #6: Place the FAQ on Your Pricing Page Immediately Prior to Sign-Up

Your FAQs section should definitely be on your pricing page. This is where your customers will have more questions.

In the past, I’ve experimented with having FAQs on both our homepage and our pricing page. I kept the questions varied though, so they weren’t identical.

I kept the homepage FAQs more feature-focused while the FAQs on the pricing page were more about reducing financial risk. It was also where I introduced flexible pricing plans.

Pricing is almost always the last hurdle a client jumps over before they buy. You definitely want to make sure the FAQs on your pricing page answer any last-minute questions they have.

As I mentioned before, we here at AutoGrow do it…

And so does Leadpages…

And ActiveCampaign too!

Tip #7: Include Visual Cues to Support the Text

Take a look at the FAQs from currency exchange provider WorldFirst UK. They organize their FAQ section by various topics as you can see. 

But they also let you browse each section with highly-clickable buttons with their own unique design. 

Pretty neat, huh?

This technique isn’t just to make your pages pop a little more, though. 

Instead, it’s been proven that images with written text are easier for the brain to encode into memory (part of what’s known as the Picture Superiority Effect). This is because our brain can draw relationships between words and images more efficiently.

Try using more images (where you can) in your FAQ page copy. Especially if it will help customers more easily find and digest the information.

Tip #8: Get Creative, or Copy Someone Who Is

If you still need inspiration, look at other sites, like this next example from 40/40 Creative.

It shows how they answered some common questions in a pretty creative way by injecting tons of personality into their copy (a great way to improve your copywriting, by the way).

But wait!

Scroll down the page even further and you’re confronted with this question…

And yes, it’s real. 

40/40 Creative actually had a music video made about them. 

Doesn’t get much more creative than that.

Check it out below. 

Tip #9: Make It Easy for Visitors to Find Information Via a Drop-Down List And/or Bullet Points

Nobody wants to read a wall of text.

Source

Loop11 once did this with their FAQ section.

It’s convenient to see all the questions upfront without scrolling, but there are too many questions. And not only that, but the light green color is poorly contrasted against the background.

Who wants to sort through this for an answer?

Today, Loop11’s FAQs page is much more organized thanks to the addition of drop-down answers. 

See how much cleaner that is? 

It’s like a breath of fresh air. 

Now, let’s move onto an example like the GS1 US.

They’ve hyperlinked bullet points to their top three support questions for quick access. This is great because customers can quickly click to where they need to go.

When crafting your own FAQs, take into account small details like line spacing, font size, layout, organization and white space.

It’ll stop people from skipping your FAQs because they feel like there’s too much information on the page.

Tip #10: Identify the Questions Customers Don’t Realize They’re Not Asking

This tip comes courtesy of copywriter Nicolas Cole. 

Cole is the founder of positioning agency Digital Press. His agency has been recognized by Business Insider, Entrepreneur, Time, Forbes and more.

“The best piece of advice I can share in terms of copywriting related to FAQ pages is to think about what sorts of questions your prospective customers don’t know they should be asking. Most people looking to purchase a product or service bring the same sorts of questions to the table—and you should absolutely have those answered. But what are the questions they don’t know they should be asking? This is your opportunity to really separate yourself from your competitors, and talk about the great work you do in a more natural way—because it’s being prompted by a question.”

This is a great tip because as Nicolas says, it’s a great way to separate your business from your competitors. Add questions your customers may not be asking, but could benefit from.

For example, if you’re a web design service that also does SEO, that might be a good opportunity for you to add in a question like, “Can you help me with SEO, too?”

Especially if the majority of your clients don’t realize they need it when they click on your FAQ. It’s a solid offering that would benefit them, and also a good opportunity to have them purchase a higher-priced package.

Advanced FAQ Writing Tips

After you’ve taken action on all of the above, consider trying some of these advanced tips to supercharge your sales or lead gen.

After you’ve taken action on all of the above, consider trying some of these advanced tips to supercharge your sales or lead gen.

Advanced Tip #1: Integrate Video

Integrating videos onto your FAQs page is a great way to make things more personal. 

