When you are writing sales copy, you may think it is important to cover as many bases as possible. After all, you want to convince a prospective client that they will benefit from buying your product or service, show them various uses for it, tell them how your company is different from the competition, and generally make a compelling case for buying something now. You’ve got to accomplish all that in one piece of content.
Obviously this could easily become a very long sales letter. If you try to cram too much information into one page or document, you risk losing the reader halfway through – and this does nothing in terms of conversion rates.
Here are some ways you can avoid information overload in your sales copy.
What Not To Include When Writing Sales Copy
A boring sales letter is one that will not achieve results. Yes, you want to convince the reader that yours is the best product and instil trust in them by announcing your company’s achievements, but keep it simple.
No one needs to know the details of the research and development that went into making the product. No one is interested in hearing about exhaustive testing or the “Widget Wizardry Award” granted your company. Get to the point, quickly.
Don’t make it all about you and how great your company is. Talk to the reader is if you were enjoying a personal conversation. Tell them you understand their problem and you’ve got a way to fix it.
When writing sales copy, try not to make it one long sales pitch that unrelentingly asks the reader to make a purchase. No one responds positively to such pressure.
What To Include In Your Sales Copy
The most immediate factor your sales letter needs to address is the question every reader asks him – or herself, “What’s in it for me?” Use this concept when writing headlines and continue it throughout the body of the letter. Give the reader a real reason for paying attention to the copy. State the benefits succinctly and clearly. Offer a solution to a problem. Show how your product or service is going to enhance the buyer’s life by saving time, saving money, offering entertainment, or making a task easier.
You should include a reward for the reader who goes through the entire page. This can be in the form of a discount, a special, limited-time offer, or a freebie, such as an eBook or industry report sent after contact via email or online subscription (and this can be a great opportunity to start an autoresponder series to follow up with new subscribers who are not yet buyers).
Do quote a customer testimonial, but use these sparingly. Consider video testimonials or short excerpts from testimonials, rather than long letters.
Do use wording that makes the copy memorable. You might include useful information that the reader will refer back to time and again. Humour may be appropriate. Make your copy stand out from your competitor’s.
Keep the writing in accordance with your personal style. If you sell audio books by a famous broadcaster telling stories from his childhood, your sales letter can adopt that same folksy, down-home tone, too. If you also have a blog, consider writing in the same tone and consider quoting yourself a little, as well.
The trick to writing sales copy effectively, is to grab the reader’s attention immediately, focus on the most important points, and adopt a style and tone that reads more like a fictional novel than a treatise on some new scientific discovery. You do not need to write a book but do include information that will induce the reader to act, then follow up on their response in a timely manner in order to increase conversions.
