Learn the Law of Copywriting from the Teachers Featured in this Salesletter

[Mr. Enthusiastic]

Here's a superb opportunity to watch masterful copywriting at work:
Learn the Law of Attraction from the Teachers Featured in The Secret

"Learn the Law of Attraction from the Teachers Featured in The Secret"

Here are just a few things you can learn:

* Use of design, layout, colors, photography, and fonts to give an emotional impression. In this case, it looks like an exclusive club offering a limited invitation.
* Forced scarcity with the timer.
* Headline, subhead, body text and lots of bullets with "we're giving away" and "bonuses"
* Storytelling writing that walks the reader through the mental experience of already owning and using the package
* Set up unconscious expectation that this is going to be the first of many purchases, since a highlighted "bonus" is discounts on other offers

And then, after the first opportunity to order (including the guarantee), another stack of winning headlines:

Who else wants to learn... Without this formula (you'll hurt)... Give me 7 minutes...

Benefits, benefits, benefits

My story and picture
Third party evidence I'm great
Who was that mystery guy
Why it worked for him
It's the hidden secret behind a big business you've probably heard about
It's what Conant brought to Nightingale-Conant although he never revealed that

Testimonials

More benefits

Emotional appeal

More testimonials and benefits

Absolutely brilliant transition line I've never seen before: "Now, allow us to pull back the curtains and reveal your financial well-being solution."

Benefits and testimonials.

More value setting and scarcity.

The "believable" reason that switching to all-digital delivery, and substituting teleconference series for a seminar, justifies the dramatically lowered price.

Summary, summary, summary, more testimonials.

A guarantee that looks like an old-time stock certificate and a heartfelt revelation.

Belcher Button for ordering.

A big heaping pile of P.S.'s.

Whoever put this sales letter together: Man, these guys (and/or gals) are good.

Visit this page and "save all" into your swipe file collection.

And by the way, if you aren't familiar with the Law of Attraction and have a spare $200, it looks like a pretty darn good tutorial. (I have no affiliation with the offer or the business.)

Your thoughts?
Chris

[Benjamin Johnson]

An Odd Looking Man With an Odd Sounding Name Who Changed the World With a Little Green Book

This is a nice example of borrowing the credibility of an historical figure in copy to promote a modern-day product -- done well, as it is here, it can be tremendously effective. There's an element of mystery to using history in copy that seems to drive the curiosity factor through the roof under the right circumstances.

[Mr. Enthusiastic]

Thanks Benjamin!

Anyone else want to highlight some of the techniques we see on display in this ad?

[mrozlat]

analyzing from this perspective: The structure of a powerful hard-hitting sales letter

- Start with a big promise.

This New Year, We’re Giving Away The Single Biggest Bag of Bonuses Ever

- Paint the picture.

This is a true story of a remarkable man who started off in a position that, most probably, was worse off than where you are right now. But by just doing certain things in a certain way, riches came to him in abundance.

Once you learn from this story, you will suddenly find that you can easily: (story continues)

- Give them proof.

High profile testimonials used.

- Tell them why it's unique.

Marketed as the secret behind the secret... not just the secret. Ie: the formula for the secret.

- CLOSE your argument by telling them why they must act now!

I am slashing the $2,000.00 price tag to ONLY $197. I Can Hear the Questions Already… “Am I Getting Less Value?” NO. You are not getting less value, not by an ounce. You are getting the exact same information of the exact same $2,000.00 value for only $197. In Fact, You’re Getting Even More Value! Here’s Why…

- Make them a very special offer if they respond now!

Alright… Let’s Sum Up Again What You’re Getting for Only $197 When You Say Yes NOW!

- End with a reminder of the promise - summary of offer - and STRONG call for action!

Alright… Let’s Sum Up Again What You’re Getting for Only $197 When You Say Yes NOW! (and) Why Are We Giving You A 90% Discount?

[Jennie Heckel]

Dear Chris:

Awesome sales letter, it has spunk and flair... never a dull moment, all 30 + pages of it.

I know the dudes at 2010 MindValley LC.

I worked seo for them a couple years back (before I dived full time into copywriting. They are exceptionally good writers but I really doubt this is their work. Now I have an idea of who wrote it though...

Look at the ending that gives a clue of who did.

I've completed a new Bob Proctor Protege DVD sales letter for Bob's Xtreme Business Makeover Seminar DVDs and some of the new stuff Bob Proctor is plugging is simply awesome.

One of the perks for doing Bob Protege's copy is I get in on all the new products before the are live. Ah for the perks in this biz...

Jennie

[Mr. Enthusiastic]

Jennie, I was looking for the "what a tease" button but I couldn't find it . Instead I had to use the "thanks" button for your limited peek behind the curtain.

It does look to me that this copy comes from many years of discovery. Many years of learning exactly what to say, to orchestrate all the emotional responses and next thoughts on the part of the reader.

