Tell me warriors... Am I an innovator? Or an idiot?
I've spent the last two years of my professional copywriting career trying to perfect short copy. Not short copy as in squeeze pages, short emails, google ads, etc.
Short copy as in what another copywriter would take 20 pages to sell, I try to do it in 10 or less. Not just to make it short, but to write a letter that is only as long as it really NEEDS to be.
I've had some spectacular successes... Some good converting letters... And yes, some complete flops. I can't sit here and tell you that every piece I've ever written has done amazingly, because every copywriter knows that simply isn't possible. In fact, my biggest flop was for one of the biggest warriors here - BigMike. I wrote copy for him that didn't get one solitary sale out of a couple hundred visitors. That stung...
But my successes have been pretty big. Off of 3 simple pages of copy, I've produced over $1400 in 24 hours from just a few hundred visitors. That client was in profit in less than 48 hours, and was quite happy about it.
But then, I'm having a problem. You see, after spending all of that time trying to perfect my short copy, I've come across a stumbling block. I have a client who doesn't think it will convert.
I'm going to edit it again for him, doing my best to make sure it will pull in a great response, but a lot of the reason I believe he doesn't think it will work is... The length.
And, he feels I overpriced the project because of it's length.
(I'm not bashing, this is just a public opinion poll because I would like to know what others think - good business sense to see what my potential clients think.)
So here is my question to you, warriors... After spending all of that time and energy perfecting short copy that is supposed to pull just as well as long copy, have I wasted my time? In your eyes, does short copy still hold less value, even if it converts just as well? Should I give up on my short-copy mission, and go back to writing long, hypey letters because that is what my clients expect?
Or should I stick with it, and hope that someday my techniques will hold just as much value as the time-tested 40-page full of fluff and filler letters that you see everywhere else?
Once again, not bashing, just looking for opinions.
Thanks guys!
- Cherilyn
"One Man's Ceiling is Another Man's Floor"
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