For example, McDonald’s was asked by one of their fans, “Why does your food look different in person than it does in advertisements?”

And instead of addressing the question with a simple and dry answer, they instead made this video: 

Seeing a real person answer questions increases a customer’s cognitive retention of the information. 

It also boosts credibility by showing that, “Hey, there are real people behind this company website!”

Advanced Tip #2: Have Your Best Customers Write Responses to Each Question in Their Own Words

Once 10 to 20 people have purchased your product (and had a favorable experience), send each of them an email survey with your FAQ questions. 

Tell them you want to present your FAQs “in the language of the customer.”

You might be surprised by what they write.

Advanced Tip #3: Send the FAQ in an Email Follow-Up to Leads Who Haven’t Converted

Crazy Egg and several other marketers follow this practice. It’s also a tactic we’ve used as well for AutoGrow.

After a prospect enters their contact information and you’ve sent them at least one follow-up email, your next email can include FAQs. 

Here’s how ours looked back in the day:

And a sneak peek of it now:

At the end of this email, you should ask something open-ended, like “If you didn’t see your question here, hit reply and I’ll be happy to answer it.”

This is a simple way to be proactive while also engaging prospective customers.

Advanced Tip #4: Track How Many FAQs a Person Reads Based on Mouse Hovers or Clicks—If It’s Three or More, Offer Them a Coupon or a Bonus on the Spot

If you or someone else on your team is code-savvy, you can track which questions are being clicked on most. 

If a customer clicks more than three questions, respond by showing them a pop-up offer to help via chat.

You can even give them a coupon code offer, depending on which questions they click.

This may sound complex, but it’s worth testing if you have the traffic, tech skills and revenue to justify it.

Plus, you can also make the coupon offer gated, requiring prospects to submit their email address in order to claim it. That way, you can still collect their contact info, add them to your email list, and continue to nurture them even if they decide not to buy. 

Advanced Tip #5: Create Individual Landing Pages or Posts for Each FAQ Question & Link to Them in the FAQ

This is a practical tip for attracting more relevant traffic to your website. 

Create a dedicated landing page or blog post in WordPress for each common question you get.

Then, link to that post from the corresponding question in your FAQ.

I recommend answering the questions concisely on the FAQ page and then including a link with relevant anchor text at the end of the answer.

This way, if a customer wants to read more in-depth information, it’s available to them.Here’s a great example from River Pools. They took a topic in their industry—indoor swimming pools—and wrote a lengthy, detailed blog post answering the most common questions about these pools.

The reason I recommend this tactic is because you don’t want to push your potential customer off your landing page. Instead, you want to keep them in buy mode as long as possible to maximize your conversion rate.

Doing it this way, you get the best of both worlds: SEO benefits, a high conversion rate and a better customer experience in case the concise answer isn’t clear enough.

Conclusion

Download the “How to Write FAQs that Sell: 10 Tips & Examples You Can Copy” so you won’t forget to take action on it later. Click here to download it now.

FAQs are an integral part of any well-thought-out sales funnel. Everyone knows what they are, but not everyone uses them to their full potential.

That can be used to your benefit. Try implementing at least one of the tips above, and see how it affects your sales.

To review:

• FAQs make customers comfortable with purchasing by clearly and definitively answering their most burning questions. You can also set clear expectations regarding product/service value and the flexibility of your purchase terms.

• Your site’s conversion rate could increase if you create blog posts or other landing pages around the answers your customers want to know more about. This also helps with SEO!

• Take your FAQs to the next level by adding engaging videos or images that help your customers get to know you, and more easily find the information they’re looking for.

• If your FAQs are a wall of text, this sends a “do not engage” signal to your customer. Make sure your FAQs are well-organized in a question-and-answer format. Use quotes around your questions to help them sound like they’re coming from actual customers.

In general, as you go about writing or rewriting your FAQs, remember what they mean for your target customer:

• Reassurance (“What if X happens?”)
• How something works, like a specific feature
• Billing (how much, canceling, refunds, etc.)

Do you already have an FAQ page? Are you going to create one after reading this? Which of these tips was your favorite and why?

Let me know in the comments below.

And as always, 

Keep convertin’, stay focused,

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