Effective Copywriting 104 A 12-Step Guideline

You don’t require being an award-winning copywriter to create proficient sales letters. In reality, writing great sales letters is more scientifically inclined than being an art. Even the professionals use proven “templates” to generate sales letters that get the desired outcome.

 

Every individual has some form of buying resistance. The basic objective of your sales letter should be to triumph over your reader’s buying resistance while coaxing him to take action. These hurdles are noticeable in many stated and unstated customer comments such as:

 

“You don’t realize my real problem” “How do I know you’re competent?” “I do not believe you at all” “I don’t need it at present” “It won’t help me in any way” “What happens if I don’t find it useful?” “I can’t afford to buy it” and so on.

 

The sales letter must play on the reader’s emotions to the extent where they would be inspired enough to take action. The letter should try to attack those “hot buttons” or emotional pressure points, which will persuade the reader to buy. The two main motivating factors are the promise of gain and the fear of loss.

 

Would you rather buy a $60 course on “How to Enhance Your Career” or “How to Prevent being handed the Pink Slip?”

 

Any day, the second title will sell better. Why? Because it addresses the fear of loss.

 

The following is a 12-step model for writing foolproof sales letters.

 

Try to Get Attention: 

Presuming the reader has opened your envelope; the next important step is to get his attention. The headline is the foremost thing that your reader will notice. People have a very limited attention span and usually shove their mail into the wastebasket unless the headline jumps out to them.

 

The following are three examples of headline templates that are proven to get concentration.

 

HOW TO _____________________”

 

THE ESSENTIAL SECRETS OF _________________ DISCOVERED!”

 

WARNING: DON’T EVEN DARE TO ___________ UNTIL YOU ___________.

 

 

Identify the Reader’s Problem: Now that the reader has given you her full attention, you have to go straight to the problem area. Try to empathize with the reader.

 

Another method is to agitate the problem. You present the problem, then excite it so that she really feels the pain and anguish of her situation. People are such sturdy creatures of custom that we hardly bother to change our ways unless we feel immense amounts of pain. In fact, companies are not diverse. Most businesses drag along doing the same old thing until things become so worse that they have to make an alteration.

 

Provide the Solution to the Problem:  Now that you have identified the reader’s problem, you become the “savior” by providing her with the solution to the problem. You introduce your product or service and show her how all her problems will vanish once she gets your product/service.

 

Present your Credentials to the Prospect:  Just telling the reader that you can make her life more comfortable and convenient will not prod her to jump in and grab your stuff. You need to build trust and prove your credibility. You can do this in the following manner:

 

o       Listing successful case studies and instances.

 

• Naming prestigious companies (or people) you have done business with.

• Mentioning your work experience.

• Showing important awards and accolades that you have won.

Show the Benefits of your Products: Now you need to tell the reader how she will personally benefit from your product or service. Don’t just mention the features. Nobody is interested in just the features. What you can do instead is, you can draw two columns. In one column, you can write the features and in the other, mention any conceivable benefit that they can receive from the feature. You can also use bullet points for each benefit to make it user-friendly to navigate.

 

Give Your Social Proof: After you’ve presented all your benefits, now you need to build your credibility and trust with your reader with testimonials from contented customers.

 

Testimonials are influential selling tools that establish your claims to be true. Another way of making your testimonial even more influential, include pictures of your customers with their names, addresses, and phone numbers. Most readers won’t call to find out. But if you include the numbers, it lends you greater credibility.

 

Make Your Final Offer: Your offer is the most essential element of your sales letter. If your offer is great, even a mediocre sales copy will make it irresistible.

 

Your offer can come in many different layouts. The best offers are usually an attractive blend of price, terms, and free gifts. It is always more lucrative to add more and more benefits to your offer rather then just lowering the price.

 

Give a Promise or Guarantee: You can make your offer even more appealing by taking out the risk factor from it. Remember that people have a built-in fear that marketers are out there to cheat them. 

 

Give a very strong guarantee, but only if you have enough confidence in your product or service. If you provide a guarantee and later do not abide by it, your credibility is shattered. So be careful. If your product or service is good enough, very few people will actually need any refund.

 

Inject the Elements of Scarcity: Most people take their own sweet time responding to offers, even when they are appealing. There can be many reasons for it, like:

 

• They don’t feel enough discomfort to make a change.
• They are too busy and eventually forget.
• They don’t believe that the perceived value justifies the price asked for.
• They are just plain lazy.

To stimulate people to take action, you need to add incentives to the offer. You can create a sense of scarcity by informing your reader that either the supply or the quantity is limited. You can also mention that your offer is valid for only a limited time period.

 

Your offer could say something like this:

 

"If you purchase by (so-and-so date) you will get a whole bunch of free gifts.”

Or

Our supply is limited to only 60 (product or service) and you will receive it on a “first come, first served” basis. After they are exhausted, there won’t be any more available.”

Or

“This price is valid only for the next 15 days.”

 

But once you have made such an offer, you cannot go back on it and keep extending the last date. This will make your customers lose confidence in you.

 

Call to action: Do not presume that your reader is familiar with what to do to obtain the benefits from your offer. You must guide them carefully on how to make the order in very comprehensible and concise language. Tell them whether you want them to call you, fax you, or click the order button on your website

 

Give a Warning:

A good sales letter should persist to build emotion, even after your call to action.

 

You can use the “risk of loss” strategy to let the reader know what would happen if they did not take advantage of your existing offer. Maybe they would continue to:

 

Struggle forever:

• Lose the chance to receive all your valuable goodies.
• No improvement in life.
• See their competitors benefit and rise in life.

 

Try to paint a sad picture in the psyche of the reader about the penalty of not taking action now. Drill into them how much they are missing out at present.

 

Close with a Proper Reminder:

You should always include a postscript (P.S.). In your postscript, you might want to remind them of your enticing offer. If you’ve used scarcity in your sales letter, include your call to action, then remind them of the restricted time (or quantity) offer.

 

Using this 12-step formula, anyone can write an efficient sales letter that sells.

 

The following are a few extra tips to help you write an even better sales letter:

 

Tip 1: Always Mention the Features/Benefits – The biggest obstacle to writing a brilliant sales letter is just getting started.  Take a pen and paper and list all the features of your product or service. Then take another paper and list the benefits that can be derived from your product or service.

 

Tip 2: Once you are done with the letter, forget about it for a day or two. This will allow you to be more practical when you edit your letter.

 

Tip 3: Develop a “swipe file” to enhance your creativity. When you see a well-executed ad or website sales letter or receive a really effective letter in the mail or email, keep it in a file or folder that you can refer back to again and again. Keep comparing ideas.

 

Tip 4: Before you start writing your sales letter, create a customer profile sheet by recording every thing you know about your target customer.

 

Tip 5:  Keep your sales letter as lengthy as it needs to be. You can make it a short 2-page article or a 50-page ebook. The essential purpose of both is to inject emotion and prompt action.