Internet Sales Letters

Sales letters are designed to convert interested prospects into red hot buyers, and when they’re well written and subjected to a highly targeted pay per click campaign they can literally earn thousands of pounds worth of profit overnight. So what is it that makes sales copy so persuasive?

Benefits v Features

Good sales copy explains how your product benefits customers. This requires you to know the difference between what you’re trying to say and what they want to hear. You don’t sell someone a duster with an extendable pole (features): you tell them that can banish dust and cobwebs in those hard to reach places forever (benefits). You don’t merely show someone a titanium high-powered drill (features): you describe the fantastic holes they’ll be able to make once they own it (benefits.)

Relevance

A major element of internet sales letters is that they are written with a very specific audience in mind. The people who buy after reading a sales letter have had a problem solved for them. They went onto the internet looking for information, a solution, guidance or knowledge about a particular problem they have – and your product or service offers the solution they’re after.

Outline Of An Internet Sales Letter

The headline, or statement, at the top of a sales letter must be very bold and entice the reader to scroll further down the page. Get this wrong, and you’ve lost your chance: Get it right and you’ve got the interest of your prospect, but don’t over-promise, as your reader will feel let down.

There should be no distractions as you scroll down the page. Plain, black copy on a white background helps, but a whole block of text can be intimidating, which is why the most effective letters contain break out boxes of highlighted and/or coloured text. This makes reading easier on the eye but often includes third party endorsements (facts, expert opinion, testimonials) which reaffirms the sales message.

Call To Action

There are usually several opportunities to ‘opt in’, either to sign up for further information or to buy the product. After the first ‘opt in’ link, there are usually other enticements such as a no-quibble money back guarantee, and bonuses that you receive for free when you buy the main product or service. These reaffirm to the reader that the product is not only good value for money, but also that their decision to buy is indeed ‘risk free.’

Get the structure of your sales letter right, combine it with a targeted PPC campaign, and you could see your sales dramatically increase.

Please feel free to leave your comments and questions below.