21 Ways To Keep Readers Glued To Your Sales Letter

[Raydal]

Boredom is probably the greatest threat to any sales letter. It
is often said that a letter can never be too long, just too
boring. So in this post I want to look at 21 ways you can cut
boredom from your sales letters.

1. Begin your letter with a question which will engage the
mind of your reader right away. Make the question pertinent to
the benefit you are selling. You may also use questions as topic
sentences and subheads while providing the answers in the
following lines.

2. Start your letter with the strongest benefit provided by
your product or service.

3. Use a headline with some news value as people are always
interested in what’s new.

4. Be as specific and concrete as possible, avoiding general
statements.

5. Avoid writing anything that is not a selling point or
advantage you are providing to your customers. Everything else is
just fluff.

6. Start with facts that your reader can generally agree with
before moving to facts that will be new to them. So go from the
known to the unknown.

7. Use a lot of emotional appeals by using emotive words and
tell touching stories.

8. Make your reading as entertaining as possible (not
necessarily humorous). Remember people pay to be entertained.

9. Be sure to place your personality in the letter. People are
most interested in people, not things per se.

10. Be careful of making unsubstantiated claims that have no
proof. You will lose credibility with the reader if you do this.

11. Use a sales message with a general appeal as possible to
your market. Don’t get distracted by minor points and ideas.

12. Use short simple sentences. You can often break up long
sentences by using a period instead of a comma. Make all these
sentences carry their weight in meaning or prune them.

13. Use subheads with the same interest as your headlines to
help break up the copy but keeping the letter dynamic.

14. Appeal to people from the angle of human interest and keep
it natural.

15. Use active verbs instead of passive ones. “He reads the
sales letter” instead of “The sales letter was read by him”

16. Use a conversational style of writing. Write as you would
talk to a friend who was sitting right across from you.

17. Avoid using too many adjectives, adverbs, pronouns and
dependent clauses. These all weaken the ‘punch’ of your writing.

18. Link one point of interest smoothly to the next; use
logical and clear transition phrases.

19. Use simple but clear vocabulary. Let the simplicity of your
vocabulary be prominently imminent.

20. Use vivid imagery that builds pictures in your reader’s
mind.

21. Be unpredictable. The predictable and mundane get passed by
for the wacky and different.

Now you have a checklist to place next to your desk as you
review your sales letters to make them more engaging for your readers.

An engaged reader is more likely to make the decision you are
after, which means a more successful sales letter.

-Ray Edwards

[Intrepreneur]

There's enough info in there to leave and write a good salesletter Ray. Nice work dude.

[Ashley Gable]

Thanks Ray!

This seems to be the problem with me, I wrote a pretty good sales letter, it does well, but even when I read it back, it is kind of boring.

It just doesnt get you excited. I'm gonna implement these tips right away.


Thanks again!

[fasteasysuccess]

Those are all great-I would like to add on the fact like you said people like to be entertained and what better way to entertain people than with a great story.

Like John Carlton spoke about and a lot of great copywriters have said that stories can be extremely powerful and with personality and being genuine can be huge in sales success and copy which is the salesman in print for us.

[Kevin Rogers]

Originally Posted by Raydal

[SIZE=2]

1. Begin your letter with a question which will engage the
mind of your reader right away. Make the question pertinent to
the benefit you are selling. You may also use questions as topic
sentences and subheads while providing the answers in the
following lines.

Hi Ray,

Nice list. Lots of good stuff in there.

Thought I'd clarify an important point about your #1 suggestion.

While asking questions can be an effective way to engage the reader, asking the WRONG question -- or the right question the wrong way -- can be death.

Because if the reader answers "no" to your "yes" loaded question, he's immediately disqualified himself as your perfect prospect... and he's gone.

I think this is what you meant by "make the question pertinent to the benefit you are selling"... but I thought it was worth pointing out that the question must be stated in a way that will positively inspire the answer you're after.

This caveat might be well-known by many here, but just in case.

Again, good list. I'm sure it'll help lots of people.

[wordwizard]

Thanks for the great points, Ray!

A lot of it is about drawing the reader into the sales letter and not letting him/her go. And your tips make a great list of things to keep in mind to help make that happen (i.e., draw in the reader etc.).

A question about your last point though... about being unpredictable...

On one hand, we certainly shouldn't bore our readers, but on the other hand, shouldn't we also be sure not to be too jarring and/or shouldn't we avoid being inconsistent in our persona etc. lest we undermine any trust we might have been building?

