Mastering transition phrases is one of the easiest ways to take your copywriting to the next level.
Best of all, they’re dead-simple to use. Plug them into the beginning or end of your sentences and VIOLA, copy improved.
The hardest part is remembering all the different transition options at your disposal. That’s why I’ve thrown together this big ass list of transition phrases for you.
If you’re struggling to connect ideas or feel like your writing feels “choppy”, this list will help. Just scan through, grab one that fits, and watch as it instantly makes your copy flow better.
Pro Tip 1: Save this list to your computer and add to it whenever you read new transitions you like (many of these were found in Gary Halbert’s Boron Letters)
Pro Tip 2: Be careful with the longer transition phrases on this list. If you overuse them, you’re writing will get fluffy and annoying to read.
#1.) Transitions to make choppy sentences buttery <smooth
You can have the best ideas in the world, but if you can’t make them flow together, you’ll lose readers.
If you forget to use flow transitions, your writing can sound robotic, hard to follow, and sometimes even harsh/mean. For example…
See how adding simple flow transitions makes you sound more personable and friendly?
Here’s a bunch of other flow transitions you can try out in your copy:
Flow Transition Examples
- That said, …
- Here’s why…
- Here is why:
- That’s why…
- The point:
- The point is that
- Seriously.
- Personally, …
- At the end of the day, … [close]
- Believe it or not, …
- If we’re being honest, …
- It boils down to this:
- I don’t know about you, but I …
- So without further ado, let’s…
- Let’s jump in.
- Let’s dive in.
- Moving on, …
- Onward.
- Here’s the deal:
- So next on the agenda is to
- In other words, …
- So you wonder…
- Remember how I told you,
- In the meantime, …
- Well, as a matter of fact, …
- Now, naturally, …
- And, of course, …
- That’s right. [Repeat statement]
- No kidding.
- First things first,
- In fact, …
- Actually, …
- For example, …
- For instance, …
- The catch was/is: …
- Beyond that, …
- And what’s more, …
- Here’s what it means.
- In a nutshell, …
- What it all boils down to is that…
- It all boils down to…
- Maybe you’ve heard…
- You’ve probably heard that…
- As you know, …
- AS I WAS SAYING. [after funny tangent]
- Listen to this:
- So here’s the deal:
- Think about…
- Imagine…
- So, you can imagine how…
- Guess what?
- What I suggest is…
- The truth is… (good to use in closing when wrapping things up)
- Sounds impossible? It’s not! [show proof]
- You see, …
- The best part is,
- Remember:
- In short, …
- Even better, …
- Hot damn! I’m cooking now! (after building up some excitement/momentum)
- Now, how in the world do we…
- And what else did I do? Well, I…
- At this point, you may be thinking…
#2.) Transitions to make it impossible to stop reading
Transition phrases can also be used to plant mini seeds of curiosity in your reader’s mind—unconsciously forcing them to continue down the page to satisfy that curiosity.
Here’s what I mean…
When you read “And the best part?” your brain wants to continue moving down the page to discover what the “best part” is.
Now compare that to…
This version has no element of curiosity, and while it’s not bad per se, it doesn’t push you down the page.
Here are some more curiosity transitions (as well as some longer examples):
Slippery Slope Transitions
- But do me a favor…
- But think about it this way…
- The point:
- Because listen…
- But here’s the catch…
- I could go on and on…
But here’s what you need to know right now… - [Ask question that reader wants to know the answer to]
Before I tell you, some context: - [Emotional statement]
It’s [adjective describing emotion evoked], but listen… - Now, for many of you, I am going to make your day. I suspect what I am going to write next is going to put smiles on the faces of people all over the world. (Gary Halbert example)
This type of transition phrase comes in handy when using stories, analogies, or moving into your CTA.
Sometimes it’s tricky to make these transitions sound natural, so if you have a handful of go-to formulas and examples you can draw inspiration from, you’ll make life easier.
Here’s some examples of idea connector transitions you can use if you’re stuck (swiped from other copywriters I follow).
Idea Connector Transitions
- As I realized later, this is really a great analogy to…
- Ok so what the heck does ___ have to do with ___?
A lot.
But first…a story. A story that….[tell story that helps make the connection] - Let me tell you a little tale about…
- Once upon a time, …
- So now, after all this preamble can I relate any of this to [topic your reader cares about]? You bet.
- So, what does this mean when it comes to [topic]? What it means is…
- Let’s get back to…
- Ah, yes. That reminds me—we should talk about…
- Here’s a true story that illustrates what I am trying to get across.
- (After giving a lesson/tip) Something to think about when [doing activity related to lesson].
And here’s something else to think about:
[Offer expiring soon] - So… the takeaway…
- The point of the story?
[Moral of your story]
But, there is much more to it than that.
[Relate moral of story to your product] - Short story long:
I ended up getting the worst kind of car, at the worst kind of price, with the worst kind of terms, for the worst kind of loan… and learned a very valuable lesson about buying cars.
But, not just a valuable lesson about buying cars.
A valuable lesson about a great many things.
One of which is about content creation.
And as far as content creation goes, when it comes to creating content I have the same attitude I now have about buying cars:
“The best time to create content is when you don’t need it!”
(Ben Settle example)
Alrighty folks! Now you’ve got a buttload of new transitions to test out.
You can refer back to this list whenever you need inspiration, but the idea is to start incorporating them into your natural writing style. If you add 2-3 new transitions to your repertoire per week, you’ll be a transition master lickety-split!
Hope this helps butter up your copy!
Sincerely,
Mitch Glass
Amazing article! This will come in super handy! Thanks Mitch :)
Great article, Mitch! I’ll definitely be referring to this when I need ideas for transitions.
Great! I would like to translate your article into Portuguese to share it with Brazilian copywriters.
Love the post! Just used it to double check a blog post I just wrote.
About the “slippery slope” transitions (and “seeds of curiosity”):
After reading this in Sugarman’s book, I went back and reread all the chapters before to see him use it in action. It was super cool — and I picked up a lot that I use all the time. Especially: “let me explain.”
See you in the forums!
Love that book! Sugarman is the master of the slippery slope. See you on the inside!
Is there any way to download it?
Hey Sadaf, I’ll talk with Neville to see if we can add in a download :-)
Phenomenal lessons it’s just gonna help me a lot in writing. Thanks
Glad you enjoyed it! Keep working on gradually adding in more and more into your “writer’s toolbox” and pretty soon you’ll have ’em mastered 🤓
This is exactly what I needed…
Thank you.
You bet! Mastering transitions can really transform your writing :-)
Amazing! Thanks, Neville. So simple to implement