Thanks for stopping by the thread.

[Alex Cohen]

In my opinion, the sales letter has a serious flaw. It makes unbelievable claims.

Alex

[travlinguy]

Proctor has been promoting the Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles for years. He originally took an obscure public domain book written at the turn of the last century and turned it into a dynamic home study course by simply adding a workbook and recording the text of the actual book in audio.

He also added his own commentary and personal experience with the principles, which gave it a lot more power. I've listened to the material top to bottom dozens of times and have done the exercises in the workbook multiple times as well. I credit this book and Proctor's coaching to a lot of my own success.

I'm an affiliate for the program he's promoting with this letter, though I don't own the actual new product. But with Jack Canfield, Bob Proctor and Michael Beckwith behind it, I'm sure it's great stuff.

And yes, there are a lot of what appears to be unbelievable claims being made but this stuff is real.

[Mr. Enthusiastic]

Originally Posted by Alex Cohen

In my opinion, the sales letter has a serious flaw. It makes unbelievable claims.

Alex

Alex, would you like to highlight which particular claims seem especially outlandish to you? I'm not associated with the offer or the people making it, my only interest in it is a discussion of copywriting. If the promises cross the line of incredulity, there may be something there for other copywriters to learn from. (How to not pour on too much hype, if nothing else!)

[Mr. Enthusiastic]

Originally Posted by travlinguy

He originally took an obscure public domain book written at the turn of the last century and turned it into a dynamic home study course by simply adding a workbook and recording the text of the actual book in audio.

He also added his own commentary and personal experience with the principles, which gave it a lot more power.

That's something any of us could work on, isn't it. My understanding is that Proctor was already in the self-development field for several years. But this same technique could be applied in any field where people are hungry for information, and a 100-year old book might have just the perspective people would love today... if it was promoted the right way.

[Alex Cohen]

Originally Posted by Mr. Enthusiastic

Alex, would you like to highlight which particular claims seem especially outlandish to you? I'm not associated with the offer or the people making it, my only interest in it is a discussion of copywriting. If the promises cross the line of incredulity, there may be something there for other copywriters to learn from. (How to not pour on too much hype, if nothing else!)

Sure.

The unbelievable claims start right at the beginning ...

You will get rich

Next is the big promise of the headline ...

Achieve Any Financial Goal With Mathematical Certainty

And these two from the first group of bullets ...

Guarantee wealth to flow abundantly
Have complete control over your destiny

Alex

[The Copy Nazi]

Originally Posted by Alex Cohen

Sure.

The unbelievable claims start right at the beginning ...

You will get rich

Next is the big promise of the headline ...

Achieve Any Financial Goal With Mathematical Certainty

And these two from the first group of bullets ...

Guarantee wealth to flow abundantly
Have complete control over your destiny

Alex

I'm with you Alex. Unbelievable claims and in breach of FTC rules, I would think. All this "The Secret" and "Law of Attraction" BS turns my stomach. Aaron Wall of Seobook has an interesting post on it with some relevant comments. Like this one -

The Secret preys on the desperate Aaron, thanks for this post. I used to work with a website like this but had to quit due to ethical reasons. Let me tell you there's a LOT of money in this market - these people want to believe this so bad they're willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money for whatever "manifestation exercises" or whatever other 'universe' BS you can come up with. But it is, literally, preying on the sick and the poor of society. At one point we had some costumer support issues, so I had to handle the emails...this was a big eye opener. There were letters from people who couldn't pay their bills who would fork over their last dollars in a desperate attempt to buy a miracle...people with terminal illnesses, people who have been abused etc. Basically people who are so manifestly f***ed they're willing to pay anything just to have someone tell them that everything will magically fix itself. There came a point where I just wanted to reply "wtf is wrong with you? Stop giving us your money and feed your f***ing kids instead" - which was also the point where I knew I couldn't keep on doing it.
Hidden beneath all of the marketing is, as you pointed out, a positive and honest message - and the author's cling to this as a way of justifying taking large sums of money for poorly repackaged ideas. The core message is genuine, but the way it's been perverted to maximize profits is unethical IMO.

[travlinguy]

The law of attraction is as real as death and taxes. Though I would agree that there are people out there who package and present it in such a way as to make it suspect.

Earl Nightingale recorded the first million seller self help record (before tapes were available) titled The Strangest Secret. He gave lots of examples of people who had used certain principles to get what they wanted. He distilled the entire concept down to a single statement. That is, You Become What You Think About. This is pretty much the law of attraction or better yet, the law of cause and effect.

Show me an antagonistic, cranky, SOB and I'll show you someone who attracts a lot of the same type of misery. Pretty simple.

Show me someone who is genuinely upbeat and pleasant and I'll show you someone who attracts much of the same.

