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Does Anyone Else Ignore The 100 Foot Long Landing Pages?

by SiteNameSales
41 replies
Maybe it's just me, but I haven't read through one of those Dead Sea Scroll length landing pages in quite a while. They are everywhere in this business and the idea that paragraph after paragraph of hype is a great selling point baffles me. Sure, I read the fine print and the list of bonuses on the site where I purchase something but, beyond the first couple of paragraphs, I usually just tune out.

I'm not taking any issue with the quality of the marketing pitch, just the quantity and the apparent belief that the more you include the more likely it is to sell. Does anyone still read the endless stream of testimonials or the numerous list of selling points that simply reiterate the first list only with slightly different wording?

I know that video is becoming more popular, but the major affiliate platforms are still filled with opportunities that use this - to me, anyway - outdated advertising method. It's only in the affiliate marketing niche that you see these long, seemingly endless sales pitches.

There's an often referred to statistic in this niche that claims that 97% of internet marketers end up failing. Maybe these scroll length landing pages are one reason why.

Just saying...
#100 #foot #ignore #landing #long #pages
  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    Yes !!

    If it is a product I am truly considering buying , YES !!

    Btw, when you say Landing Pages you are referring to Sales Pages, Right ?

    Anyway, time and time again Copywriters have tested and said that the long traditional sales copy is still quite effective.

    Maybe some of them will come on hear and expound


    - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    Here's your alternative;

    Monthly coaching will help you grow your business.
    $497 a month
    Order now!
    No hype.
    No sales talk.
    No long lists.
    No (probably) fake testimonials.
    No long explanations.
    Only 1 exclamation point.
    Short.
    Sweet.

    Ready to buy?

    Didn't think so. What does it need? More explanation? More details?

    Mark

    PS Somebody (or a bunch of somebodies) is reading these long letters and buying or they'd quit using them
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    • Profile picture of the author ED1190
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

      Here's your alternative;

      No hype.
      No sales talk.
      No long lists.
      No (probably) fake testimonials.
      No long explanations.
      Only 1 exclamation point.
      Short.
      Sweet.

      Ready to buy?

      Didn't think so. What does it need? More explanation? More details?

      Mark

      PS Somebody (or a bunch of somebodies) is reading these long letters and buying or they'd quit using them
      Lol....I couldn't have said it better myself.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joan Altz
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post


      PS Somebody (or a bunch of somebodies) is reading these long letters and buying or they'd quit using them
      That's right.

      They still work with a certain crowd...usually the crowd with lots of money to burn...the crowd with a lot of gray hair...

      Some of them still read the newspaper every morning, too.

      Take a look at a Dan Kennedy recorded seminar sometime and look at the type of people attending.

      Dan Kennedy is boring as shit to watch (that's why Frank Kern says about Dan's teachings "just give me the manual". Lol.)

      His sales pages are always long.

      Long sales pages, and older people that want to digest all the details before they invest.

      Makes sense.
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      • Profile picture of the author shaunybb
        hey there


        This page are good and should not always be ignored. Here is why:-


        • Especially in the make money niche people need reassurance, testimonials and to be pre framed a lot. These longer pages achieve this.
        • If no or little information is present, the reader is not engaged for long.
        • When the copywriting is good these long pages do very well of creating a story and by the end the customer is very interested and will often purchase if the copywriting is good enough!
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        • Profile picture of the author Steve B
          What's wrong with preparing both a long and a short version of your sales letter, testing each one on a valid population of prospects, then ramping up the version that brings in the most sales?

          There will typically be people who prefer each version.

          Same goes for video vs audio only vs text only.

          Some smart marketers go to the added work of giving customers multiple options of everything they create including emails, products, and services.

          In this day and age, the consumer wields a lot of weight and consideration.

          Steve
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          • Profile picture of the author kilgore
            I think your issue has more to do with the quality of the sales pages than it does with the length of the sales pages. When customers start to notice the length of the sales pages, when they notice the garish text, the endless testimonials then the website is doing something wrong. It's not dissimilar to how when you go to the movies, you'll be too absorbed in the story to notice good acting, but you'll definitely notice when the acting is bad.

            Take a look at Apple's page for the iPhone 6s: iPhone 6s - Apple. It's really long. But it's beautiful; the writing is tight; and even though the page is long, they don't add all sorts of extraneous information instead focusing on what's most important to their customers and letting the phone and its features speak for itself wherever possible.

            I'd also add that different lengths work in different contexts, and the users' needs and expectations are paramount when determining how much information to include. For instance, my business doesn't do any direct sales; all our efforts are around affiliate marketing. Moreover, all we sell are physical products. So for us, long text isn't important -- in fact, in most cases it just gets in the way. So most of our sales pages are just a paragraph or two of text with some great product images. And that's also what our users want and expect from us, so it works.

