Web Content | SEO Writing

Your Checklist for Effective Sales Letter Writing

Do you need to write a sales letter so you can sell something online? There are a lot of ways to write an effective sales letter and various techniques used by master copywriters but the following basic list of things to do can help you craft a great letter that holds the reader’s interest until the end where they’re compelled to click the ‘buy now’ button.

The Headline

The headline, as the first thing potential customers see, needs to do several things:

• Grab the search engines
• Grab the reader
• It should also suggest to the reader that they’ll benefit greatly from the product

It’s a good idea to make the headline big and bold. Grab search engines by making sure you use a keyword or phrase that people will be searching for on the internet. You need to be relevant to people and to search engines to get found online.

The First Paragraph

If you don’t grab someone’s attention in the first paragraph, you will probably lose them before they finish reading. The first paragraph needs to be compelling and hook the reader.

The Body

The body of the sales letter has to do a lot. It needs to be believable and walk the reader through reasons why they’ll want to buy the product. This can happen through storytelling where a problem was solved, through asking questions and answering them, or through talking about features and benefits of what you’re selling.

Objections

You will probably need to overcome buyer objections. After you’ve built a strong case for why someone would want to buy the product, it’s time to consider why they might object to buying it. Consider why people might be sceptical and answer their concerns in the body of the sales letter with compelling reasons. A money back guarantee is always a winner as it eliminates the risk of believing what you’re telling them.

The Importance of Trust

The most important things to remember when trying to sell to others are:

1. quality,
   
2. value,
   
3. and trust.

Show customers that you believe in quality and will provide people with value for their money and establish yourself as a trusted expert. If you’re selling something on a sales page, you might also want to be sure that if someone searches for your name or your product name separately, that they’ll find great things about you online that establish you as a trusted advisor / expert.

Testimonials

Testimonials are something that can help persuade people to decide to buy. Ask people to try out your product and give you a testimonial. You can often find people to do that quite easily by offering a review copy of your product. If you can find someone who is well-known and respected in your niche to do this for you, this can make a big difference. Testimonials can be text, video, or both. Video testimonials added to your sales page can be very persuasive!

Bonuses

People want value and if you’re already convincing them that your product is worth buying, you can be even more convincing if you offer them something extra. A special report, an e-book, free consulting, etc., can all be offered as a bonus. Don’t forget to state the retail value of your bonuses as this can make your offer seem even more attractive.

Cost Analysis

Is the product you’re selling going to make them money? Is it going to save them money? It’s important to address the issue of your price and tell them why they’re getting value. If you’re offering bonuses, that’s going to make it even more of an attractive proposition to tell them why the cost equals value and will bring about a big return on investment.

Urgency

A lot of people will read a sales letter and be partially sold but decide to think it over before they’ll decide if they’re going to buy. They might like your offer but feel like they can’t afford it today. Or, they might want to think it over. You’ll increase your rate of conversion from visitors to customers if you create a sense of urgency of why the product should be bought today.

Maybe you’re only selling a limited number of copies and it’s coming off the market soon. Maybe you’re offering a deep discount today only. Maybe your bonuses are only being given out for a limited time. So your great offer isn’t forgotten by someone who is partially sold but thinks they’ll decide later, it’s a good idea to convince them that they need to buy NOW.

Other Tips

Make the aesthetics pleasing as well. Using bold, italics, underlines, and colour in your text with short and scannable paragraphs will make it easier to hold the attention of the reader.

You should have someone (or several) read your sales letter and give you a critique of it. It will often take a few revisions before you get it just right. Consider reading it aloud as if you were reading for a radio commercial. Does it sound conversational? Does it sound believable?

It’s also important to capture data from visitors, if possible. A squeeze page that gets them to opt-in to future communications from you helps you in case a reader isn’t persuaded the first visit. Through opting in to receiving future communications from you, you can have another opportunity to sell to them in the future.

And the million dollar checklist question… Would you buy it?

If you landed on that sales page, would you buy it? If you aren’t sure, you need to work on revising that sales letter a bit more until it sounds like an offer that’s not too good to be true but instead is….way too good to refuse.

Got anything to add? If so, please comment.

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