That's the law of attraction, folks. It's often sold as some mysterious power and people are sometimes led to believe that they can sit on a mountaintop and think 'happy thoughts' and riches will pour down from the skies. That's pretty pathetic. But I also understand that some marketers present LOA this way.

The Science of Getting Rich is a short book designed to help people change what isn't working for them. If you were brought up in an environment of scarcity and had people telling you that you weren't worthy of good things, those are the dominant thoughts you carry (both consciously and more importantly, in your subconscious) and those crappy notions are certain to manifest in your life. The result, you’re either broke or struggling.

Legitimate information on the LOA shows people practical ways to let go of beliefs that don't serve them. These might be about money, health, or love. And any legitimate information on using these principles also includes plenty of instruction on taking action. Because without doing that you can sit around all day thinking happy thoughts and waiting for riches to show up and end up very disappointed.

[marciayudkin]

The unbelievable claims start right at the beginning ...

You will get rich

Next is the big promise of the headline ...

Achieve Any Financial Goal With Mathematical Certainty

I agree that this is not believable. Even if the Law of Attraction has some validity, it is not something that works with the inevitability and precision of gravity.

This is not a promise that any human being can deliver on:

the Exact Formula to Achieve Any Financial Goal With Mathematical Certainty No Matter What Condition the Economy Is In

I'm surprised that intelligent people might think otherwise.

Marcia Yudkin

[Mr. Enthusiastic]

Paul, I really like your question. Unless Jennie can give us a hint, we might never know. I think the real test will be to see if the company stays in business, continuing to offer this kind of information package year after year. So far we have a few decades of evidence that there is a core audience who loves to buy buy buy the chance to learn "Secret" metaphysics of wealth.

Alan, Malcolm, and Marcia: Thanks, I can see your point very clearly.

I'd like to keep this particular thread focused on this particular sales letter, if that's alright with you. There are already several threads, mostly in the "Mind Warriors" section, debating the "Law of Attraction" concepts. I really don't want to duplicate those debates in here.

My only concern here is to notice the techniques used in the sales letter. In my opinion, your concerns point out a really powerful copywriting technique.

Think a bit about the buyer of this material who's most likely to buy. Who is most likely to love the course and praise it, least likely to return it?

That would be a person who already has these kinds of beliefs: The physical universe is subject to metaphysical principles. These principles can be taught but only a few discover them. The principles and their teachers have mostly been obscure. Now the teachers are making these principles available. Whoever masters these principles will master their physical destiny. "The Secret" shows a credible presentation of these teachers and principles.

Again, I'm not here to debate these points in this thread. I'm simply pointing out that this is the kind of mindset that makes a prospect eager to receive the message of this sales letter.

I think that these bullet points help to qualify the prospective buyer. These points appeal to those who already think along the lines that Proctor teaches. They actively repel people who are not good prospects.

Look at how Gary Halbert sometimes insulted his audience. Yeah, they were s*weasels too and they didn't mind plain speech!

Gary didn't want corporate stuffed-shirt types as his clients. If his material wandered onto the desk of a self-satisfied middle-manager MBA, Gary's style would have actively repelled that non-prospect.

On the other hand, Gary's ideal buyer would have no use for books about how to succeed at office politics. Gary's buyer would be totally repelled by any bullet points that imply a book for sale helps you better brown-nose your way up the corporate ladder.

In the same way, the LOA letter actively offends those whose mindset isn't open to Proctor's material. I'm not saying here that it's good or bad to have that mindset. But when this sales letter happens across the path of a skeptic, it's like Kryptonite to Superman. It actively repels them. They don't order and then they don't put in customer service complaints and return the package!

A great sales letter includes things that appeal to those who are already in the "hungry crowd." And it can actively repel those who'd only get indigestion from the offer.

For those who can't stand LOA thought... can you add something to your sales letters that will make your non-buyers every bit as queasy, upset and distant as you feel about Proctor? Can you add something that's like catnip to your ideal buyer, just as this letter is catnip for fans of metaphysical concepts?

[Alex Cohen]

Originally Posted by Mr. Enthusiastic

Think a bit about the buyer of this material who's most likely to buy. Who is most likely to love the course and praise it, least likely to return it?

That would be a person who already has these kinds of beliefs: The physical universe is subject to metaphysical principles. These principles can be taught but only a few discover them. The principles and their teachers have mostly been obscure. Now the teachers are making these principles available. Whoever masters these principles will master their physical destiny. "The Secret" shows a credible presentation of these teachers and principles.

You make a good point Chris. One man's believability is another man's disbelief.

And so it becomes a matter of ethics. Are those who believe being taken advantage of? And if so, what should a copywriter's response be?

Already in this thread, we've seen the two extremes. One poster wrote, "I knew I couldn't keep on doing it" while another wrote, "If the letter is doing well is all I care about".

But ethics is a topic for another thread.

Alex