Copywriting is an essential element behind the success of any marketing campaign. Hiring the right copywriter for your business can be a daunting task, especially when you are searching for a candidate who matches your brand’s tone of voice, has excellent writing skills, and can drive conversions. To ensure that a potential candidate possesses these skills and competencies, you may require them to take a copywriting test. Copywriting test is not to be confused with copy testing, which is the process of testing different types of copy (ad copy, headlines etc..).
In this post, we will take a closer look at copywriting testing that you can administer to evaluate a writing candidates’ skill. These tests will help you assess the candidate’s copywriting skills, research skills, and the ability to drive conversions. Here are 7 ways you can test a potential candidate for copywriting:
A general skills assessment:
One of the best copywriting tests that you can use to evaluate a candidate’s ability is a skills assessment test. This test includes a variety of questions related to copywriting, such as grammar, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, etc. Moreover, the test can also evaluate the candidate’s research skills and ability to craft content based on data-driven insights.
Landing Page Optimization:
Another good copywriting test that you can perform is landing page optimization. The objective of this test is to determine if a candidate can write high-quality copy that drives conversions. Request the candidate to take a look at your website’s or client’s landing page and work on optimizing the copy, including the CTA, copy structure, and other relevant elements. This test will evaluate the candidate’s research and writing skills, and their understanding of how to optimize content for conversion rates.
Content Writing Templates:
Copywriting tests can be repetitive and time-consuming, especially if you are hiring for multiple roles. A good solution to this problem is by using content writing templates. Identify your most common web copy, home page, FAQs, etc., and provide the candidate with templates for each. This test provides the candidate with an opportunity to work on different types of content and assesses their ability to write in different voices.
Peer Review Test:
One of the most effective copywriting tests that you can administer is the peer review test. Present the candidate with a piece of content and have them work on it. After submission, give the content to a subject matter expert (SME) or a team member who can evaluate it. The review aims to give you feedback on the candidate’s writing style and competency.
Writing for different target audience (persona target):
A strong content writer will be able to tailor copy depending on a specific audience. This is regardless of the channel (Ex: Social media vs. email marketing) and overall content strategy. To test this, consider having different scenarios with different call to actions. You can then gauge the effectiveness of each piece of copy depending on the feedback.
Understanding of digital strategies:
As most copywriters will generate content for online purposes, it only makes sense for them to have general digital skills. These types of skills may include (but are not exclusive to):
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Analytics skills (Google analytics, Adobe analytics), or metrics analysis
- Social media marketing (LinkedIn, Twitter, Tiktok)
One thing to note is, the writer does not need to be a master of any of these skills. On the contrary, it may detract from their writing skills if they’re too good at any of these things. However, they should have fundamental knowledge of most of them to ensure they’re diverse.
Case Studies:
Finally, a good copywriting test to assess a candidate’s suitability for your organization is a Case Study. Present the candidate with a fictional case study that is relevant to your industry. The test evaluates whether the candidate can understand and communicate complex information and ideas clearly and concisely.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, evaluating a candidate’s copywriting skills is an essential aspect of the hiring process for any business looking for a good copywriter. The copywriting tests provided in this post can help you assess a candidate’s writing style, research skills, and ability to drive conversions. These tests also allow you to evaluate your candidate’s soft skills, such as analytical thinking and communication.
By administering good copywriting tests, you can be confident in your hiring decisions, ensuring that you are employing the correct candidate for the job. A good copywriter can impact your digital marketing strategies, which in turn, leads to increases in your organization’s revenue.
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