Five Tips For Killer Sales Copy...
Hi everyone,
I'd like to start with something that's so fundamentally obvious; and that is to sell benefits NOT features. Any experienced copywriter will know benefits are vital when it comes to selling your prospects on your product or service, and yet for some reason it's still something that many internet business owners seem to forget.
Secondly, focus on crafting an irresistible offer before you even think about sitting down and writing a sales letter. It goes without saying that people hate taking risks - especially in our community - and so anything you can do with your guarantee to eliminate risk on their part is bound to increase sales.
In addition, studies have proven that upgrading your guarantee to a period of eight weeks or more will even reduce your refund rates too. It's obviously important to take into account the nature of your market. The cynical people in the gambling community, for example, tend to jump from one thing to another and so offering an extended guarantee might not be such a good idea.
I'd also stay away from forced continuity. Or at least if you are going to use it, be sure to be completely up front with your customers BEFORE they reach the order form. When I was writing the sales letter for Josh Bartlett's Easy Video Player, we decided it was best to be up front rather than waiting until they forgot to cancel their monthly subscription.
If you are going to offer continuity programs, make sure it compliments your product well. Sure, it's a great business model when implemented ethically and marketed correctly, but a crappy upsell is not only going to decrease profits and increase refund rates - it'll harm your credibility too!
You quite simply MUST have an awesome headline if you want to succeed in this business. I don't know exact figures, but I'd estimate you've got between 3-5 seconds to make an impression and really seize your visitor's attention before they leave your website through that big back button on their browser bar.
You can either choose to use a negative headline, or go with something positive. I like to split-test as I think seperate types of headline compliment different markets in different ways, but more often than not invoking fear into your prospects through a negative outlook will generally increase conversions. Just be careful that you don't come across as morbid in doing so; at the same time as stating your market's fears you want to slide towards the benefits, and get your prospects really thinking about your product/service can help them remove this fear and improve their life.
Once you've salted your customers for what you're about to introduce them to, you need to gain some instant credibility by showing proof that you know what you're talking about as early as possible. Scams are far too common nowadays, and if you can prove beyond all doubt - through screenshots, testimonials or even video proof - that your stuff REALLY does what it says on the tin, you're destined for success right before you've even started.
So many copywriters nowadays will wait until they reach the bottom half of their sales letter before including testimonials. Why? Because that's what everyone else does!
The reality of this situation is that if you're only doing what every other Tom, Dick or Harry is doing then you're going to come across as yet another "guru". And we all know how people feel about them, right? So don't do it! By proving yourself as honest and genuine right from the start, you'll have people literally begging for you to sell them something before they even get towards the bottom of the page...
My final tip is to include a box at the bottom of your sales letter that stops site scrollers! Mike Filsaime did this to good effect with his launch of the original Butterfly Marketing home study course, and it really helped stop people from scrolling through just to see what the price was.
Again, it made his prospects thinks "oh, this is different" and want to go back and read the rest of the letter. Anything you can do to be different will normally gain you credibility, and the bottom line is that credibility sells products.
Talk soon,
Connor
I'd like to start with something that's so fundamentally obvious; and that is to sell benefits NOT features. Any experienced copywriter will know benefits are vital when it comes to selling your prospects on your product or service, and yet for some reason it's still something that many internet business owners seem to forget.
Secondly, focus on crafting an irresistible offer before you even think about sitting down and writing a sales letter. It goes without saying that people hate taking risks - especially in our community - and so anything you can do with your guarantee to eliminate risk on their part is bound to increase sales.
In addition, studies have proven that upgrading your guarantee to a period of eight weeks or more will even reduce your refund rates too. It's obviously important to take into account the nature of your market. The cynical people in the gambling community, for example, tend to jump from one thing to another and so offering an extended guarantee might not be such a good idea.
I'd also stay away from forced continuity. Or at least if you are going to use it, be sure to be completely up front with your customers BEFORE they reach the order form. When I was writing the sales letter for Josh Bartlett's Easy Video Player, we decided it was best to be up front rather than waiting until they forgot to cancel their monthly subscription.
If you are going to offer continuity programs, make sure it compliments your product well. Sure, it's a great business model when implemented ethically and marketed correctly, but a crappy upsell is not only going to decrease profits and increase refund rates - it'll harm your credibility too!
You quite simply MUST have an awesome headline if you want to succeed in this business. I don't know exact figures, but I'd estimate you've got between 3-5 seconds to make an impression and really seize your visitor's attention before they leave your website through that big back button on their browser bar.
You can either choose to use a negative headline, or go with something positive. I like to split-test as I think seperate types of headline compliment different markets in different ways, but more often than not invoking fear into your prospects through a negative outlook will generally increase conversions. Just be careful that you don't come across as morbid in doing so; at the same time as stating your market's fears you want to slide towards the benefits, and get your prospects really thinking about your product/service can help them remove this fear and improve their life.
Once you've salted your customers for what you're about to introduce them to, you need to gain some instant credibility by showing proof that you know what you're talking about as early as possible. Scams are far too common nowadays, and if you can prove beyond all doubt - through screenshots, testimonials or even video proof - that your stuff REALLY does what it says on the tin, you're destined for success right before you've even started.
So many copywriters nowadays will wait until they reach the bottom half of their sales letter before including testimonials. Why? Because that's what everyone else does!
The reality of this situation is that if you're only doing what every other Tom, Dick or Harry is doing then you're going to come across as yet another "guru". And we all know how people feel about them, right? So don't do it! By proving yourself as honest and genuine right from the start, you'll have people literally begging for you to sell them something before they even get towards the bottom of the page...
My final tip is to include a box at the bottom of your sales letter that stops site scrollers! Mike Filsaime did this to good effect with his launch of the original Butterfly Marketing home study course, and it really helped stop people from scrolling through just to see what the price was.
Again, it made his prospects thinks "oh, this is different" and want to go back and read the rest of the letter. Anything you can do to be different will normally gain you credibility, and the bottom line is that credibility sells products.
Talk soon,
Connor
If you can drive Biz Op Phone Calls .... I'm Buying
If you can drive Biz Op Phone Calls .... I'm Buying
Patrick
"The business that considers itself immune to the necessity for advertising sooner or later finds itself immune to business."
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