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This Is Why I Prefer Long Sales Letter...

by King Shiloh Banned
24 replies
You have to talk and talk for a very long time before you can convince me to buy your product.

Why? I'm a marketer; I'm not an ordinary customer that just believes or accepts everything.

So, you have to tell me something "extra" in order to attract my attention. You have to tell me what I have never heard. You have to tell me what I have heard in a different way.

You have to show me what I have never seen. And you have to show me what I have seen in a different way.

What I have just told you is the only reason why I like long sales letter. In fact, I prefer long sales letter to short or snappy sales letter.

What is your take on this issue?

I hope you are not lost.
#letter #long #prefer #sales
  • Profile picture of the author francoza
    I Agree with u my friend. I like long sales letter too , it gives you so much space to convince your visitor/customer.
    But there are exceptions and you have to make sure that your sales letter is A+ form quality aspect.

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    • Profile picture of the author MissTerraK
      I don't mind long sales letters as long as they are giving me the details I need and answering the questions I have in my mind.

      However, if the long sales letter repeats what it originally said in several different ways, I move right along.

      Those say to me either, I don't think you're intelligent enough to understand what I said the first time or if you have to try to convince me that much to purchase, it isn't really that wonderful of a product or service.

      Also if the letter says remember that you get blank, blank and blank, then you are inferring that I have not remembered what you've told me and have the memory span of a gold fish...2 seconds.

      I find that insulting as well as annoying and move right along again.

      There are times when a long sales letter is appropriate and others not so much, IMHO.

      MissTerraK
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      • Profile picture of the author petelta
        Originally Posted by MissTerraK View Post

        However, if the long sales letter repeats what it originally said in several different ways, I move right along.
        The very reason I hate long sales letters. 99% of them are horrible.

        I have ADD though, so that might be why. You can lose my attention in a matter of seconds lol.
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  • Profile picture of the author bjradioguy
    Just a thought.. but does anyone actually read ALL of the sales letter? If you are talking about selling to internet marketers, that is a whole market unto itself of course. I think whatever you do you have to present the facts and EXACTLY what they get for the money. Everyone tells me I can make a million, but what am I actually getting?

    I actually have been seeing better results lately with video sales letters. Granted, this has not been in the "make money" niche.
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    • Profile picture of the author Rezbi
      Originally Posted by bjradioguy View Post

      Just a thought.. but does anyone actually read ALL of the sales letter? If you are talking about selling to internet marketers, that is a whole market unto itself of course. I think whatever you do you have to present the facts and EXACTLY what they get for the money. Everyone tells me I can make a million, but what am I actually getting?

      I actually have been seeing better results lately with video sales letters. Granted, this has not been in the "make money" niche.
      If it's something I'm REALLY interested in - yes.

      Internet marketing is not something I'm that interested in: It's just a means to an end, so I'll likely skip and lot of the sales letter if I know I want the product.

      However, show me something martial arts or fitness related, amongst others, and I'll read every single word.
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      • Profile picture of the author bjradioguy
        Originally Posted by Rezbi View Post

        If it's something I'm REALLY interested in - yes.

        Internet marketing is not something I'm that interested in: It's just a means to an end, so I'll likely skip and lot of the sales letter if I know I want the product.

        However, show me something martial arts or fitness related, amongst others, and I'll read every single word.
        This is VERY interesting to me and should be to every Internet Marketer. I have spoken to many people who think no one reads all that text on a scrolling letter, so they tend to duplicate. That may the reason people see so much of that on these long sales letters.

        Please, let us know if you read all the text everyone. It should make us all better marketers if we know what are customers are doing!
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        • Profile picture of the author Dan Bainbridge
          Originally Posted by bjradioguy View Post

          This is VERY interesting to me and should be to every Internet Marketer. I have spoken to many people who think no one reads all that text on a scrolling letter, so they tend to duplicate. That may the reason people see so much of that on these long sales letters.

