One copywriting "rule" that's OK to break

[DavidO]

I've challenged most of the tried and tested copywriting rules and have discovered that they exist for a very good reason... they work.

But there's one last one that I still challenge and my results bear me out. It's the old adage never to include navigation or links on your sales page. I agree that you should never have links in your copy. Many people are almost compelled to click when they come across a link in the page body.

But there is absolutely no problem with a navigation menu either at the top or side of your page. In some cases navigation can even subtly help you establish credibility.

The purported reason to avoid navigation is to keep from distracting the visitor, i.e. the visitor will click away from your copy.

But why on earth would someone click away from good copy? They won't even be aware of the navigation.

Of course if your copy is not compelling they may look elsewhere but that's the fault of the copy, not the navigation. Without navigation they will simply leave the site altogether. The result is the same.

I've compared my sites with and without navigation links and it makes no difference. If the conversion is suffering it's because the copy's not doing its job.

In fact, a menu may reinforce your image as an authority site if that's what you want to project. It will be taken note of when your site first opens. And what kind of site has no contact, about or other supporting pages?

[sidsavara]

Good point. I do keep header and footer navigation on my page with my free ebook - but that's also because I don't want readers to feel like they left my site. I want them to continue to feel at home, and keep my credibility.

I think for a squeeze/sales page that people land on from a search engine though, it's quite likely that having no navigation will increase conversions

[Scott Murdaugh]

I'll disagree with you here to an extent...

First I want to say that, yeah, sometimes it's okay. If you go to most sites that sell software, or hosting or any number of other products and services, you'll see navigation links on the sales letter.

I've got a ton of software on my computer that costs over $300 a pop, and I didn't need any convincing to buy any of it... I'm talking Camtasia, Mindjet, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc.

The difference is I already knew what they were and why I needed them before I bought. They also had free trial periods so I could make absolutely sure.

Those products are the exception and not the rule.

If you tested 2 different versions of the letter, and everything was the same beyond navigation links, and the one with navigation was the winner, well there's your answer.

I'd say this was a case of your site being an exception.

People will click away from "good" copy, especially if the links are at the top of the page, they don't know the copy is good yet.

Links are leaks... And you can have links to your contact, about page, etc... But it's usually a good idea to put them at the bottom of the site.

The only real "rule" in copywriting is to make maximum money... And I'd say that the majority of the time having navigation at the top of the sales page is siphoning away conversions and money...

That's why most of the top selling products online don't have links up top.

Then again "it depends"... And if your testing tells you that the navigation is the way to go... Well, numbers don't lie.

I'd say the only rule that's NOT okay to break sometimes is to not test what you're doing and seeing how your market responds.

Nice job on testing.

-Scott

[sidsavara]

Hey Scott,

Good point about Photoshop, etc. I think that's more an issue of the brand being so much bigger than the single sales page/product. That's more the direction I am taking my website, I want people to trust my brand and the quality of my work

Now, if I do some PPC advertising for keywords for my product, I might put that same copy on a page without navigation though - since I'd assume a lot of random google searchers looking for help on a specific problem may not know who I am, and I want them to convert

[Justin Mandel]

Have you split tested navigation VS non-navigation? If you have and your results yield more sales then bravo. If not then this is not a very scientific statement to make.

Why would someone click away from good copy - you answered it - because you are showing them navigation at the top (or on the side) which is after all the very first thing they will see when they open your page.

The reason why the typical salesletter is without navigation is to get people to scoot all the way down to your order button WITHOUT distraction.

If course certain sites yield amazing results with this navigation format, like fatlosssforidiots.

Originally Posted by DavidO

But there is absolutely no problem with a navigation menu either at the top or side of your page. In some cases navigation can even subtly help you establish credibility.

But why on earth would someone click away from good copy? They won't even be aware of the navigation.

[DavidO]

Yes, I've tested navigation against no navigation and for my site there is no winner. It makes no difference.

Again, I think if you have a good headline followed by compelling copy it's not a problem. By the time they get to the second paragraph the menu has usually disappeared anyway. If you can't hold their interest that long then something's wrong.

I do agree that with squeeze page sites and mini-sites that have little more than a sales page navigation is a mistake. But for a content-based, authority site to forego navigation just because it's what copywriters say can be a mistake.

[Scott Murdaugh]

David,

I'm not disagreeing with your testing, and good on you for testing it...

Again, I think if you have a good headline followed by compelling copy it's not a problem. By the time they get to the second paragraph the menu has usually disappeared anyway. If you can't hold their interest that long then something's wrong.

There's some flawed logic here... The reason people will click away is because the links are the first thing they'll see.

You can have the best copy in the world, but if you stick links at the top of it a certain % of visitors will always click the links... That's not an opinion it's a fact.

And if you have an "Order" link up top, a certain % will check the price before they're convinced, decide it's too much, and leave before you get a chance to hook them in.

If it works for you, it works... Just make sure you run a test exclusively with the navigation, use the same headline and copy and make sure you have enough visitors to be statistically relevant.

-Scott

[Daniel Scott]

David,

How many visitors did you send towards the page before "ending" the rest and getting results?

Usually even tiny things have a change in response... even if it's tiny.

-Dan