21 Ways To Keep Readers Glued To Your Sales Letter
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
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
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