          Please, let us know if you read all the text everyone. It should make us all better marketers if we know what are customers are doing!
          Imo you should never duplicate for just the sake of it - duplication should be done to present the information in a different way - as different people prefer / take in information differently.

          Some people like reall in depth technical analysis, some people prefer to the point details, some people prefer to know the benefits straight away, others want to know how it works in a simple way... some people prefer paragraphs
          • some people
          • prefer
          • bullet points
          some like stories, testimonials, videos, pictures etc etc - if you just write your sales page one way then you lose all the other people interested in your product but that you have not presented the information for them in a way they prefer / a way their brains process.

          This imo is the real reason why longer copy should be used, but I think many people miss this reason and just follow a template / copy someone else and stop when they think they have enough info - not when they have ticked all their boxes on the different ways the info should be presented.

          Of course there are those who argue that long-copy is dying a little, and you need to mix it up a little - look at some of the top performers on clickbank and you will see a mixture of long copy, short copy, short pages with opt ins, pages with multiple pages before you can buy it, pages with video sales pitches on, pages with powerpoint style presentations on... perhaps this is because of the over use of long copy pages, or because they can be associated with internet marketing products...? I would always test a few different versions, short and long, video based etc etc on any new product.. just my opinion..
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    • Profile picture of the author webwriter
      Originally Posted by bjradioguy View Post

      Just a thought.. but does anyone actually read ALL of the sales letter? If you are talking about selling to internet marketers, that is a whole market unto itself of course. I think whatever you do you have to present the facts and EXACTLY what they get for the money. Everyone tells me I can make a million, but what am I actually getting?

      I actually have been seeing better results lately with video sales letters. Granted, this has not been in the "make money" niche.
      I tend to skip various sections and get right to the good part --- what I'll get and how I'll benefit, as well as how much the item will cost. If there are any questions, I will look for answers in the letter. If I see the same things repeated over and over and over again, I will move on. No sense wasting my time.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Hancox
    Precisely.

    I have seen sales letters where between 50% and 70% of the content is PURE EDUCATION.

    Educating the potential customer is actually one of the most effective ways of gaining their trust, and of demonstrating your authority and expertise.

    Tell them something they didn't know.

    Keep it interesting, and relevant.

    Make it something they can apply right away.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      I don't mind long sales letters. I hate boring sales letters.

      If the subject is one I'm interested in, and the copywriter does their job well, I'll read every word. In fact, day before yesterday I sat and read a 73 page sales letter, end to end. And I'm not unhappy about it.

      Like Paul mentioned, most of it was educational. I came away knowing more than I did going in.

      For the curious, the letter was for a copywriter promoting his own services. He did it by presenting educational material featuring his own work as the examples to be analyzed. By the time you finished the report - I mean sales letter - you knew the writer was good. You knew why he was good. You knew that he knew he was good, and that he could be hired. You also knew enough to take a swing at the project if you wanted/needed to tackle it yourself.

      On the other hand, a one page letter spun 20 times on the same page is an entirely different animal.
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      • Profile picture of the author ~Davor Debrecin~
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        In fact, day before yesterday I sat and read a 73 page sales letter, end to end. And I'm not unhappy about it.
        Did you buy the product eventually?

        I agree with Paul also. I think that "free trial" or "free sample" along with proof (like testimonials, reviews from somebody with authority, case studies and even social proof) is best way to sell something.

        Just look at Amazon and their sales page. I've read somewhere that Amazon converts at 30%, so their sales process is probably awesome.

        The one cool feature they use is "Take a look inside" which enables you to read a certain number of pages from the book, like list of contents and like first 10 pages of the book.

        I think that's awesome.

        And then they have all sorts of things below like reviews from experts with authority. Then they show you customer reviews, which is equal to testimonials. Then they tell you what their customers did after viewing this book (80% bought this book, 15% bought another book, etc.) which is actually social proof.

        And best of all - this can all be consumed by a prospect in a matter of minutes! Which you can't say for long sales letters.

        So in my opinion - long sales letters who lack this kind of information aren't as effective as they could be.

