Effective Copywriting 109 Lethal Sales Letter Mistakes

What Are Lethal Sales Letter Mistakes?

 

For you to be successful, the prospect must open, read, believe, and act on your sales letter. In order to do this, it has to draw interest and generate a craving for your product or service.

 

A successful sales letter is supposed to achieve the same result as a successful salesperson. Similarly, like a salesperson, the sales letter will also want to avoid certain mistakes.

 

Here are a few lethal mistakes, which most sales letters make.

 

Lethal Sales Letter Mistake # 1 – Try not to use mass mailer attitude. You are sending your sales letter as a mass mailer. But the receiver might not appreciate that fact. The moment he sees that it is one of those bulk mail, he will throw it away.

 

Writing your letter with a "herd mentality" instead of focusing in on a single, individual prospect will really damage the chance of your letter to make a real link with the reader.

 

A sales letter is the only kind of marketing tool that is one-to-one. So make it as personal as possible.

 

Lethal Sales Letter Mistake # 2 – Do not write long boring letters. What in your opinion is a long letter? Even a one-page letter can seem to be long. This is so because it’s not the length that is long, but the content of the letter.

 

People watch lengthy movies, read lengthy books and so on. But only if they are interesting. If you go on and on in a boring fashion, then chances are that you snugly go into the nearest bin.

 

Offer an appropriate product or service at a suitable price and present it in an interesting manner. Half the battle is won.

 

Deadly Sales Letter Mistake # 3 – Do not stick to only grammatically correct formal English. At school your teachers and professors were paid to correct your assignments according to the formal rules of grammar. But in reality, it’s a different ballgame altogether.

 

You should write your letter in more “common” and informal parlance, to make it more user-friendly. You might have to break certain grammar rules. You might need to begin sentences with "and" or "but." You might have to use abbreviations and fragmented words. The basic objective of a sales letter is not to get grade A Grade but to generate sales.

 

Lethal Sales Letter Mistake # 4 – Do not permit the reader to make any excuse for not reading your letter. In reality, no one is interested who you are or what product and service you offer. They are interested only in how you can benefit them.

 

So you have to grab your share of attention in the first 20 seconds or even less. Start with a provocative sentence or slogan. Try to attack the emotions. Your aim should be to hold onto the attention of the prospect.

 

Lethal Sales Letter Mistake # 5 - Not properly establishing your credential.

 

The evidence you offer up in your sales letter to support your pedigree can take quite a few different forms. For example:

 

Put in testimonials of people who have used and gained from your product or service. Put it in the form of stories. To make your testimonials 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.