SECRETS OF MILLION DOLLAR
SALES LETTERS –
FOR MAIL CAMPAIGNS &
INTERNET Marketing
Regardless of what you're
trying to sell, you really can't sell it without "talking"
with your prospective buyer.
An in attempting to sell anything on
the Internet, the sales letter you send out is when and how you talk
to your prospect.
All winning sales letters
"talk" to the prospect by creating an image in the mind of
the reader.
They set "the scene" by appealing to a desire
or need; and then they flow smoothly into the "visionary"
part of the sales pitch by describing in detail how "wonderful"
life will be and, how "good" the prospect is going to feel
after he's purchased your product.
This is the "body or guts"
of a sales letter.
Overall, a winning sales
letter follows a time-tested and proven formula:
1) Get his
attention
2) Get him interested in what you can do for him
3)
Make him desire the benefits of your product so badly his mouth
begins to water
4) Demand action from him - tell him to click the
right button or send for whatever it is you're selling without delay
- any procrastination on his part might cause him to lose out.
This
is called the "AIDA"
formula (Attention,
Interest,
Desire
and Action)
- it works.
On your website, your sales
page should be the length of what it would be
if were doing a mailing, or
longer if you're using bullets to emphasize benefits to build the
desire.
Of course on the Internet you don't have to worry about
letterhead stationery or the cost of postage, which is a considerable
savings. If, however, you want to also do a mailing campaign then
the following would apply.
The sales letters in mailings that pull
in the most sales are almost always two pages with 1 1/2 spaces
between lines. For really big ticket items, they'll run at least
four pages. - on an 11 by 17 sheet of paper folded in half.
If your
sales letter is only two pages in length, there's nothing wrong with
running it on the front and back of one sheet of 8 1/2 by 11 paper.
However, your sales letter should always be on letterhead paper -
your letterhead printed, and including your logo and business motto
if you have one.
Regardless of the length of
your sales letter, it should do one thing, and that's sell, and sell
hard! If you intend to close the sale, you've got to do it with your
sales letter. You should never be "wishy-washy" with your
sales letter.
You do the actual selling and the closing of that sale
with your sales letter - any brochure or circular you send along with
in your mailing will just reinforce what you say in the sales letter.
There's been a great deal of
discussion in the past few years regarding just how long a sales
letter should be.
A lot of people are asking: Will people really
take the time to read a long sales letter? The answer is a simple
and time-tested yes indeed!
Surveys and tests over the years
emphatically prove that "longer sales letters" pull even
better than the shorter ones, so don't worry about the length of your
sales letter - just make sure that it sells your product for you!
The "inside secret"
is to make your sales letter so interesting, and "visionary"
with the benefits you're offering to the reader, that he can't resist
reading it all the way through.
You break up the "work" of
reading by using short, punchy sentences, underlining important
points you're trying to make, with the use of subheadlines,
indentations and even the use of a second color, and leaving lots of
white space around it.
On your website, the sales letter should run
down the middle of the page so the viewer doesn't have to keep
adjusting the screen to see the whole sentence.
This is very
distracting and more apt to send that client to another website than
losing patience reading a long letter.
Relative to the brochures and
circulars you may want to include in your mailing with your sales
letter - providing the materials you're enclosing are of the best
quality, they will generally reinforce the sale for you.
But, if
they are of poor quality, look cheap and don't compliment your sales
letter, then you shouldn't be using them.
Another thing, it will
definitely classify you as an independent home worker if you
hand-stamp your name/address on these brochures or advertising
circulars instead of having them printed.
Whenever possible, and so
long as you have really good brochures to send out, have your printer
run them through his press and print your name/address - even your
telephone number and company logo - on them before you send them out.
The thing is, you want your prospect to think of you as his supplier
- the company - and not as just another independent entrepreneur.
Sure, you can get by with less expense but you'll end up with fewer
orders and in the end, less profits.
Another thing that's been
bandied about and discussed from every direction for years is whether
to use a post office box number or your street address.
Personally,
I don't like Post Office Boxes in a business address - because it
transmits an aura of instability or temporary location.
If your
business is run from home, get a mail box from a post box vendor that
has a street address. Then your address looks like, 1234 Willow
Lane, #567, Your Town, and the box number could appear to the reader
as a Suite number.
However, if you live in a remote area where your
address is 7890 Main St., RFD 42, Box 123, Your Town, then you have
no choice but to include both your post office box number, AND, your
street address on your sales letter.
When doing it strictly for your
website, put your street address, telephone number, and email address
at the bottom of the page.
More than likely, the customer will
contact you by email, but it conveys dependability if that Internet
buyer sees that you're willing to give your address.
This kind of
open display of your honesty will give you credibility and dispel the
thought of you being just another "fly-by-night" mail order
company in the mind of your prospect.
Above all else, you've got to
include some sort of ordering page or coupon if you're mailing. The
coupon has to be as simple and as easy for the prospect to fill out
and return to you as you can possible make it.
The order page on your
website should already be filled out, with perhaps just the shipping
left to choice. If your product is an eBook or software to be
instantly downloaded, then you don't have any options to be chosen.
A great many sales are lost because this order coupon is just too
complicated for the would-be buyer to follow. Don't get fancy! Keep
it simple, and you'll find your prospects responding with glee.
Should you or shouldn't you
include in your mailing a self-addressed reply envelope? There are a
lot of variables, as well as, pros and cons to this question.
Overall, when you send out a "winning" sales letter to a
good mailing list, a return reply envelope will increase your
response tremendously.
Tests of late seem to
indicate that it isn't that big a deal or difference in responses
relative to whether you do or don't pre-stamp the return reply
envelope.
Again, the decision here will rest primarily on the
product you're selling and the mailing list you're using.
Our
recommendation is that you experiment - try it both ways - with
subsequent mailings and decide for yourself from there.
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