Long or short sales letters?

I prefer short sales letters because they get straight to the point without being too drawn out

Thanks for your feedback guys. It is always humbling to see people take the time to share their insights.

Maybe I should have clarified my question, but at least in my mind it is about two different styles as much as it is about length. I know that Amazon has long sales copy to sell their Kindle, and it works because you quite frankly need that much information to buy it. (At least I needed it.)

So I guess my question could be rephrased into the traditional style with white background and red headlines where you focus on bonuses, guarantee's and three PS's or a more modern look? (Thanks Neil for that successchef link, an interesting blend of long and modern.)

The sense I get is that we, the internet marketers, now, more than 10 years ago, have to change the way we address sellers, by coming across more professional not only in the content that we present but also how it comes across.

David made some nice points about not listening to people that are talking out of a different set of skills. The problem is however that I am advised by a copywriter of going short, when it really does not benefit her business. She argues based on what she has tested and measured, the only exception being internet marketing products.

With PPC I was adviced by someone that offered to be payed based on net profit. They argued short. Another PPC company I spoke to were more vague, but said that the shorter more professional looking sites outperformed the traditional looking ones.

To make this a little bit more difficult. I get the impression that many of you agree the copy should be as long as it needs to be to make the sale. When we make that assessment are we thinking logically or emotionally? Personally I agree with it, but at the same time is not a buying decision a highly emotional one?

If it is, and people are changing to wanting things fast, it might be better to split the sales message over several pages.

Does anyone have any personal split-testing experience with this?

Michel Fortin's the guy behind Success Chef, and this is what he had to say about the copy format he's using:

What’s Going On and What’s Going to Change | Michel Fortin on Copywriting, Marketing, Business, and Life

It's buried in the post about halfway down. He calls it 'compartmentalised copy' - kind of a hybrid between the short, easily-scannable copy and getting everything you want to say on the page.

I don't have personal split-testing experience of this, but Michel's one of the best copywriters around at the moment, so I'd trust him to know what he's talking about.

The style's definitely very popular for tech companies at the moment, and I'd love to try testing one to see how it performs in comparison to more old-school letters. Need to find a client who's willing to be a test case first, though

In the meantime, here's some data from 37 Signals. I don't think all of it's significant, but it's a start:

Behind the scenes: A/B testing part 3: Finalé - (37signals)

This is the perfect answer to the question. We think to much like marketers and not enough like consumers.

I was researching a particular rifle the other day for my son and was doing some comparisons. My research came down to something as simple as not all rifles would shoot all ammunition even though it was the same caliber.

The ammunition page I found was over 20 pages long. My son spent over $200 buying ammunition that fit his gun, to do what he wanted it to do and for reloading supplies.

The page didn't look like a sales page. It offered answers to a question and happened to have products for sale on the page.

Build the page to answer the question!

How about testing and finding out?

A sales letter is exactly what it needs to sell. Say all that you need to say. Say nothing that you don't need to say.

Present in a manner that attracts the potential buyer like a magnet. Don't present in a manner that only attracts "marketers" like a magnet.