Grab Attention.
This, of course, is about your headline. Go back over everything we said about headlines, and remember once again that if it does not GRAB your prospect’s attention, the rest of the letter is a waste of time. If you are sending the letter as a mailer, remember many people open their mail standing by the bin. Speaking for myself, a sales letter gets only the briefest of glances before being dropped in the bin. That’s how much time you have to attract the reader’s interest!
If you are doing an online sales letter, just think of the many distractions your reader might have. The baby crying – the doorbell ringing – the phone ringing – having to collect the kids from school – the sun shining outside … You have to COMPEL your reader to pay attention to your letter.
Imagine your target prospect sitting across the table. Suppose it’s a female who might be interested in your weight-loss product, but she is engrossed in a TV program or a magazine. What do you say about your product to get her attention? Write that down!
Arouse Interest
OK, you’ve got her attention, but then her eyes begin to drift back to the TV or her magazine. What do you say about your product to KEEP her attention? Write that down! Enlarge on the benefit TO HER. Be personal. Make her see you are really interested in her and you understand her problem.
Your first sentence could be a question, like “Why aren’t YOU earning $50,000 in your spare time?” Or it could be designed to intrigue, such as “Today you had an idea that could make you millions. And you didn’t even notice it!”
Remember, even if the reader’s attention has been attracted by the headline, it could still fade if the beginning of the body copy fails to hook. So DON’T waste time on a warm-up paragraph – get straight to the point.
Create Desire
Ram home the benefits of your offer. Include as many benefits as possible, as near as possible to the beginning of your letter. Benefits are what the product can do for your customer, not how much time you took to produce it or what brilliant techniques were used.
· Be as specific as possible with your benefits. Instead of saying “Your customers will love our new computer game” say “Earn $2,000 from every sale!”
· Use bullet points, bold type, highlighting etc., to emphasize points that need emphasizing. But don’t overdo it – too much emphasis is counter-productive.
· Use sub-headlines, which definitely help to get your letter read. This makes it easy for the “skimming” reader. Many people “skim” with one finger on the trigger – make sure they get the essence of your message. Follow the same rules as for headlines. Make them convey a benefit and make them interesting enough to compel the reader to read the text that follows them.
· Always include at least one P.S. to reinforce the main benefits in your letter, especially an off-line sales letter. Everyone who writes sales letters agrees that a P.S. increases effectiveness, though it is not really clear why.
· Use endorsements or testimonials wherever possible. If you don’t have anything suitable, offer a few free samples of your product in return for answering a questionnaire.
· Make sure you provide a cast-iron money-back guarantee – decide what period of time this will be for – 30 days, 3 months or whatever. Although this will attract some freebie-seeking refund requests, it means an overall increase in sales. Look in your swipe file for examples of guarantees. There is an art to writing a guarantee so it will be quicker and more effective for you to see how other people do it!
Initiate Action
Be VERY clear about what single action you want your readers to take and make it VERY easy for them to take it. DON’T offer them the choice of more than one action. In the case of sales letters, the action is usually to buy the product. If you want them to buy your product, CLEARLY ASK FOR THE SALE.
Eliminate distractions like external links. Give them only ONE way to proceed – to your order form.
Before you close the sale, remind your readers what will happen if they don’t act. Remind them of their problems and make them feel the pain of not solving them. Then remind them how good it would be if they had your product. Once you’ve emphasized the gap between their current situation and their desired state, ask for the order.
Highlight reasons why they should act right away. It is well known that if they put it off, most people will forget or the interest will evaporate. Emphasize that stocks are limited or offer special bonuses for early ordering.
Make it absolutely clear how to get to the order page and offer several alternative ways to pay. If it is an off-line mailer, make absolutely sure you provide an order form including your name and address and providing space for customers to write theirs. Offer as many different ways to pay as possible, including credit card if you possibly can.
Of course every letter is different. But keep this basic formula in mind and you WILL succeed. More tips and tricks about writing compelling copy in future posts and at Bizwrite!
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