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Do LONG sales pages W/RedText scream scam to you?

by x11joex11
18 replies
This could be just me, but I've trained myself to ignore sales pages that start with a big red sentence and instantly think it's a scam.

Or for that matter I'm being sold to in a shady way. The other cue is when I see the page scrolls forever it's like a big red flag I feel like I'm being scammed.

I'm not saying it doesn't work. Clearly it does. Almost every single product on ClickBank looks this way and the one's with high gravity score especially look this way, which I'm sure is the reason Google denies advertising for almost all the ClickBank Products. I'm just mystified I guess how it works? Will this method continue to work since it's being used by so many people? Maybe it's because we are internet marketers that it looks like a scam but to the normal person this is effective?

Does anyone else feel like that instantly makes them want to click away? If so, how would the page have to be so you would NOT click away or feel like it's a scam?

I'm very interested in learning more about this and to get your guys feedback. I'm not against doing a pitch page this way if it really works and it's what makes conversions, it's just very counter intuitive to me.
#long #pages #sales #scam #scream #w or redtext
  • Profile picture of the author Andrew Gould
    A popular topic, there's plenty of info and links in this thread:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...ally-work.html
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
      How about sales pages that start with blue, green or black headlines... do you have the same reaction? Or is it just red?

      Alex
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  • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
    It's like a stop sign.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    They don't work on 95% of the people who read them,
    only 5%.

    -Ray Edwards
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    • Profile picture of the author sethczerepak
      Originally Posted by Raydal View Post

      They don't work on 95% of the people who read them,
      only 5%.

      -Ray Edwards
      Nice! I'll take it lol

      Seriously, I think the word "SCAM" gets used a bit too liberally these days. Is there a chance you'll buy a bad product from one of these sales letters? Of course, especially if it's promising that you'll make $54,347.35 on complete autopilot with a simple "point and click" software that's so easy my eight year old cousin can use it...at a price point of $7.

      In my opinion, if a person is dumb enough to think that ^ kind of product exists, they're going to lose their money eventually...whether it's to a scam or some other gimmick...possibly even to investing in a great product that they never use.

      Bottom line, if you're willing to take consistent action, you don't need to worry which products are legit and which aren't because you'll be spending money on traffic instead. Then you can spend less time talking about what products are scams and what aren't and more time split testing, learning, refining and succeeding.
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    • Profile picture of the author FuNwiThChRiS
      Originally Posted by Raydal View Post

      They don't work on 95% of the people who read them,
      only 5%.

      -Ray Edwards
      Why do you say this like it's a good thing? This is one of the worst scenarios possible.

      "Let's start by alienating 95% of our prospective customers from the start."
      -said no marketing professional ever.
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      • Profile picture of the author sethczerepak
        Originally Posted by FuNwiThChRiS View Post

        Why do you say this like it's a good thing? This is one of the worst scenarios possible.

        "Let's start by alienating 95% of our prospective customers from the start."
        -said no marketing professional ever.
        I think what Ray is saying is that five percent conversion rate is a damn, DAMN good conversion rate. No matter what you're selling, you're going to piss some people off. Hell, some people will get pissed off if they really want what you're selling but can't afford to buy it...saw that a lot on in the "real world" of selling.

        I occasionally have people who contact me about my offers and sometimes you can just tell they'll be a pain in $*% and that they probably won't even use what I'm selling...so turning the tire kickers away isn't bad.

        I suppose there might come a day when someone has a 95% conversion rate on an offer, but on that note....

        "My sales page is converting at 95%...." said no HONEST marketer ever.
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  • Profile picture of the author x11joex11
    Actually if the color was different I might read it lol. Although, if the page was super long that would still be a red flag, just to me personally. I'm not against these pages just confused how it works, but working on 5% sounds like it's possible. My girlfriend confirmed she purchased from one of these long sales copy pages. She didn't read everything, just skim read it and purchased a dating guide to help her find men.
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    • Profile picture of the author Hopeless Bromantic
      Not necessarily "scam," but definitely "amateur."

      Of course, that doesn't inspire much confidence either.
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  • Profile picture of the author x11joex11
    Okay good to know, I don't get why many of the clickbank products still try to sell this way then?
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  • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
    To borrow from an old story, here's a long sales page you'd read every word of and I'll only give you the headline (in screaming red text):

    This Letter Is All About x11joex11




    Don't mistake the medium for the message.
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    • Profile picture of the author StefanPaulGeorgi
      I think it really depends on who your target market is too. You guys seem to be fairly experienced IM vets, so you know that red = salesy and can be for a possibly shady product.

      If you're targeting rookies/people not so familiar with IM, however, they probably don't have that same amount of wariness that you guys have, and the letter with red will probably catch their attention in a way other sales letters don't.
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  • Profile picture of the author bsbear
    I agree -- but most people think differently.
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  • Profile picture of the author ThomasOMalley
    Remember that you aren't necessarily your target market.
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  • Profile picture of the author x11joex11
    Thanks for all the responses so far, gives me a lot to think about. It's possible that this will always work on new buyers, but as people get more and more sophisticated and are used to seeing these kind of advertisements, especially if they got burned by one of these, I'm thinking it will lose visitors versus any other type of sell page.

    However, I really liked that post that Brian made where you got my attention. I would read the rest of the article, so you made a point.

    If they really want to learn about something badly I suppose you would read it still and it would help guide the conversation. Is it possible to write a sales letter in a new kind of way though?

    For example...

    Instead of a long page, create a page with a big header displaying the message (I guess we can keep it red), show only a small amount of copy and then insight a call to action to have the user have to press a button to continue on, or purchase there (it won't reload the page but just that section with more information if they keep wanting to learn more. I think just the fact the site doesn't scroll may make it seem more believable, at least just to me. What do you guys think in particular on the fact that it's so long it scrolls and you see the typical signature at the end and the buy button? I think if you hide that from the user until the end (like with javascript) it might be more effective... but I'm not an expert by any means just a guess. I'd have to do testing with a design that already sells and change it up and see what happens.

    and well... I have no idea what landing page sells on clickbank right now, still testing that.

    I have a thread in the mind section about my journey to 5k/month where I'll be doing marketing experiments and giving every detail I can about what I'm doing, so if anything we can at least learn what not to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author HostWind
    To answer your questions, yes they scream scam to me. It makes me believe that whatever the product that they are selling is, it focuses more on the approach of sales than the effectiveness of the product to make me believe that it is sincere.
    What I require in a sales post is a pitch that is straight to the point, and tells me in talking points what the product can deliver. If I see something with a glorified introduction, that shows no signs of development other than screaming text, I'm immediately turned off.
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