        Plus, if you know a cool tracking tool called ClickTale, which records screens of your visitors so that you can actually watch their interaction with your page, then you'll know that 1 in a 1000 read the whole sales letter.

        Actually watching those recordings is soooo addictive because it's fun and frustrating at times! I just hated to see that a person is slowly scrolling down through my page (meaning he's reading my content) just to see his mouse fly to the back or close button! Haha, it just makes you go "Noooooo!"

        But it's a must have tool.

        Take care everybody,

        ~Davor
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      • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        I don't mind long sales letters. I hate boring sales letters.

        If the subject is one I'm interested in, and the copywriter does their job well, I'll read every word. In fact, day before yesterday I sat and read a 73 page sales letter, end to end. And I'm not unhappy about it.

        Like Paul mentioned, most of it was educational. I came away knowing more than I did going in.

        For the curious, the letter was for a copywriter promoting his own services. He did it by presenting educational material featuring his own work as the examples to be analyzed. By the time you finished the report - I mean sales letter - you knew the writer was good. You knew why he was good. You knew that he knew he was good, and that he could be hired. You also knew enough to take a swing at the project if you wanted/needed to tackle it yourself.

        On the other hand, a one page letter spun 20 times on the same page is an entirely different animal.


        Gulp....if you don't mind me asking, John.....where? (link? or was it offline?)
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  • Profile picture of the author Raygun
    The best policy when dealing with dealing with your potential customers and/or your list, is to treat them like you are their servant. I want to make sure that I give out as much relevant information as possible. If you are just rehashing idea's throughout your sales page, people will see right through you. Give, give, give and then give some more. That is one of the best ways to get a fan base.
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  • Profile picture of the author erinwrites
    I know that as a writer I have the most fun writing letters in which the client tells me "make it as long as it needs to be made." Depending on the product or service that could just be a few paragraphs or it could be a longer form letter. What turns me off, as a writer and a buyer are the pages that have thismuchrealtext and t h i s m u c h f i l l e r s t u f f like made up testimonials and giant, poorly edited graphics. I figure if they thought that the product wasn't good enough to sell with text and a couple of testimonials then they don't really believe in what they are selling.

    And if sound comes blasting out of my computer speakers without my permission I'll click away immediately even if its a site that will pay me a thousand bucks just to read it.

    As far as repetition goes--sometimes it works quite well, it just depends on how you present it. The same exact text over and over again? No. The same idea tossed in a few times in creative ways? Quite a handy selling technique!
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  • Profile picture of the author filiks
    every time i read a sales copy what i want from such a letter is the info that will glue my intrest to every words said. no matter how long the sales letter is i never really mind as long as the writer is addressing my issues.

    what is the essence of a short sales letter when it fails to meet up with what im looking for
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  • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
    This is ONLY for you King Shiloh...and only good until tonight at midnight, then, even you, King Shiloh will not have access. NO ONE else can have it, only you, if you act quickly.

    You see King Shiloh, you have something very unique about you. Something special. Something I've observed that NO OTHER WARRIOR has. It is your unique "selling proposition".

    You are probably unaware that you possess such intrinsic POWER. A power that can get you a million dollars before the year is out. That is, if you learn how to harness the POWER.

    Right now you are a dynamo, an electrifying generator which dissapates your energy into the ether. HARNESS your unique power King Shiloh and focus your power and you will be a force to be reckoned with. I don't have time to share details with you here, but, simply follow the link.

    It was created JUST FOR YOU King Shiloh, because only YOU can make this secret of "laser power focusing...and I absolutely guarantee you, that within 15 minutes of learning this secret, you will never be the same. You will assume your position as a leader, a power and a person other's MUST follow. But the link is only good today, until midnight...then it is gone forever.

    King Shiloh, you know it in your heart. You know you have much to give to others. You want to share. Please, learn how to harness your unique power today, not only for your own good, but for the betterment of millions of people you can help in the very near future.

    Here is the link, good for today only, then it is gone forever: (LINK HERE).

    gjabiz

    PS. This is ONLY available to King Shiloh and NO other Warrior. Sorry.

