Was it a Scam? A Bait & Switch, or What?
Hi Warrior,
What do you think? If a copywriter offers to critique a sales LETTER for a fee, but only critiques the TITLE, is that critique as advertised - or not?
I posted a request in The Copywriting Forum for some feedback on a sales letter. "Person X" sent me a brief message along with their ad for doing sales letter critiques.
I bit, and paid upfront for a critique of my sales letter.
The critique was pitiful. The ad from "Person X" offered to critique a sales LETTER, but the critique actually dealt with only ONE SENTENCE - the title. The sales letter was approximately 2,000 words; the title was seven words.
Skipping the chitchat, the potentially useful, but largely generic, info in the "critique" (concerning the title only) occupied less than one sparse page. It was no help with the actual letter at all.
Meanwhile, accompanying emails told me how bad my sales letter was, how experienced "Person X" was at copywriting, how much money they had spent to learn copywriting, how many experts they'd learned from, how many satisfied customers "Person X" had, etc., etc. (Which amounted to more work and more writing than was in the actual critique.)
Since the critique wasn't as advertised, I politely requested a refund. So far, that hasn't happened.
I have actually submitted 5 polite, written requests for a refund - with polite explanations as to how the critique seriously UNDER-delivered and failed to agree with their original ad.
Here's what I think is going on -
"Person X" teases the customer with the critique; points out how much the customer needs professional copywriting help; highlights the sales letter weaknesses while doing very little critiqueing to help the customer fix them; and voila! maybe "Person X" gets to write a full-blown, much more expensive sales letter for the customer.
So, what do you think? If a copywriter offers to critique a sales LETTER, but only critiques the TITLE, is that critique as advertised - or not?
If NOT, what would you call it?
Thanks for your input!
What do you think? If a copywriter offers to critique a sales LETTER for a fee, but only critiques the TITLE, is that critique as advertised - or not?
I posted a request in The Copywriting Forum for some feedback on a sales letter. "Person X" sent me a brief message along with their ad for doing sales letter critiques.
I bit, and paid upfront for a critique of my sales letter.
The critique was pitiful. The ad from "Person X" offered to critique a sales LETTER, but the critique actually dealt with only ONE SENTENCE - the title. The sales letter was approximately 2,000 words; the title was seven words.
Skipping the chitchat, the potentially useful, but largely generic, info in the "critique" (concerning the title only) occupied less than one sparse page. It was no help with the actual letter at all.
Meanwhile, accompanying emails told me how bad my sales letter was, how experienced "Person X" was at copywriting, how much money they had spent to learn copywriting, how many experts they'd learned from, how many satisfied customers "Person X" had, etc., etc. (Which amounted to more work and more writing than was in the actual critique.)
Since the critique wasn't as advertised, I politely requested a refund. So far, that hasn't happened.
I have actually submitted 5 polite, written requests for a refund - with polite explanations as to how the critique seriously UNDER-delivered and failed to agree with their original ad.
Here's what I think is going on -
"Person X" teases the customer with the critique; points out how much the customer needs professional copywriting help; highlights the sales letter weaknesses while doing very little critiqueing to help the customer fix them; and voila! maybe "Person X" gets to write a full-blown, much more expensive sales letter for the customer.
So, what do you think? If a copywriter offers to critique a sales LETTER, but only critiques the TITLE, is that critique as advertised - or not?
If NOT, what would you call it?
Thanks for your input!
siggy taking a break...
Patricia Brucoli
Plug-In Profit Site Helpdesk