Do you have a product or service ready that you want to now sell? But like 99% of the internet marketers you are dead in your tracks thinking about how to write a sales copy? I know. I’ve been there many times. Let me show you FIVE top items that can’t be ignored in your sales copy.
1. The most important part of a sales letter
So what’s the most important part of a sales letter?
The headline?
The P.S.?
The proof?
This is debatable, of course. But today I’m going to argue that the opening is the most important.
The opening of a sales letter is so important that Herschell Gordon Lewis devotes more than 100 pages to the subject in his book Sales Letters That Sizzle.
For the most part, people don’t read every word of a sales letter.
They skip around, look at the headlines and subheads, look at the P.S.
The brilliant anecdote on page three might not get noticed at all.
You have a better chance of people reading page three if you wow them with your introduction.
According to Lewis, “Changing the opening — the first few paragraphs — has the capacity of generating a huge increase (or decrease) in response, often far more profound than letter length.”
So rather than simply wonder if long or short copy will work best for your product, focus on the opening too.
With the right opening the copy length is less significant.
And with the right software, you’ll be able to write openings…and entire sales letters… in mere minutes.
Lewis recommends provocative openings. “Fire your biggest guns first!”
Here are 10 opening examples from real sales letters.
1. If You’re Like Me…
2. Ask a Provocative Question.
3. What If…
4. Suggest a Cataclysmic Decision. For example,
“The decision you make today can…”
5. I [We} Need Help.
6. Congratulations!
7. I Invite You…
8. I Have a Free Gift For You.
9. As You Know…
10. I Have Something Good For You.
Choosing the right opening is critical because the reader might not even see your USP or main benefits without the proper opening.
So you need to match your message to your market, as they say.
2. The formula for persuasion
The formula for persuasion is at least 2500 years old and dates back to Aristotle.
It’s very similar to the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) formula popular with copywriters and marketers:
1. Exordium. Get attention by telling a story or making a shocking statement.
2. Narratio. State the reader’s problem.
3. Confirmation. Offer a solution to this problem.
4. Peroratio. State the benefits of this solution.
In his book Hypnotic Writing, Joe Vitale simplifies this formula even more:
1. Problem.
2. Promise.
3. Proof.
4. Price.
3. “Tell me a story!”
Who can resist a kid when he says that?
The fact is, everyone loves to hear stories, not just kids.
Stories are even more important than facts.
A political science once said, “Programs don’t make great presidents. Stories make great presidents”
I would venture to say that products don’t make great businesses. Stories make great businesses.
So you definitely need to use stories in your copy.
Sometimes you will use a full-fledged story with a beginning, middle and end.
A story like this helps when you want to put yourself in your prospect’s shoes and show that them you’ve been where they are now.
This builds trust and the reader will be more likely to listen when you present a solution (your product).
Good storytelling is about holding the reader’s attention and getting them to identify with your main character.
Other times you will use story elements in your copy rather than a full-fledged story (or sometimes in addition to one).
Metaphors are one of the most powerful elements you can use. A metaphor is a comparison between two or more unrelated objects.
For example, “her blood pressure was lower than the Mississippi valley” is a metaphor.
Then there are similes (ex. “hungry as a bear”) and idioms (“straight from the horse’s mouth”).
The important thing is to just be real.
As fitness guru Matt Furey says about writing copy, “open a vein and bleed.”
4. Sell billions with your headlines?
If a copywriter sold $6 billion worth of products over the years, would you listen to what he had to say about headlines?
I should think so.
Ted Nicholas is this kind of copywriter.
Ted says the headline is 90 percent responsible for the success of any piece of copy.
Most copywriters take shortcuts with headlines at some point, to the detriment of the sales letter.
One symptom of this is the long-winded headlines you see on many online sales letters.
Rather than take the wrong kind of shortcuts, Ted recommends his “fill-in-the-blank” shortcut for writing headlines.
Headlines fall into one of these 11 categories:
1. How to (Blank)
2. Secrets of (Blank)
3. Stacked Benefits
4. Problem/Solution
5. How to/Guaranteed
6. Get Benefit Fast, Regardless…
7. Solve a Problem…
8. Visualize it…
9. Ways To/Reasons Why
10. Problem Solver…
11. If…Then
Here’s an example he gives of a Problem/Solution headline:
“No More Bad Hair Days! Here’s a Proven Way to Maintain the Perfect Look Any Day of the Week!”
The next time you brainstorm headlines for a sales letter, pull out this list.
5. Your sales letter store front
As you know, sales letters are crucial to your success online.
But let’s not overlook another important part of your copywriting strategy…. emails.
A sales letter is like a storefront.
Email is similar to the interaction that takes place after the customer enters the store and starts looking around.
Just like a customer often won’t come into the store and buy right away, a customer usually won’t buy from you the first time he sees your sales page.
So that’s why you need to woo them through email.
A series of emails sent to prospects usually has seven emails.
Here is a good formula to follow when writing those emails:
- Begin with a story or interesting description and make the first paragraph very short, if possible.
- The email should have a frame – a time and a place. For example, “The other day when I was at Starbucks…”
- Include three links in the body.
- Precede each link with a question, if possible, or at least a short sentence.
- Include a P.S. that mentions one bonus or benefit that wasn?t mentioned in the body and also include a link to the website.
- The word length is usually 300-500 words.
After the customer makes a purchase you should send a series of emails that helps them use your product.
The best way to improve your sales letter
Let’s say you’ve cranked out a new sales letter and want to make sure it’s the best it can be.
You’ve proofread it and have made sure everything looks spiffy.
What you should do next is read it out loud. At least three times. Don’t rush. Read it at normal pace.
Even better, have an 8-12 year old child read it out loud and notice if they stumble over any words or have trouble understanding it.
Also take note of any areas where you (or the child reading it) run out of breath before the end of a sentence.
For example, you really want to make sure that you can say the headline all in one breath. If you can’t, you know the headline is too long.
This one tip alone will improve any sales letter. I recommend doing it for emails too.
You will ALWAYS find areas of your copy that need fixing if you read your drafts out loud.
BUT……….Hiring a copywriter can be a nightmare.
First of all it’s time consuming finding someone.
You have to send emails and ask for quotes and look through samples.
Then there’s the trust factor. How do you know you can really count on them to come through for you, especially if you’re short on time?
It’s not really fair to expect a copywriter to work on short notice.
Right now you probably don’t have the four or five figures it takes to hire a copywriter.
Over time you’ll want to find a copywriter you can trust, once your business becomes consistently profitable.
Finally, when you are ready to hire a copywriter..here are my TOP recommendations:
Remember, they are not cheap. And Vin Montello charges a premium fee among this list.
