Does Anyone Else HATE Reading Long SalesLetters?

For me, the best sales letter is the one that lists
down the benefits, features of the product, with
proofs in a convincing order.

It's not weird at all! You are in the VAST majority...

Rob, that is a VERY good point...

This is the answer. This is why they are great for niches that are not make money niches.

I know I have read the whole sales letter in different niches, I read a really long one recently on the way to stop a baby crying, it was great.

The last non IM product I bought had a long sales letter. The last IM product I bought had a short one.

I guess I am just a bit jaded, LOL I knew it. Cynicism.

Best wishes,

Ruth

Anybody who thinks "make money Online" is any different from any other niche has been brainwashed by the brain dead

Robert

"It's not weird at all! You are in the VAST majority..."

Not so.

Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in real-life-show-me-the-money tests have shown that the more you tell the more you sell.

In my own experience as a copywriter, and that of my friends, the reason why we use long copy is simple.

The Results!

Something to Consider:

I had a conversation with a client on the West Coast who complained that "Nobody will read a 35 page sales letter"

I asked him why?

His reasoning was people just wouldn't be interested. I asked what he was interested in and he told me "The West Coast Eagles" (An Aussie Rules Football Team) I asked him "If someone wrote a 35 page expose on "The Shocking Secret Lives of the West Coast Eagles" would he read that?

His reply said it all: "Of course I would, I'd read anything about the Eagles!"

If you don't like long copy, nine times out of ten it is because you are NOT the prospect that it is aimed at.

BTW His 'Long Copy' sales letter sold $38,000 worth of his services within 38 minutes of the mail hitting the local PO Boxes

theminisiteformula.com
Did I read it? No. Someone recommended it and I bought it. I scrolled down to the order button for pricing and the pricing was ok so I clicked.

I hate long sales letters and even if I buy, it has nothing to do with the fact that it's a long sales letter. I never read them. It has more to do with I've heard about it and want to see it.

Interesting that most people miss a very critical point.

It is not important if they read the entire sales letter, it is CRITICAL they read what they want to see.

People scan down the page, they look for the information they want, and they read those sections.

They check out the bullet points, lists, headlines, and then focus on what interests them.

If the sales letter was not long, you would be leaving out details which are important to many of your potential buyers. The hot button for one client is not the same hot button for the next one.

Once they have read the PORTION of the long sales letter which takes care of their problems, and stirs them to action, they move down to the buy button.

Long works, because you are telling more people what they NEED to know to buy.

For those of you who don't read long sales letters, do you not read any of the sales letter, or do you read the details you were looking for? If you read anything in the long sales letter which prompted you to look at the price, IT WORKED. At least it drew you to the point of considering buying.

OK for the record...One more time so people who missed it the other 1000 times its been explained somewhere on this forum

We know people dont read long sales letters from start to finish...

Here is what they do (and why a good long sales letter works)

First they scan the headline and the first paragraph (so this should be your strongest reason for buying)

Then they scroll down to the price... Which is why your PS: and PPs should be right under the price, and they should reinforce the headline and strongets selling points. (there is room to add a 3rd USP in the PS that werent in the top of the fold)

Then if we still have them (IE they are the prospect we aimed at) then they will go back to the start of the letter and skim it. So the highlighted and boldened parts should be your short form sales copy, by that I mean if the bold parts were taken out and put on a seperate page it would read like a mini message and make perfect sense.

Now some of those will convert at that point... Still others will have questions

The rest of the sales letter is designed to answer those questions, and over come any objections

Different people will have different questions, which is why the long form letter comes into its own, use it to answer any conceivable question your prospect may have.

Not all the questions will be relevant to each prospect, but you must cater for everyone so the sales letter ends being long enough to make sure every question or objection that could come up is covered somewhere in the letter.

