The Secrets of Successful Copywriting

The most successful sales letters manage to whip up the reader’s emotions to a state where they are desperate to find a solution to a problem they have been experiencing.

The letter goes on to provide the solution to this problem.

That is it in a nutshell...

Some prospects will not even realize they have much of a problem until you point it out!  Most sales letters start by illustrating out how dull, boring or depressing life can be. It could be a dead-end job, a bad relationship, debts, no money, poor health, and so on.  Then they tell you how they found a solution that turned their life around. This is then supported by testimonials from people who have benefited from their product.  They describe the solution and promote the benefits, give the price then ask for an order for their product.  At the end, they will summarize and remind the reader of the main benefits of the product and the solution to their problems...

In order to get your sales letter read, you need to draw the reader in with a compelling headline.  It can be provocative, shocking, informative, intriguing or emotional; but it must relay the top benefit of your product and compel the reader to want to know more...

Headlines

Your headline must communicate the main benefit of your offer, in other words, the most important reason of why the reader should buy your product.

Your prospects will want to know “what's in it for me” (WIIFM), so start to create your headline by writing a list of all the benefits of your offer, your product, and your customer service.  Consider the following:

·         What will your product do for your customer?

·         What emotional, physical, spiritual, mental, or financial benefits does your product have?

·         How will your prospect feel if they owned your product?

·         How would their life change if they owned your product?

·         Would it change the way they relate to other people?

·         Will your product bring short or long-term benefits?

·         Will your product make people healthy, wealthy or wise in anyway?

·         Is your price competitive?

·         Is your service is outstanding?

·         Do you have a record of satisfied customers willing to recommend your product?

·         Are you offering valuable bonuses?

·         Are you offering something for free?

·         Do you have a solid guarantee?

Once you have brainstormed and listed all the possible benefits of your offer and your product, decide which one gives the top benefit and use this as a basis for your main headline.

Rate the other benefits you have listed and use them throughout your copy.  You can even bullet point them and use them as a summary to convince your readers.

Make sure your headline has credibility.  It must be believable, and convince your readers that what you are offering is genuine.  Therefore, avoid outlandish claims just to draw attention as ultimately this will work against you.

Your headline should be easy to read, fairly short (17 words maximum), and punchy.

Use both upper and lower case letters. It is quite difficult to read headlines that are all upper case.

Use a font that is easily readable, avoid some of the fancy Gothic, intricate, or frilly fonts that make you squint. Oftentimes they are just too hard to read.  If you stick to standard fonts, you will not go wrong.

Choose a color, size, and style of headline that stands out and is easy to read.  Try black on white, black on red, black on yellow, navy on yellow, navy on white, or red on yellow as colors that are striking and easy to read.

Try using quotes to draw attention to your headline and use action words (a.k.a words that have been proven to work in sales copy).  Play around with the following words and phrases and try to include some of them in your headlines:

·         Freedom

·         Escape your job

·         Slash costs

·         How to

·         At last

·         New

·         Protect

·         Yes

·         Now

·         Life

·         Free

·         Secrets

·         You

Write at least 100 headlines and choose which one you feel is the best. You can try the next best headlines when you tweak your sales copy later on.

Copy

When you write the body of your sales copy, you should make it personal.  Write it as if you are talking to a friend and adopt a warm, friendly, conversational approach.  Concentrate on your customer and the benefits they might get from your product. Make sure to read your list of benefits again.

Avoid boasting and rambling on for too long about how you made your first million or how you own a top of the line sports car... The reality is that your prospects are not going to care one scrap about you and your lifestyle.  They are only really interested in what you have to offer them personally.  In fact, we are all becoming desensitized to this sort of information and frankly, quite skeptical, so do not labor the point and do not exaggerate.

Try to adopt an easy to read writing style without talking down to your prospects.  Regard them as intelligent people who will make up their own minds about your offer and support what you are saying by finding as much hard evidence and proof as you can to demonstrate that your product works and that it delivers all the benefits you are claiming.

Keep your copy concise and to the point, and use short paragraphs with spaces between them. It makes your copy more comfortable to read and is more likely to encourage your reader to continue.

Use pictures and graphics where you can, as this breaks up the text and adds interest to your letter.  Make sure, however, that the pictures are relevant and do not overdo it with gaudy, jangling graphics that detract from what you're trying to say.

If you are writing a sales copy on a website, utilize video and audio clips as these can be extremely effective.

However, I would advise that you let the customer decide whether they want to watch or listen to your clips by providing a play button. It can be irritating to open a web page and have unsolicited noise blasting out at you automatically.  You could end up with visitors simply clicking away from your site just to stop the noise.  Let your visitors decide if they want your interactive marketing.

One of the best ways to test your sales copy is to read it aloud.  How does it read?  Does it flow nicely?  Does it stir your emotions as you intended?  Is your call to action strong enough?  Are you convinced by your own arguments?

If you can, get several people to read your copy and comment on the above questions. Ask them to give you an honest appraisal and to say whether they feel convinced about the merits of your offer.

The way to create a great sales copy is to keep practicing at it.  Notice what other successful marketers are writing in their sales material and try to emulate their style.  We all get so-called junk mail, but instead of throwing it away, why not keep examples of good and bad copy and learn from them?

Evaluate other people's sales letters and try to understand what it is that makes you continue reading. Decipher your feelings as you read and ask yourself if the letter provokes a desire to own the product?  Is the offer worthwhile, or would it add value to your life in some way?  Has the author used and does it work?  Does the letter have credibility, or in other words, are you convinced?

Also look at other aspects such as:

·         How the letter addresses you, and how it makes you feel

·         The length of the letter

·         Its tone and writing style

·         The size, style and color of the font -- does it work?

·         The number of pictures or graphics

·         The number and type of headlines

·         Is it too “in-your-face”?

·         Is it clear and easy to read?

·         What makes you excited about the letter?

·         Which bits are tedious?

·         What bonuses are offered?

·         What sort of guarantee is offered?

·         What sort of summary or PS do you find at the end of the letter?

·         How strong is their call to action and does it work for you?

Just ask yourself exactly what it is that would make you buy this product?