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Is there a good reason why sales pages are so narrow?

by myattitude
17 replies
It's something I notice a lot. Is narrowness important? Why?
#good #narrow #pages #reason #sales
  • Profile picture of the author Cam Connor
    Originally Posted by myattitude View Post

    It's something I notice a lot. Is narrowness important? Why?
    No, there's no reason salesletters need to be narrow.
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    • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
      Actually there is a good reason for this. Long lines are much less readable than shorter lines, and because there's a limit on how long lines can be and still be readable, smart layout people make sure the main column is only that wide. And on most sales letters, there's only one column, so the page is only that wide plus reasonable margins.

      Marcia Yudkin
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      Check out Marcia Yudkin's No-Hype Marketing Academy for courses on copywriting, publicity, infomarketing, marketing plans, naming, and branding - not to mention the popular "Marketing for Introverts" course.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      If you want more people reading the whole message,
      then it makes it less intimidating reading a small block of text.

      Just as the newspapers and magazines have done for decades.

      Imagine this print ad being all in in one block
      instead of 3 columns.

      It's getting a consistent 68% opt-in
      while running in Success Magazine.

      Best,
      Doctor E. Vile

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      • Profile picture of the author splitTest
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        It's getting a consistent 68% opt-in
        while running in Success Magazine.
        Nice one for my swipe file. Thanks!

        ...But about the stats: 68% while running in Success magazine? 68% of what? (Visits to the landing page?) Just curious...

        If it's 68% of visits to the page, there must be something wrong with that page... in spite of the great copy in the ad. Love that "Executable Ideas" eyebrow...
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        • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
          Originally Posted by splitTest View Post

          ...But about the stats: 68% while running in Success magazine? 68% of what? (Visits to the landing page?) Just curious...
          Dean says opt-in.

          Opt-in, in this case means giving email
          to get the download.

          You'll experience the process by going through it at emailmastery.com.

          Of course this is going to ruin his stats now.

          Best,
          Doctor E. Vile
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  • Profile picture of the author Avaron Leonhart
    It's because people are lazy. We only scan information rather than patiently reading one word after another except it's a love letter, lol.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
    Originally Posted by myattitude View Post

    It's something I notice a lot. Is narrowness important? Why?
    Clarity is of the utmost importance in sales copy. And readability (see Marcia's excellent response above) contributes to clarity.

    It's been said many times that clarity trumps persuasion... and I agree.

    Alex
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    • Profile picture of the author Memetics
      It's to do with the cognitive fluency of the prose, big blocks of text increase the cognitive load of the copy, which makes it more likely the the critical factor will have to come online to help out (which you don't want). Reading is an unconscious process and to a point is best left that way as it's easier to persuade the reader without there being conscious interference.

      The narrowness of the page makes the words flow better, due to the eye using what are called saccades to scan across the information. Nice gentle, rhythmic, flowing saccades are good. Broken saccades are bad, and make the piece feel clunky to read.
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      First we believe.....then we consider.

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  • Profile picture of the author Copydog
    Narrow pages are far easier to read.

    You want to make it easy, and enjoyable,
    for your reader to read your copy.
    Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author myattitude
    Thanks for the feedback everyone. So the next question is: How narrow should the page ideally be?
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  • Profile picture of the author Copydog
    45 to 75 characters (including spaces and
    punctuation) seems to be the best width
    for reading.

    http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014...ve-web-design/
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  • Profile picture of the author myattitude
    Thanks Copydog. I just counted mine across and it's a good 100-110. Good information but not sure how to get my Wordpress to play ball on that one :/
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  • Profile picture of the author Copydog
    My pleasure, myattitude

    I use these 2 amazing free WordPress
    plugins:

    • Page Builder by SiteOrigin

    • SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle

    They allow you to divide your page up
    into 3-box columns that stretch across
    one row.

    I make my left hand box empty.

    My right-hand box empty.

    And insert the copy in the middle box.

    Make your left-hand box take up 20% of the row.

    Your right-hand box 20% of the row.

    And your middle box, which has the
    copy, 60%.

    I hope this helps.
    Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author myattitude
    Wow! I can't thank you enough Copydog, I've just installed and played around with them, that's really changed the sales page game on my website.

    And thanks to everyone on this thread, you've all been actively helpful, who would have thought the copywriting section of the form is perhaps the friendliest!
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  • Profile picture of the author Cam Connor
    Yea, it's good to have some decent sized indents on either side. When you said "narrow", I was thinking you meant very narrow, like a few inches across, which can actually be counter-productive if it's too "cluttered".

    The key is to have a nice amount of white space... this reduces visitor anxiety.

    So some white space on either side of the salesletter, white space within, and white space above and below.
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