Copywriting - An obvious sales letter? or disguise it as an article?

Slightly. But only slightly, I'm afraid.

To sell an item at $997 - $1,997, you're going to need to do both of those things, and more.

You need pre-selling and selling.

You're probably going to need your own buyers' list of previous purchasers who respect and trust you, so that the strength of your recommendation carries real weight with them (and that's the part where you're right: you need to avoid the hype completely, to build that entire trust-based relationship). That part can be done by affiliates, of course, with their own subscriber-lists.

You're also going to need a "long copy" sales page of some kind (even if not necessarily a "text" one), in that price-range, because sales copy has to "answer all the objections", and in that price range there are a lot of objections: it's not at all like selling a $17 e-book, or even a $97 e-book. And that part of the equation is going to be, visibly, a "sales pitch" of some kind, otherwise you may make very few sales.

Just my perspective.

(This thread probably belongs here, really? http://www.warriorforum.com/copywriting-forum/ )

One of the businesses I use as a vehicle sells a $997 product and a $3500 dollar product. The sales video for the $997 product is over an hour and delivers over $997 in value. The actual product value is over $100,000 in value. The $3500 product is proportioned similarly. The person behind the sales letter has done thousands of presentations and does sales copy without needing to write. You either will have to hire or be a top 1% copywriter or be freakishly good at selling from THOUSANDS of sales presentations.

If your prospect is interested in your product or service, they won't even notice themselves reading a sales letter. That's what your copy should do - simply grab their attention on the content of the words, not their form.

If you have the right skills, this will happen. As Joseph Sugarman said "your copy should be like a slippery slide, which your prospect cannot get off of, until the very end. Then they buy."

Focus on appealing to your prospect's biggest desires, and their biggest problems. Don't worry about the form. Sales letters still work VERY well. If they didn't, I wouldn't be writing them!


Happy Christmas,


Ben.

Okay but I was asking "HYPE" or "NO HYPE" when it comes to the flash bang pow wow??? or just a straight persuasive article type letter?

It's not a matter of hype or no hype....it's a matter of persuasion. Focus on selling your product or service with a very effective sales letter.

Study Yanik Silver's sales letter at www.instantsalesletters.com as an example of effective copy.

If this were true then stores would all have to pretend to be
food banks, and when you are inside say, "I think you'll have
to pay for this."

This is a MYTH. Plain and simple. People want to be sold,
they just don't be sold junk.

-Ray Edwards

Who cares what you were told... what have you TESTED?

Have you ever run out a long-copy sales letter to this audience?

Have you ever run an advertorial style promotion to them?

What do you REALLY KNOW about these people?

Direct marketing is about DATA, not opinions.

And the data will surprise you, frequently.

Brian

Hi All,

Brian and Laura are right on target.

TO HYPE OR NOT TO HYPE --- THAT is the question...

Split testing a hyped copy versus a non-hyped copy (in a true split test) will give you the answers you are seeking.

In my copywriting busines the first thing I do is ask the client how is this product going to be marketed.

What are the demographics?

Where has this product been sold before?

At what price?

At any discounted price?

At what conversion rate?

Has this marketed well to cold ppc, a warm list or a 'buyers list'?

What are their marketing plans for sending traffic to the sales letter?

Will the traffic be purchased list traffic, organic search traffic, cold ppc, warm list or a 'buyer's list'?

This will all determine the type of copy you write.

I have a 25 point questionnaire which my clients fill out. Many clients find they need to get me more data before I can write their copy.

Why? Because the questionnaire asked critical questions they did not have the answers to -- answers which can boost the success and conversion rate of the copy.

Their answers helps me decide my first approach for writing and testing.

To HYPE with flashy graphics OR... go 'soft sell - article style' copy.

Writing copy and testing -- go hand in hand.

I find certain markets love the 'soft sell' article style of marketing.

While on the other hand...

Buyers of high end Internet Marketing/MLM style packages need the HYPE to get them energized enough to buy...

