8 Tips For Writing A Profitable Sales Letter
Author: Nick CobbThe fact is, if you're selling a product online and you want to make a lot of sales, then you need a great sales letter. Powerful, persuasive and cunningly manipulative sales copy is the biggest weapon that any online marketer can have, because it can turn any product into an absolute goldmine!
And in order to achieve this, you need to bear in mind that a huge proportion of online purchases are driven by emotion and impulse, rather than logic. As a result, it's crucial that you keep the visitor reading your sales letter for as long as possible, by really emphasizing the benefits of your product. If you can do this, you'll stand a far better chance of clinching that sale!
And in this article, I'm going to be revealing eight incredibly useful tips that you can use in your own sales letter to captivate your audience and boost your conversion rates.
So listen up…
Tip #1: Set Your Product Apart From The Rest
Whether your product is an e-book about SEO or a piece of sales letter writing software, it's important that you emphasize the fact that it's different to anything else out there on the market. There are thousands of products being released each and every day, and inevitably there are going to be many products that are virtually the same. You need to set yours apart from the rest, and demonstrate why it's different from, and indeed superior to, the others.
Tip #2: Relate to Your Reader
A great tactic for increasing sales is to build rapport with your potential customers. And the #1 way of doing this is to include a back story. So if you're selling an acne-cure, for example, let the reader know that you suffered from acne in the past. You know what it's like to suffer in the way they've been suffering, and you found a solution. A back story like this will help to build trust and credibility, and make the reader a lot more likely to buy. Just be sure that your back story is the truth. Whatever you do, don't lie. If you start lying in your sales letter, then you're on the slippery slope towards becoming a scammer, and your reputation will soon suffer.
Tip #3: Be Secretive!
A great tip to use when writing your sales letter is to hold back the nature of your product for as long as possible. If you can come up with an intriguing or shocking headline that keeps people reading, you'll be able to draw them further into the sales copy. But keep them guessing! Everyone loves a mystery, and not revealing what the product actually is can be a very effective sales tool because once your visitor has started reading your sales letter, they'll want to find out what the product is, and how it can help them!
Tip #4: Be Selective With Your Words
When it comes to a sales letter, your choice of words is absolutely crucial! I'm talking about very simple things here that can be the difference between the customer clicking on the order button, or leaving within a few seconds of getting there. For example, instead of asking the prospect to ‘buy', ‘purchase' or ‘order' your product, try alternatives such as ‘invest' or ‘secure' instead. These words possess more positive connotations, and suggest a long-term investment rather than a one-off, impulse-driven buy!
Tip #5: Add a Bonus Product
When selling anything online, it's important that you provide value for money. In fact, you should always be looking to over-deliver, creating something known as "perceived value". This way, the prospect feels as though the value of the product and the related bonuses far exceeds the price they're paying. And the best way of creating perceived value is to include useful and relevant bonuses towards the end of your sales letter.
Tip #6: Be a Problem Solver
The most successful products are those that provide solutions to people's problems. Indeed, problem-solving is where the big money is made online. So when you're writing your sales letter, always bear this in mind. What problem does the reader have? How can your product solve that problem? Does your product solve more than one of their problems? If so, be sure to list them. Ultimately, solutions to problems constitute BENEFITS, and benefits sell!
Tip #7: Make Things Easy
People buy online because it's easy and convenient, so bear this in mind when constructing your sales letter. For instance, it's important when retaining visitors and closing sales to make the ordering process as straightforward as possible. So when the customer clicks on the order button, make sure that they're sent straight through to the payment page, which is clear and concise. I've seen some order buttons send people through to another page, which requires the prospect to read things like disclaimers, terms and conditions and the like, and then scroll down through more content in order to press the order button AGAIN. Why?!
Tip #8: Allay Their Fears
Unfortunately, there are an awful lot of scammers, phishing sites and cyber criminals out there who 10 years ago would have been rummaging through your bins to steal your credit card details. Today, they can do it all online, and completely anonymously. As a result, a lot of your potential customers will want reassurance that you're the real deal before they make payment. So when they reach the payment page, be sure to make them aware – in the clearest of terms – that your ordering system is completely secure. It's also a good idea to include things like a privacy policy, terms and conditions, your office address, company number, VAT number, contact details etc, at the bottom of your sales letter. This will make you look a lot more credible, and most importantly, genuine.
Keep all of these points in mind when you come to writing your own sales letter, and you'll stand a far bigger chance of not only keeping visitors on your sales page, but converting them into customers!
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/copywriting-articles/8-tips-for-writing-a-profitable-sales-letter-5316871.html
About the AuthorNick Cobb is a freelance copywriter, online marketing consultant and the founder and Managing Director of Write For You Ltd, a copywriting agency based in London, England. His principal website; My Freelance Copywriter provides a wide range of copywriting services to domestic and international businesses, while his sister site; Red Hot Sales Letters, is dedicated to producing profit-pulling sales copy for online marketers.
