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Long & complex sales page vs short and straightforward

by KelvinN
25 replies
I've noticed quite a few products on ClickBank and other sites before that are long sales pages, for example take a free quiz, several products & services to buy with many pages, etc.. Do these kind of sites make more sales than a site with a sales video and buy button underneath?
#complex #long #page #sales #short #straightforward
  • Profile picture of the author SteveSki
    That's difficult to say without split testing. A lot will depend on the offer, the product, your target market and the quality of the video and copyrighting used. Both work if you get everything else right.
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  • Profile picture of the author Monja
    I do not buy something because of the amount of text people provide me with. Honestly, I'm sick of these make-money-quick promises, I'm sick of looooong sales pages. I want it straight to the point: What do I get? How much is it? That's it
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    • Profile picture of the author Geeked Labs
      It really depends on what you're doing. For selling products and services I always get the best results with a long form sales page. How long? However long it takes me to get the main points across.
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    • Profile picture of the author kirbymarketingconcierge
      Originally Posted by Monja View Post

      I do not buy something because of the amount of text people provide me with. Honestly, I'm sick of these make-money-quick promises, I'm sick of looooong sales pages. I want it straight to the point: What do I get? How much is it? That's it
      agreed.

      answer What's in it For ME ASAP.

      I can scan through it like speed reading and still be a "convert"

      and drop those long sales videos.
      I don't care about someone's personal story for 5 minutes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Black Belt Marketing
    Long form sales copy is hands down the best way to sell a product over the internet, especially a digital product like an ebook or video course.

    It would be worth testing to see if your market best responds to just long copy or a long sales video though.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      In general, it does take long copy to provide enough information for a prospect to make a buying decision. If you're not addressing key objections (applicable features, benefits, value, urgency, etc), then you're most likely going to lose the sale to a competitor.

      In my experience, an even more powerful alternative to long copy is an extensive autoresponder series that drips these sales points along with relevant and engaging content. If your visitors don't spend the time to read, then either they are not ready to buy or not a targeted prospect.
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      • Profile picture of the author M Thompson
        It really depends on the product, is it easy to describe and list the benefits or is it more complicated. Either way most sales pages on clickbank that are doing a decent amount of sales will have tested different sales pages and selected the best one based on different criteria.
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  • Profile picture of the author E-supreme
    Agree, it completely depends on the product. There is a reason people use long sales pages, they work! Dan Kennedy still uses them to this day, why because they work. I have a video that is 5 minutes long and gets the point across, no sales copy and it outperforms the original sales copy I had.

    Best thing to do is split test both. There are a lot of free tools out there to split test or you can use software like leadpages to do it for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author razorz18
    Originally Posted by KelvinN View Post

    I've noticed quite a few products on ClickBank and other sites before that are long sales pages, for example take a free quiz, several products & services to buy with many pages, etc.. Do these kind of sites make more sales than a site with a sales video and buy button underneath?
    As far as I heard from many people, long sales pages beat short one. I agreed because you can put testimonial, feature and etc rather than short example and buy button, it does make sense why it work. However you need to split test your sales page such as long vs short, color and etc.. check this: 43 Split Tests That Boost Conversions
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I love a long form sales letter. That's all i know. Ebay style description sales pages dont do it for me. Nor do the sites where you have to click 4 links til you get to the point. I need to know much more than the info that they provide.

    Most long *80-minute* videos are absurd to me - unless that video promotes a $1,000 product with accuracy. With some of these videos, by the time you get finished watching them, you could have read my sales page about 10 times. Hey, isn't that about the amount of views email experts say people need before they make a purchase? Lol... videos dont do it for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author bobbydiraag
    A long sales letter is good as long as it keeps them on their toes and doesn't make them sleepy!!
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  • Profile picture of the author brentb
    Both.

    If you are selling something where you need to "sell" the points to the person ie something new or complicated, long page is better. They need to understand the product and why they should want/need it.