            But just because short sales pages work best for us, and long sales pages work best for Apple doesn't make one approach better than another in all circumstances. The main things are (1) that you match your sales pages with the needs of your customers and (2) that you actually implement your pages well. If you're finding yourself tired of long sales pages, it's probably because they're not doing one (or both) of these things.
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    • Profile picture of the author YourBizAid
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

      Here's your alternative;

      No hype.
      No sales talk.
      No long lists.
      No (probably) fake testimonials.
      No long explanations.
      Only 1 exclamation point.
      Short.
      Sweet.

      Ready to buy?

      Didn't think so. What does it need? More explanation? More details?

      Mark

      PS Somebody (or a bunch of somebodies) is reading these long letters and buying or they'd quit using them
      Brilliantly said. This guy has pretty much summarized the answer to the OP question. Brilliant!
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  • Profile picture of the author LABEShops
    Lol yup. I scroll to the bottom to see the "deal" and usually click off right after. If I read 3 sentences on it, it would be enough.
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  • Profile picture of the author garyl2k
    I think what you really are getting at is that your tired of reading the exact same sales pitch in pretty much every sales letter... It happens far to much in the WSO section, its probably a sure sign you buy a lot of WSO's more then anything else.

    Take a break from the WSO section, can be bad for your health and wallet!
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    I personally hate them as well, but they seem to work :s
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      I clicked on your link took me to a pretty long sales page. How much do you really hate them?


      Originally Posted by ChrisBa View Post

      I personally hate them as well, but they seem to work :s
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve L
    Typically, the higher the cost of the product, the longer the sales letter.
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  • Profile picture of the author esmarshall
    well copy is like "salesmanship in print", so you want to write as if you was talking to the prospect on the phone or in person, making the sale

    obviously its hard to tell, which selling point is gonna cause the prospect to buy

    so during the sale you got to sell the product and highlight all the benefits of the product and how they help solve the problem

    then you gotta highlight why its different from the tons of other products that already exist

    and then you need to highlight all the possible objections they have for not buying and address those

    thats why long form works so well, because you "cover all the bases" and give yourself the best possible chance of a sale

    keeping the letter short would be like hanging up in the middle of a call because you've been on the phone for "too long"

    glad i could clear things up for ya
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    If the information required for the prospect to make an informed decision takes a long page, then that's what it takes.

    In my snail mail business I sent out ten page sales letters for certain services. If you want people to send you $2997 then you better explain yourself well.

    Maybe if more people actually read them, there would be less crying about products not being what they claim.
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  • Profile picture of the author essmeier
    People use them because they've been tested to work. That said, I don't like them.

    I don't read them; I skim to find what I'm looking for - a list of features and price.

    And don't get me started on autoplay videos of unknown duration that have no controls...

    Charlie
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    • Profile picture of the author TheGMa
      Originally Posted by essmeier View Post

      People use them because they've been tested to work. That said, I don't like them.

      I don't read them; I skim to find what I'm looking for - a list of features and price.

      And don't get me started on autoplay videos of unknown duration that have no controls...

      Charlie
      Same here. Never did like them. Give me bullet points any day; I simply haven't the time to read anything more than the highlights. Fast scroll to bottom, check the price. If I'm interested, I hunt for righteous reviews and come back to buy, or shut the page down or take them up on one their other offers.

      BUT, if that's what the customers want, I'm sure as hell gonna give it to them.

      Charlie, ref the videos: I thought the same thing as you. I recall one frustrating moment that became a revelation: I was planted in front of a video in which I had not the slightest interest. I was after something else on the page. I so badly wanted to shut the damned thing off that I started clicking it in anger, and ... lo and behold. It shut up. If you don't see the usual arrow/pause button, click anywhere on the screen. ..Silence...

      - Annie
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  • Profile picture of the author netmrktr
    Unfortunately landing pages like this repeat a lot of the content over and over and over...

    With that being said they work. If the content is compelling they can be very effective.

    I ignore a lot of these types of pages myself.
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  • Profile picture of the author agmccall
    If, most of the time, you just ignore the testimonials then most sales pages are relatively short

    al
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  • Profile picture of the author chessmasterr
    ...Dead Sea Scroll length landing pages...that's pretty funny lol. Those long type of sales pages are pretty old school in my opinion (5+ years old) but are making a comeback from what I've been seeing as of late.

    If I am seriously considering a purchase then yes, I appreciate a lot of info IF it is relevant and not just fluff.

    For products I am not as serious about, what I'll do is scroll to the bottom of the page and see if they have an abbreviated "cliff notes" rap up of the most important points and go from there.
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  • Profile picture of the author trevord92
    They can and do work.

    The trick is to make them suitable for skimmers as well as people who read the whole thing.

    Which means sub-headings, bullet points, probably images and Johnson boxes and maybe even "help" style icons with pop-ups to explain things.