What seems to tip the scales is providing adequate PROOF, and the VALUE of what they get (balances in their own minds) what they pay.

Especially for these super expensive packages... like you are wanting to sell.

The PROOF AND TESTIMONIALS are what sells these days... more than any hype.

You want to layer... Proof Element after Proof Element after Proof Element...
(that's what magalogs do...) because people want more proof and testimonials to back what you say (write) up!

Add tons of testimonials that resonate with the people reading your copy.

(Be sure your testimonials are real, see the newest 'FTC regulations' just Google it.)

The VALUE...

Normally you want to give a visitor 10 times the apparent cost of the product as the total value.

So if the product is a $1,000 product they should receive a compariable $10,000 value in products.

You see this all the time in sales letters showing a huge table of values for a group of products... and the final discounted price of 1/10th the total value is -- what they pay today!

But in the end it all comes down to...

You need to test.

The only way you will know for sure if the problems with a low conversion rate are due to copy failure is if you remove all the other factors which could contribute to low sales...

Like...
high bounce rates, slow load times, poor graphics, ad doesn't match the sales letter, banner ad design does not match the sales letter, keyword phrase mismatch to the ads, poor purchased list leads, poor email copy and about a zillion other factors.

I suggest you find similar products either on Clickbank or through Google searches and follow their lead. No sense reinventing the wheel.

But there are times 'a softer sell will convert higher'.

It all depends on where the visitors are coming from, if they are a organic search traffic, cold ppc lead or purhcased list, a warm lead from a personal emai list or if they are a proven 'buyer' from a buyer's list.

This also will make a big difference on how you approach them with this offer.

Your tone and how you write (as well as how you present your offer) will vary if they are already knowledgeable about your product or you are selling them 'stone cold'.

I hope this helped you think about more where the buyers are coming from and how to write to sell them.

Good luck with your sales!

Jennie Heckel
Sales Letter Copywriter

Whatever your selling and whoever your selling to - you don't need to use any hype.

Yes, a small % are desperate to "believe" any outrageous claims and fall for them.

Maybe as Jennie suggested the IM buyers can be energised a bit with graphics and a hard hitting headline (but I don't see this as "hype" providing as she said the proof and value elements are included).

But I'm sure we all agree, nobody needs a hysterical headline with completely over the top exaggerated copy shouting and screaming at them.

Making them think, there's a clammy hand reaching out trying to grab their money for a product or service which reeks of "another flim flam piece of nonsense"

You can build excitement and interest by having some really good stuff and just telling your audience why it is so good.

And you don't have to "disguise" the piece as an article - and it doesn't have to look like a sales letter.

If you target and reach your people they'll usually read the copy (providing the formatting isn't a mess).

And by using the best copywriting techniques (without any "tricks") - people will genuinely believe you. And know you're solving a problem, or bringing them what they "want" and be happy to buy it.


Steve

It depends on who your writing too. Eugene Schwartz put it well in a graph from a buyer thats TOTALLY AWARE of your product and service and the ability to satisfy his needs all the way down to a a buyer who doesn't even know he has the need or such a product exists.

To approach it from an advertorial stand point first of all you better be a real good copywritier cuz it takes some great talent to take someone from a human interest headline to a sale or even a lead.

So just depends on who your writing too, where they line up in the area of awareness and your ability as a copywriter.

Bottom line people buy the short cuts, magic pills and hype. If you decide to "tone down" all of that, then you can expect your results to tone down as well.

You can have flash and hype and do so in a way that isn't cheesy.

This is what people buy, even if they complain about it they still respond to it.

Like a rivet driven through a piece of wood, the earlier contributions are straight to the point.

In the copywriting world we believe that people like buying --- they, however, don;t want to be sold. They don't want somebody to lead them by the nose to buy.

When you write your copy like a sales letter, research shows that people are tired of being sold to. This is true in the sense that most sales letters are hyped. Immediately prospects sense they are being sold --- they will stop reading.

Write your copy like an article to keep their anxiety.