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Easiest Sales Letter To Read? Update 12/31 Free Template

by Jack Duncan
28 replies
In another post recently (here) another Warrior gave a great shoutout to a study on typography and its effect on sales.

I went out and got the book that the post was talking about. It's great. It's called Type & Layout: How typography and design can get your message across-or get in the way.

Great read. The forward is by the famous copywriter David Ogilvy.

The book primarily deals with print, not web, however, it wasn't hard at all to see how the concepts and way of thinking can be used on the web.


Here's my question, and I'm hoping you can help me out on this:

What is the "best reading" sales letter you have come across lately?

I'm trying to find lots of examples of salesletters that are easy on the eyes, message front and center, low distraction, effective.

Any good ones you have seen?
#copy #design #easiest #fonts #letter #read #sales #salesletters
  • Profile picture of the author Tom Dean
    I have always like Paul Meyers sales letters.

    Here is a recent one talkbiz.com/killercontent/

    Clean, clear and easy to read.

    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Duncan
    Here are two examples:

    Notice how simple this page is to read...something about the font and spacing...and NO background distractions:

    Bottom Line's Integrated Health Solutions

    Also, this is a little more flashy, but it seems to be pretty "scannable" as you scroll. Good use of variation?

    http://www.markskousen.com/visitor.php?offer=10441
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  • Profile picture of the author boosey12
    Better than I would have said it !!! LOL

    jack duncan- invisible stealth? whats that ??
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    Depends on what you (reader) are used to reading. I like
    big fonts because my eyes are a little weak and I prefer
    to not wear glasses while I'm online... so 12 point and up
    is what I prefer and I think many people over 40 would prefer
    that as well.

    The serif, sans-serif argument is a big one. I use Courier New,
    a serif font.

    You asked about readbility and I think that has a lot to do with
    comprension - which is contextual. I know very little about X-boxes
    for example, so if I were to read a salesletter about them I
    would have to grasp a whole worldview about why they are
    worth reading about.

    To the kid who knows all about X-Box and wants the cheats for
    it he is IN the contextual world of the thing. The writer may be
    able to make all kinds of assumptions and the kid still understands.

    So - the bigger the IDEA of it the more contextual the copy is
    and by extension the readability of the letter (meaning comprehension)
    will have a lot to do with where the reader is coming from.

    My best advice: stick with the biggies. Read the ads that closely
    mimmick mass-market ads in tabloids and apply them to the internet.
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  • Profile picture of the author CWreports
    Jack;

    You may also want to check out some of the letters from the
    newsletter "ETR" Early To Rise. Your posts from the Warroom
    could have been one of theirs..the writing/format etc is so
    similar.

    A free email newsletter to help you make money online - Subscribe and learn success secrets now!


    This is one from the current newsletter HERE

    I am not affiliated in any way with them...just subscribe to newsletter.

    Carol
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    I found that by doing something as simple as elminating the empty white boarders on either side of a sales letter added a huge boost to my conversions.

    I also found that form my designs black for the sides/empty area and an off white for the letter background produced the best results.
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  • Profile picture of the author lynwil
    Lots of great comments.
    Thanks
    It's very helpful for improving our sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author onlinemlmrockstar
    Thanks for that thread.
    Lots of great tips.

    Christopher Reid
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    • Profile picture of the author Jack Duncan
      Thanks to everyone for the great tips.

      I spent hours yesterday researching everything I could on typography on the web...and it's effect on readership.

      I also went back and pulled out some goodies from Colin Wheildon's awesome study on the affect of typography on reading comprehension.

      I'm not a web designer (or a programmer)...but I put together a salesletter template file that fits all the pieces together from my research and the research of others. (Thank you Jakob Nielson for your awesome work on web usability!)

      Here is my "dummy template":

      CLICK HERE TO SEE THE STATISTICALLY SUPER SALES TEMPLATE

      Everything from the width of the page, the colors, the typeface, line height, word spacing, whitespace, etc... is specifically chosen carefully in order to gain 1 thing: Maximum readership.

      Of course, you can always build on this...the purpose is to make the copy stand out clearly...because the words sell.

      Feel free to swipe the code and place in your own info.

      I'm testing out on my salespages this month.

      I'll be glad to post results as soon as they start rolling in.

      Cheers,
      Jack
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      • Profile picture of the author Kat Bartone
        Jack, thank you so much for sharing this. I really appreciate your generosity (and have seen quite a bit of it in the War Room as well).

        May all the good karma you sow here be returned to you tenfold.

        Happy New Year!

        - Kat
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        • Profile picture of the author Jack Duncan
          Kat,
          Thanks so much for the kind words!

          Happy New Year to you as well!

          Let us know your results with the template.

          Cheers,
          Jack
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          • Profile picture of the author Jack Duncan
            I was able to test this in IE6, IE7, Opera 9, FF3

            Maybe someone could test it in Safari or other popular browsers.

            I'm particularly interested in the justify text setting...seems to be supported fine in all of the tested browsers so far.

            Thanks,
            Jack
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      • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
        Absolutely superb start. Very easy to read. I'm saving this post as a "Best of the Best".

        FYI, I've created a Wordpress Salesletter Theme based on Jack's research and my past experience. Check my sig.

        Originally Posted by Jack Duncan View Post


        Here is my "dummy template":

        CLICK HERE TO SEE THE STATISTICALLY SUPER SALES TEMPLATE

        Everything from the width of the page, the colors, the typeface, line height, word spacing, whitespace, etc... is specifically chosen carefully in order to gain 1 thing: Maximum readership.
        Signature

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        • Profile picture of the author Jack Duncan
          BlueSquares,
          Awesome...I love the Thesis mod salesletter you posted.