    The other trick is to test short versus long and see which works best for your market.

    And of course Google's robots "read" the whole page and can potentially put it in the search results.
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  • Profile picture of the author [Justin]
    Originally Posted by SiteNameSales View Post

    Maybe it's just me, but I haven't read through one of those Dead Sea Scroll length landing pages in quite a while. They are everywhere in this business and the idea that paragraph after paragraph of hype is a great selling point baffles me. Sure, I read the fine print and the list of bonuses on the site where I purchase something but, beyond the first couple of paragraphs, I usually just tune out.

    I'm not taking any issue with the quality of the marketing pitch, just the quantity and the apparent belief that the more you include the more likely it is to sell. Does anyone still read the endless stream of testimonials or the numerous list of selling points that simply reiterate the first list only with slightly different wording?

    I know that video is becoming more popular, but the major affiliate platforms are still filled with opportunities that use this - to me, anyway - outdated advertising method. It's only in the affiliate marketing niche that you see these long, seemingly endless sales pitches.

    There's an often referred to statistic in this niche that claims that 97% of internet marketers end up failing. Maybe these scroll length landing pages are one reason why.

    Just saying...
    Outside of the IM niche less people know why there's so much info written and they get sucked into it and end up buying. In the IM niche though, I could imagine a lot more skimming since anyone interested in buying is going to know what's up.
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  • Profile picture of the author TrafficFlow
    Turns me off as I don't want to have to download a huge bonus file but it must work because you see the same people using the same mega bonuses time and time again.

    I think it is also designed to discourage competition from those marketers that only have a few bonuses to offer.
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  • Profile picture of the author DrForum
    Originally Posted by SiteNameSales View Post

    Maybe it's just me, but I haven't read through one of those Dead Sea Scroll length landing pages in quite a while. They are everywhere in this business and the idea that paragraph after paragraph of hype is a great selling point baffles me. Sure, I read the fine print and the list of bonuses on the site where I purchase something but, beyond the first couple of paragraphs, I usually just tune out.

    I'm not taking any issue with the quality of the marketing pitch, just the quantity and the apparent belief that the more you include the more likely it is to sell. Does anyone still read the endless stream of testimonials or the numerous list of selling points that simply reiterate the first list only with slightly different wording?

    I know that video is becoming more popular, but the major affiliate platforms are still filled with opportunities that use this - to me, anyway - outdated advertising method. It's only in the affiliate marketing niche that you see these long, seemingly endless sales pitches.

    There's an often referred to statistic in this niche that claims that 97% of internet marketers end up failing. Maybe these scroll length landing pages are one reason why.

    Just saying...
    I always have problems with webpages that are very long. This means that I do not like the landing pages that are very long. One thing that disturbs me a lot is that I can be able to find such like pages with important content placed almost at the bottom of the page. This should never be the case. make sure you place relevant information o top of the page for easier identity.make sure that the page is short, simple and straight to the point.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    They still work. Show a drug addict all the different ways he can get his *fix* from multiple sources - in a 100-foot sales page - and he will read every bit of it.

    ...and amazingly PAY FOR IT too! Lol... amazing.
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  • Profile picture of the author godinu
    I also don't care for things that are full of 20 pages of hype -- just boil it all down to what the product/service does, then let the user click for more information.

    I don't really think about landing page length so much as I find slideshows annoying. I don't want to click an article 75 times to go through each step or image when as regular text/images, I could read it all in a minute or less.
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  • Profile picture of the author brutecky
    Originally Posted by SiteNameSales View Post

    Sure, I read the fine print and the list of bonuses on the site where I purchase something but, beyond the first couple of paragraphs, I usually just tune out.
    So your making purchase decisions based on just the first couple of paragraphs of information and the bonuses?
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    • Profile picture of the author TheGMa
      Originally Posted by brutecky View Post

      So your making purchase decisions based on just the first couple of paragraphs of information and the bonuses?
      You asked SiteNameSales the above question. My answer to that is absolutely. Grab the meat and scroll to the price, see what goes with it. I don't care about images of fab returns because those are SO easy to create.

      Does it look feasible, does it fit in my game plan, is it something that will fill a gap. First two paragraphs unless those are the hard luck story.

      But don't base your marketing plan on my buying habits. I've merely been in the biz for yonks and know what I want.

      - Annie
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  • Profile picture of the author Coach Dale
    Actually , yes I do ignore it but I still realize that If we don't see a lot of sales page to keep convincing us, the average person will click away. Unlike many others here I make a decision very quickly. I scroll to the bottom of the page, I get the gist of what the product is about and I just buy it. The problem is with buying all of these products, that they make It sound like you cannot live without. It Is probably a great contributor to affiliate marketers failing because there are just so many products and you get downloaded or you get overwhelmed with just too many emails from too many vendors and affiliate to marketers. I would love to see more videos used but even the videos sometimes are really long, boring and not to the point. So, I agree with you on one hand but studies still show that long sales letters still work. That's the bottom line.
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  • Profile picture of the author Putting4Par
    I won't even bother with a sales page that might give me carpal tunnel syndrome.
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  • Profile picture of the author bangwhosnext
    Personally, I don't like a hard sell, online or offline... puts me right off.