    If you are selling something like a product someone would typically buy and understand already like forwarding to a desk lamp on amazon then short is probably better as they already understand why they need the product, ie to make a dark room light, you don't need to explain that.
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  • Profile picture of the author JNano
    It really depends on market, product and demographics. That's why it's always best to test, both long and short, with video or without etc...
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  • Profile picture of the author SnackMemory
    the long pages help you convince people you have "what they want" and your the real deal.. before you show them the "pay for it now" button.... the short sale pages are for when you know the person is looking and expecting to buy, and you want to get right to the point for them.
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  • Profile picture of the author schttrj
    It depends on your potential customer and your competition.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    If you are speaking about ClickBank then you have the answer right on ClickBank.
    You can compare those pages to their sales data (gravity) This may be a huge
    study but it may be a fruitful one.

    But typically long sales letters do very well. The trick is to write them so BOTH the
    people who hate to read (skimmers) and those who love to read get the ESSENCE
    of what you are presenting.

    -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author Complex
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    • Profile picture of the author Andrew Gould
      Originally Posted by Complex View Post

      The script in PDF form for End of America is like 55 pages or something.

      And it's good.

      Like reading a short book.
      They mailed it as a bookalog.
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  • Profile picture of the author pewpewpewmonkeys
    I have a video that is 5 minutes long and gets the point across, no sales copy and it outperforms the original sales copy I had.
    So your video is completely silent?
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  • Profile picture of the author geeman12030
    Provide as much information as required to understand your product or service and its benefits. Pages, videos and images. It's true that 4\5 of people won't read it all, but 1\5 read everything! That 1\5 is your main target group.
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  • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
    Originally Posted by KelvinN View Post

    I've noticed quite a few products on ClickBank and other sites before that are long sales pages, for example take a free quiz, several products & services to buy with many pages, etc.. Do these kind of sites make more sales than a site with a sales video and buy button underneath?
    Depends is the right answer for such a general question.

    As for personal preferences, it shouldn't enter a copywriter's work, you write what works for your market.

    Consider the INTERSECTION of your promotion and your TARGET. In the OP, it was clickbank. As one reply noted, you see so much of that there, because it has worked for so long for so many.

    But, if your TARGET meets your promotion via search or sig or some other way, you probably can be more direct and to the point. It also "DEPENDS" on who you want as a customer, or how much they spend, some qualifier might be in play.

    Clickbank is known for high refund rates, so that has to be factored in to the copy.

    The better question might be, where is your target meeting your promotion and at what time and how.

    This may help you determine whether a long explanation or a simple BUY now button is needed for what is being offered.

    Most good copywriters KNOW who their market is and who is most likely to buy, and, craft their promotion accordingly.

    gjabiz
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Pescetti
    Long & complex?

    Try full of specificity and emotional hot buttons.

    How could you possibly have a healthy relationship with long form copy - if you think it's complex? Feel about that.

    Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author BrandonLee
    Long copy works - even in emails, in spite of what people might tell you.

    I did a launch in July and one of my affiliates screwed up a link - he put in a link to my ontraport affiliate page and not to the regular opt in page. We noticed he was not getting as many leads as he should have about 2 or 3 hours after he mailed - but already we'd had several dozen people go through the process of signing up as affiliates, name, social security number, two phone numbers, home address. (that's how we first noticed maybe there was a problem, "Where are all these affiliates we have never ever heard of who have no websites coming from?")

    Also for the webinar used very long email copy for the entire thing - and over 80% of the people who signed up came to the webinar.
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  • Profile picture of the author sethczerepak
    Originally Posted by KelvinN View Post

    I've noticed quite a few products on ClickBank and other sites before that are long sales pages, for example take a free quiz, several products & services to buy with many pages, etc.. Do these kind of sites make more sales than a site with a sales video and buy button underneath?
    It just depends. How about telling us why you're asking? What are you hoping to accomplish? You'll get more useful responses that way.
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