          I'm actually right in the middle of converting everything over to the Thesis theme...and this is truly inspiring.

          Really appreciate the input!

          And I'll second AListApart. Everytime I visit that place I am amazed at what can be accomplished when talented programmers hack away at CSS. (I love their awesome onion skinning trick)

          Cheers,
          Jack
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  • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
    As a print graphic designer first and web developer second, I can vouch for the importance of typography. It is an art within itself that requires it's own schooling and years of study.

    For those of you that really, really want to dive into web typography, AListApart is heavily biased in that direction. Their website is a typographic heaven.

    As for good sites with good salesletters, I'm rather taken impressed by Andre and Mark with their modification of the Wordpress Thesis theme as a salesletter.

    Originally Posted by Jack Duncan View Post

    Any good ones you have seen?
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    • Profile picture of the author Jack Duncan
      BlueSquares,
      This is a little off topic...but upon further looking into Mark's site...I noticed his very clever use of a multi page salesletter.

      I know for a fact that this very technique worked like gangbusters for a recent client of Clayton Makepeace...very interesting to see another implementation of this.

      I'd love to know how it is converting.

      Great find!
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    • Profile picture of the author Sean Bissell
      This is pretty interesting stuff...

      It goes against most principles I've seen online.

      For example:

      Colin Wheildon's advice is to only use a black headline,
      with lower case and no period.

      Many people online preach to use red headlines, or blue headlines, etc.

      They also use all caps at the beginning of their words.

      Example:       You Are About To Learn Secrets
      Instead of: You are about to learn secrets

      Many online marketers also use quotes and a "..." at the end

      Example:       "You Are About To Learn Secrets..."
      Instead of: You are about to learn secrets

      And many people use Verdanda instead of a sans script writing.

      Are we doing things backwards?

      Has this evolved over time?

      Or is the net truly different than print copy?

      Hmm....

      Happy New Years!
      -Sean
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      • Profile picture of the author Jack Duncan
        Sean,
        I should probably make one thing clear. Wheildon found that high chroma and low chroma (bright red, bright blue, and purple...) all did a better job at attracting attention...but they also severly hindered readibility because they distract the reader from the introduction and first lines of text.

        In his study, some of the readers even admitted that in order to read the text, they folded down the bright red headline because their eye constantly wanted to travel back to it. (I wonder if anyone can link this idea to the idea of someone scrolling right past the introduction text to get away from a bright headline?)

        Overall, black was the best color for headlines and body text, when comprehension is the factor you are trying to improve.


        Not sure about the affect of first letter capitalization...just know that people read the tops of letters to distinguish words...and uppercase tops are much harder to discern than lowercase tops...hence the reason they are easier to read.

        Also, on the period, I think he only tested a full stop. (just a simple ".")

        David Ogilvy said for years that this was true, and they finally got a large group together to test it...and indeed, when you put a period in your headline, people stop. Period.

        Not sure how a "..." would affect this.

        I know one advertising agency swore by the simple colon ":" at the end of the headline.

        Moral of the story is to TEST TEST TEST

        Winner takes all,
        Jack
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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Spencer
    Not going to lie...I didn't like either of the examples.

    Too much text. I usually buy off the smaller sales pages. I hate fifty billion words.

    I must "get into" the sales letter and buy into the format...or it's like a great product that is misspelled...annoying, confusing, and loss of value.

    Just my opinion though...

    Brad Spencer
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Killian
    Great post Jack! One of those things that many do not really thing about, I know i didn't give it as much thought. I am currently working on a new site, gonna have to test some of this. As mentioned, I agree it's odd because much goes against what some many copywriters say you "should" do.
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  • Profile picture of the author tomcam
    Works great in Safari and SeaMonkey.
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  • Profile picture of the author lakshaybehl
    Originally Posted by Jack Duncan View Post

    In another post recently (here) another Warrior gave a great shoutout to a study on typography and its effect on sales.

    I went out and got the book that the post was talking about. It's great. It's called Type & Layout: How typography and design can get your message across-or get in the way.

    Great read. The forward is by the famous copywriter David Ogilvy.

    The book primarily deals with print, not web, however, it wasn't hard at all to see how the concepts and way of thinking can be used on the web.


    Here's my question, and I'm hoping you can help me out on this:

    What is the "best reading" sales letter you have come across lately?

    I'm trying to find lots of examples of salesletters that are easy on the eyes, message front and center, low distraction, effective.

    Any good ones you have seen?
    Jack!

    The one that I draw a lot of inspirtation out of:

    The 20/20 Challenge -- Make $20,000 in 20 days or it's your money back!

    This one speaks to the reader likle a real person.

    -Lakshay
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  • Profile picture of the author twannahiga
    Great post Jack! A great template to follow for the basics when setting up and promoting! I like it!
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
      Brad,
      Not going to lie...I didn't like either of the examples.

      Too much text. I usually buy off the smaller sales pages. I hate fifty billion words.
      That's okay. I didn't get a 100% conversion rate on that one, either. But, IIRC, it was in the 20's. And I even broke a couple of rules with it.

      I'll take that.

      When people tell you you must have graphics, don't believe them. Sometimes they help, others they don't. I often do letters in that layout.

      Simple format, good writing, visitors who want what the product offers. Works for me.


      Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author simba999
    Thanks Jack! You rock!! as usual...Sheila

    Love your site too Paul! Amazing stuff there.
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