    My thinking is... if someone has to try 'that hard' to sell something then it can't be up to much and wreaks of desperation.

    If a product is good it should sell (or seemingly sell) itself... by that I mean through social media, online reviews, forum post recommendations etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author RJKushner
      I really don't like them at all either. I'll usually read a little before the fold and then I'll quickly skim through the rest of the page.

      I would say these long sales letters still have to work since a lot of people are still using them.

      Personally I like a short and sweet sales letter. I would rather them get straight to the point than keep repeating the same information over an over again.
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  • Profile picture of the author kursat
    I design these kind of pages and working with writers, I learned a lot about the concept behind these pages.

    I think they do work. Even if they look like the longest point made, each part have a reason to be on that page. Of course the copy has to be good and the design have to compliment the copy.
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  • Profile picture of the author nojobsleftbehind
    Honestly my highest converting landing page was just about 3 lines of text (not too much info just enough to make people curious about what I do), a picture of myself, and a opt-in form. It was just a plain white background with blue and red text. Made it using weebly and aweber for the optin form. All the ones with fancy cars, beaches, houses are spammy. People see those things all day long.
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    • Profile picture of the author dvduval
      I'm just one person but pretty sure I have never bought anything from one of those long pages. If we are talking about something that provides extensive research about the product that involves multiple sources such as an Amazon page I have purchased in that manner.
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  • Profile picture of the author Curtis2011
    It's only an "outdated" marketing technique if it isn't making sales. And if it weren't making sales, people would stop using it.

    Originally Posted by nojobsleftbehind View Post

    Honestly my highest converting landing page was just about 3 lines of text (not too much info just enough to make people curious about what I do), a picture of myself, and a opt-in form. It was just a plain white background with blue and red text. Made it using weebly and aweber for the optin form. All the ones with fancy cars, beaches, houses are spammy. People see those things all day long.
    What you're describing is not a sales page, it is a squeeze page. And squeeze pages should always be short and to the point.
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  • Profile picture of the author tyronne78
    That "100 foot long landing page" is what they call a long form sales letter. Copywriters have been using them for decades to sell their products and services.

    I'm old school,I prefer reading a sales letter as opposed to a VSL or any kind of other sales piece.
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    • Profile picture of the author ElGuapo
      Kilgore nailed it.

      The length is unimportant compared to the engagement.

      There are certain elements the average sales page will want: hero shots, unique value propositions, social proof, testimonials, benefits and features, what-you-get, guarantee, pricing, bonuses, etc.

      But what you're seeing today is a greater drive to improve the engagement. You don't get the long blocks of text so much anymore; you're more likely to find multi-coloured backgrounds, parallax backgrounds, different fonts, differently-aligned sections, images everywhere, video testimonials, etc.

      You don't need a lengthy sales letter if you're selling a mug, but you absolutely want to give the visitor as much information as they might potentially need. If this results in a longer pitch, so be it. Trust in them to inform themselves as much as necessary before purchasing. If you choose to omit information they deem as vital, just for the sake of brevity, then it can cost you conversions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Melody
    I am sure they work - just not sure that it is the page or the process that most of us now use: you receive a herd of emails touting the latest and greatest software/product/whatever, see who has the best bonus (which lately often seems better than the main product), and finally go to the sales page. The first thing I do is scroll to the buy button, click to see the price, and if within the budget of the moment, I go back and scan the features to see if it does what I need.

    There may be a moment of 'ooh pretty graphics' but overall......I am probably interested in about 20% of the sales page. If the video is under 5 minutes and actually talks about the product, then I may watch it - but lately it seems that most are more sizzle than benefits.

    I also find it interesting that several launches lately for products that were supposed to help you sell your product better.....did not actually use their own product on the sales page....and gave no actual demo of the product. LOL - needless to say...I did not buy any of those, although they were launched by some well known folks.

    So....the question could be: is the long page making sales because of or in spite of the long sales page??
    In my case - it would be in spite of....

    Melody
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  • Profile picture of the author s1blk
    There is no right and wrong answer here. In the end, it's all about making a sale. So you use as much space as you need to close that sale.
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  • Profile picture of the author greenowl123
    It depends...

    If it is something that I am already highly interested in, I would probably skim the page quickly, look at the bullet points, and if it looks promising, buy it.

    If it is a higher-priced offer, and I am only half convinced of its value, I would likely read every word on the page before making my decision.
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