Which of these sales letter styles would you use to sell your next product?

With 2 options I'd definitely try both and split test.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Thanks Alison. Split testing will surely tell me. Was just trying to save myself a bit of time by getting some opinions. And then make my mind up which one to try first.

I like option 2 for lower priced products, if a product is priced over $75 or so I always prefer the long copy salesletters. They normally have a video within as well, and if people are going to spend that much money they often want as much info as possible.

Thanks for the input Kevin.

Would you say this applies to non-im products too?

Thanks JMichael.

This has been my thoughts too. Maybe a few years back the long form was still king in most markets. But I feel it is somewhat diminishing it's effectiveness in non-im stuff.

From what I have seen. the social crowd seem to want their information in byte size proportions. And quickly.

Hey Andy,

I have learnt that longer sales letters work when you want a larger financial commitment from the buyer. Shorter sales letters work if your product is priced at $97 or less. The best conversions you can achieve by having a video in your sales page. You can transcript the video below the video and make it a sales page if you want. But I have learnt that using video as a stand alone sales letter works best.

Thanks alrikvincent.

I know Ryan Deiss mentioned this a while back after testing his sales letters with video.

Do you think it's because people are too lazy now to make the effort and scroll? Or maybe that the long-form sales letter just seems too intimidating and long winded to read.

JMichaelZ,

I agree with mostly of what you said.

But I have shown long form sales letters to my friends who know nothing about direct marketing or IM, and the vast majority have said they would not take the time to read the letter. 'Can't be arsed' was a common response.

With social media and mobile taking off in a big way now, I feel impatience and wanting the information quickly has something to do with it.

It's a huge mistake put style and formatting before the actual sales message. Write the best copy you can first and then fit that to a theme.

Of course Travlinguy.

Lets assume we have a good solid message. It's how we present that message that this thread is about.

That's an easy one...

Option #1 (IF well designed and written) will virtually always convert better. I spend a lot of my time writing sales letters for people who had FAILED "minimalist" pages.

But here's the ironic part...

"Minimalist" (option #2) sites are WILDLY popular.

Why is that the case?

It's simple...

"Minimalist" sites look pretty and fancy and require little (if any) actual copywriting skill -- or expense.

And -- let me tell you -- designers *really* like pretty, fancy sites. They look good in a portfolio, justify larger fees, and help them get more business. (Good for them; bad for you.)

So the question remains...

Why does option #1 (the longer, uglier variety) work better?

Well, it's not rocket science...

There's an old saying in advertising, "The more you tell, the more you sell."

A long-form sales letter is able to provide complete buying information -- everything the prospect needs to know to decide to BUY. (With a minimalist site, how are they supposed to get that info? Through osmosis?)

There's also another old saying that says, "Tell me quick and tell me true, or else my dear, the hell with you."

You see, long-form letters also provide all that information on one simple (but long) page. That is, IN ONE PLACE. There is a book called "Don't Make Me Think." (It's THE classic book about web interface design.)

It demonstrates that -- as pretty as your site is -- your visitors have notoriously short attention spans and are easily overwhelmed.

If you think they have nothing better to do than click around your site to get one little tidbit after the next (until they can finally piece it all together and make a decision), you're kidding yourself...

Not gonna to happen.

The thing is... you almost certainly have tons of competitors who will NOT make your prospects run the gauntlet... so your visitors will likely just click away.

Game over. You lose.

John

Thanks John. Interesting observations.

There's just one thing I can't get my head round though...

Why would a site like OptimizePress chose that layout after I assume they tested all variations. And this product is in the 'IM' niche. Surely if the long form converted better, that's what they would have. But instead they have a video and snippets of extra information below.

And Ryan Deiss tested all of this to high heaven, and adamantly states the video sales letter converted best. This was maybe 5 years ago. Surely it's even more relevant today.

Just for the record I love the long-form letters. I will read them. But it's not about me.

OK, let me clarify...

I was not commenting about VIDEO, per se. Video can and does work EXTREMELY well -- IF it's properly done.

But here's the question: What is a video sales letter?

For the most part, it's just a LONG-FORM sales letter PRESENTED in the form of a video (rather than text). The page may be short, but the copy isn't.

A (so-called) "minimalist" page with a 10 to 30-minute sales video isn't really a minimalist page. I was primarily addressing the old "long versus short" copy question.

That said, the thing you need to be aware of with video is that production value matters. A lot of people are still using videos with simple text and a voice-over. For short videos, that can work.

But it can also get BORING very quickly. This is 2013. Video isn't brand-new any longer. To hold attention, you need good production value -- and that adds complexity and increases the cost.

John