What's your take on that? Could you elaborate and maybe give an example of "good" unpredictability vs. the kind to avoid, and how to find the fine line?

Thanks.

Elisabeth

[John D. Walton]

Thanks Ray: its good info. John

[Raydal]

Originally Posted by wordwizard

Thanks for the great points, Ray!

A lot of it is about drawing the reader into the sales letter and not letting him/her go. And your tips make a great list of things to keep in mind to help make that happen (i.e., draw in the reader etc.).

A question about your last point though... about being unpredictable...

On one hand, we certainly shouldn't bore our readers, but on the other hand, shouldn't we also be sure not to be too jarring and/or shouldn't we avoid being inconsistent in our persona etc. lest we undermine any trust we might have been building?

What's your take on that? Could you elaborate and maybe give an example of "good" unpredictability vs. the kind to avoid, and how to find the fine line?

Thanks.

Elisabeth

Great question Elizabeth.

Curiosity is one of the greatest if not the greatest incentive to reading
any new information. If you already know how the story is going to
end then you are less likely to read or watch the movie.

The "punch lines" of a joke comes from its surprising unexpectedness
and so does good copywriting.

You don't want to lose credibility in any way but you do want to hold
interest.

The things that get out attention are those things that stand out
from the crowd. Many people complain of the "who else .." headlines
and other aspects of copywriting because they are tired of seeing
the SAME thing.

The RichJerk did so well because he took a surprising angle to his
selling.

People want to be entertained while they are being sold. Take a
leaf from the storyteller's and comedian's book.

Hope this helped.

-Ray Edwards

[Raydal]

Originally Posted by Kevin Rogers

Hi Ray,

Because if the reader answers "no" to your "yes" loaded question, he's immediately disqualified himself as your perfect prospect... and he's gone.

Great clarification there Kevin. Questions can be tricky for sure.
You have to be sure about the answer your target market will
give. Like "Do you make these mistakes in English?"

Would you like to lose over 15 pounds by summer?
Could you do with an extra 1,500 per month?

The answer must be already built into the questions.

-Ray Edwards

[jewel3000]

Really good copywriting tips!

I actually cited "Rich Jerk" in my own copywriting ebook as an example of how to do it right. That sales letter works because it's written from the mindset of a FICTION WRITER. Storytelling 101. ;-)

[debraclau]

(MOD: Snipped entirety of Ray's post quoted)

Hey Dude!! Thanks for your tips !... Its really wonderful

[Richard Bachman]

What a great post, Ray. This is a fantastic guideline for good, solid writing...not even just sales letters.

A lot of the principles you've outlined here are discussed in great depth in a little book called The Art of Readable Writing. I was given a copy of that book some 30 years ago by a teacher, and have lived by it since.

[Raydal]

Originally Posted by Richard Bachman

What a great post, Ray. This is a fantastic guideline for good, solid writing...not even just sales letters.

A lot of the principles you've outlined here are discussed in great depth in a little book called The Art of Readable Writing. I was given a copy of that book some 30 years ago by a teacher, and have lived by it since.

I've read Zinsser's On Writing Well, but never heard of The Art of Readable Writing. Heading over to Amazon right now to check it out.

Thanks!

-Ray Edwards

[arklove]

Fairly fresh to copy writing but really love to make up creative stories... At the moment writing ad copy is my favorite area of Internet marketing. answers within the questions is a fantastic technique. i will try this one out for the next landing page I am currently building... thanks Ark

[Sam Mlambo]

Hey Raydal,

Those are some excellent copy tactics you shared. It reminds me of what Dan Kennedy said in his sales letter guide. Very powerful stuff!

[Troy Trump]

Nice list you've put together. Thanks for sharing

[tbone3]

Awesome copywriting tips. I agree that you should put your strongest benefit first. It's all about answering the most important question in the visitors mind..."Why?" Why should i read this sales page, why should i buy from you, why should i listen to you, etc...

[Rezbi]

Thanks, Ray. That's just gone into my folder as a text file.

A very handy checklist.

[AustinLadyTam]

Thanks, Ray, those are very helpful reminders!

[Raydal]

Originally Posted by AustinLadyTam

Thanks, Ray, those are very helpful reminders!

Reminders for sure. I have to remind myself of a few of them which
I often apply during the editing stages of writing copy. It's hard
to think of everything in the first draft although they become
second nature after some time.

-Ray Edwards