    Originally Posted by King Shiloh View Post

    You have to talk and talk for a very long time before you can convince me to buy your product.

    Why? I'm a marketer; I'm not an ordinary customer that just believes or accepts everything.

    So, you have to tell me something "extra" in order to attract my attention. You have to tell me what I have never heard. You have to tell me what I have heard in a different way.

    You have to show me what I have never seen. And you have to show me what I have seen in a different way.

    What I have just told you is the only reason why I like long sales letter. In fact, I prefer long sales letter to short or snappy sales letter.

    What is your take on this issue?

    I hope you are not lost.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nick Brighton
      Originally Posted by King Shiloh View Post

      You have to talk and talk for a very long time before you can convince me to buy your product.

      Why? I'm a marketer; I'm not an ordinary customer that just believes or accepts everything.

      So, you have to tell me something "extra" in order to attract my attention. You have to tell me what I have never heard. You have to tell me what I have heard in a different way.

      You have to show me what I have never seen. And you have to show me what I have seen in a different way.

      What I have just told you is the only reason why I like long sales letter. In fact, I prefer long sales letter to short or snappy sales letter.

      What is your take on this issue?

      I hope you are not lost.
      I'd love some of your customers

      I actually think people who are less knowledgeable need more convincing than people who know the drill, surely?

      This debate rages on week after week on this forum, and it's so subjective, the only truth is in testing for your own market.

      The thing is...long usually has more advantages because it covers all the angles and information required for a person to make a balanced decision.

      People who complain about sales letters/videos being too long, aren't really complaining about the length, but at the fact that they are not interested in the product...and feel like their time is being wasted.

      If you were suffering from a painful illness and I knocked on your door with a solution, you'd want to hear me out.

      But if you were perfectly healthy and not ill at all, then you'd definately complain about the amount of time I am stood at your door.

      Silly example, but that's pretty much what fuels this debate.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by x3xsolxdierx3x View Post



        Gulp....if you don't mind me asking, John.....where? (link? or was it offline?)
        Actually, it was Ross Bowring's report via the War Room. Very enlightening for those interested in copywriting, and a very effective positioning tool for anyone looking to hire a copywriter. Ross provides solid insights into the "tricks" used by a top copywriter, namely himself. All while dropping more than a few hints that he might be available...

        If I ever have a call to hire a copywriter on that level, Ross will be right near the top of the list. After the first couple of pages, I knew what he was doing, and I read it anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author Online Bliss
    Long Sales letter maybe
    but long pages of testimonials become
    a bit much after reading the first four or five.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jarrett
    Banned
    I dunno. I really grow tired of the same old long sales letters.
    I like short and to the point
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  • Profile picture of the author costos gohdohb
    King Shiloh! I personally hate most big sales letters.
    I stopped reading them long ago.
    I just read the beginning & then scan all the text very quickly

    However, to have a big list of testimonials won't hurt of course!

    I'm just certain that if the offer is super good -it is clearly seen from the first lines of the sales letter. Therefore I hate super big sales letters with much 'water' & hype - it's just disgusting.
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  • Profile picture of the author mikemcmillan
    Originally Posted by King Shiloh View Post

    ...you have to tell me something "extra" in order to attract my attention. You have to tell me what I have never heard. You have to tell me what I have heard in a different way.

    You have to show me what I have never seen. And you have to show me what I have seen     in a different way.
    King, you should make plaques with those words on them and sell them to Internet marketers. Seriously, what you said gets to the heart of quality sales letters. In most cases, when you cut out all of the hype on the average sales letter there just isn't much left!
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    • Profile picture of the author King Shiloh
      Banned
      So, I have a product to sell right now!

      Thanks, man.

      Originally Posted by mikemcmillan View Post

      King, you should make plaques with those words on them and sell them to Internet marketers. Seriously, what you said gets to the heart of quality sales letters. In most cases, when you cut out all of the hype on the average sales letter there just isn't much left!
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