Long sales page yields more sales?

Well the old time copy masters all say "The more you tell, the more you sell" but I'm starting to doubt that. Just look at every one of the top 20 IM gurus. None of them go any where near "long" copy. They do lateral video sales letters in launch sequence.

They're all banking big time. Long copy works like as dial-up internet access still works but why bother when you can kick it up 10 fold.

I will throw my two cents in to say that a video sales letter works much better than the long sales copy that you are referring to.

Thanks for those replied. I think the current trend is video sales pages as the majority voting video sales page.

Think of your sales letter as a series of hooks.

Each of them has a chance of "catching" your prospect and making him want to buy.

With more hooks, there's a higher chance of catching anything that drags past them.

So with a longer sales letter... get the picture?

Once you're "caught," you're just going to scroll to the end and click "buy now" no matter what. So all you really need is to keep the prospect reading until he hits the right hook.

Wow! great explanation of long sales pages!

Now, I got the idea why people have long sales pages.

Thanks.

The higher priced items, tend to have longer sales letters. This is done to better explain what the product is and what benefits it can offer the person, who might possibly purchase. They need a longer sales letter to persuade and do more convincing.

Now on the other hand, many use a combo of video and a traditional sales letter and pull some good numbers. Never rely 100% on others methods, test for yourself and get your own numbers.

Framing your long copy is critical to its success, but the real 'hook' is in the bullets. While people tend to scan text/headlines, they tend to read bullets. Hot, juicy bullets are key to higher conversions. Most people just need the ONE bullet they are looking for to buy the product. If you go to an Eban Pagan sales page you'll see list after list of bullets, because they work (if you know how to write them). I try to get 50-100 bullets for a sales page.

It has become a good topic here. Nice to see contrary views.

Thanks for those replied.

This could be the case here.

I would also encourage you to collect your visitors email and name so that you have the option to follow up with them over and over again about your product.

Tal

OK back in 2004 a friend did an experiment with sales pages.

A. Short copy - as in product pic and a price
B. Medium copy - Short desc, product pic, and price
C. Long copy - Long desc, many product pics, infographics on how to use, and price.
D. Very long copy - pages of copy, lots of links to other pages, lot of pics, and price.

To make a long story SHORT (pun). B or medium copy had the highest conversion. It was 6%. Next was A or short with 3%. Then came C or Long copy at one percent conversion.

WORST was D or very long copy. It had less than one half of a percent conversion. People drown with too much information thrown at em. Keep the choices down, and present three compelling reasons to buy your product, not seven.

To understand why long copy sells, it's important to understand where the phrase, "The more you tell, the more you sell" comes from.

Remember the last time you made either a major purchase, such as a car or house, or you bought a product or service that was technical in nature... or something you did not grasp immediately.

Chances are, you had a lot of questions for the salesperson. You spent hours... days... maybe even weeks debating the pros and cons of each possible decision.

In other words, you wanted to hear every single argument for or against your decision. You WANTED to be sold on the right decision for you.

Now... imagine you're in the grocery store.

You're looking for toothpaste. You've made this purchase hundreds of times before. Moreover, you've already been pre-sold by the commercials.

In this case, minimal copy on the bottle is needed to influence your decision. They just have to reassure you.

Now... let's apply this to your product or service.

Most of us DON'T sell a product like toothpaste... or have pre-sold prospects coming to our sites. But, we tend to offer product or service that the audience will not grasp right away. It requires a lot of copy. Someone to sell it to us.

Put another way... long copy is salesmanship in print. It takes the place of an actual salesperson.

It doesn't matter if it's in the form of a salesletter, video, or whatever format. What's important is that you have enough copy needed to persuade your prospects to invest in your product or service.

To do this, you've got take into consideration your target customers' awareness about your product or service... competing product claims... and how YOU fit into the mix. Put more simply... imagine sitting in front of your prospect one-on-one. What do you need to say to get the sale?

Chances are, "The more you tell, the more you sell."

In other words, it's NOT the length of the copy that's important. It's what's IN the copy that sells.