For those that just need the bullet points and the price they have them

For those that need the bullet points the price and a specific question answered they have them

For those just needing a short form letter they have them in the bolded parts
etc etc etc

Robert

PS: Testimonials should be used to reinforce the message in the sales letter... for example if the sales letter says its easy to install any 5 year old can do it... then add a (real) testimonial here from someone who says... "wow im such a clutz with techy stuff and the install was a breeze thank you very much for making it so simple"

PPS: In ofline selling situations the salesman comes armed with a presentation for the prospect, which is pre written in most cases and has to be learnt parrot fashion... this is the short form sales letter. Any fool can be taught to deliver this... and it will result in some sales

The true selling only starts after the presentation has been delivered...

The best salesman know that in order to be the best you have to know how to counter the prospects objections...As a sales trainer i have seen new salesman get up from a presentation to leave at the first objection and sit down again as i counter that objection this can go on for minutes. I one case i watched a fledgling salesman get up 5 times to leave

5 times i countered the objection and in the end the customer (no longer a prospect) bought 7 units

The real selling starts once the short copy is delivered, remember that phrase...

The objection countering is the long form sales letter and the reason it exists... And the reason why if you just rely on the presentation that any fool can deliver your going to lose sales hand over fist.

This is now officially the end of this subject and it should never rear its ugly head again (fat chance)

I hate reading long sales letters that don't interest me. Of course, I also hate reading short sales letters that don't interest me...

The same goes for videos. I do prefer videos that give me some control as far as fast-forward and reverse. But, as the Baby-Faced Assassin and others have pointed out, if my data says that's the way to go, that's the way I go.

Long, short, or otherwise, what I really dislike are incompetent sales letters. Poorly organized, poorly edited, rambling word vomit that tries to force me to search for the information I need to make a proper decision (and I get to decide what that information is) is more work than it's worth to me. So I abandon it.

I believe it was David Ogilvie who challenged one of his clients who declared that no one would read a lot of text. Ogilvie bet the man that he could write a full newspaper page of dense text in small type and the client would read every word. The man accepted the bet and told Ogilvie to start writing. Ogilvie said he wouldn't have to write the whole page, just the headline - "This Page is All About Client Name". The man paid.

[I think that story is attributed to Ogilvie, although my memory isn't quite the faithful servant it used to be...]

You're absolutely right Neil. I was just expressing my personal opinion on
the matter.

No offense was meant.

Happy New Year.

thats because the people agreeing with the OP havent bothered to read the explanations here as to why they are wrong... And of course its their opinion and they are going to stick to it no matter how much money it costs them

How are you Neil

Robert

Good for you...

Give Mark my regards... and tell him I said people are supposed to eat meat, and people who eat just nuts...well are just nuts hahahaha

Long or short? The age old question. Really it has nothing to do with opinion and more to do with results from testing. Test short and test long.

Which ever one converts the best that is the one you go with. Does not matter what niche you are in, the process is the same. Sales letters, blog posts, videos, articles, etc., anything that sells should be tested the same way.

If you are not doing this already, you are definitely leaving TONS of money on the table. So forget about everybody's opinions or even what annoys you or not. Do your OWN testing.

Juan

Let me put this out there to the folks who say that they prefer a short
sales letter.

Would you buy a $4997 home study course with a short sales letter?

Before you answer...think real hard about that answer.

Which is why long form letters were invented, so folks like you have the pieces they need to make decision. Smewhere in that letter is the exact piece you need to make decision, not all the letter is aimed at you.

People please get this, all sorts of people will be viewing your sales letter... its impossible to write a short form letter that will convert the vast array of people all with different concerns and questions about your product.

Every possible scenario must be weaved into the letter so everyone who visits can find the piece they need to make that decision (even if its get the hell out of here)

A lot of the same people will read hundreds of those 140-character bits if the subject matter interests them. They may not want to read 20 pages of scrolling text (or so they say), but they will read the equivalent on the right subject.

If that were not true, most gossip magazines would only be two pages of which actor/actress is sleeping with another, in a simple bullet-point list.