Does your sales copy induce website visitors to buy, or does it merely state the advantages and benefits of your company’s products or services? In the first case, the sales letter becomes an effective marketing tool; in the second case it is doing only half its job.
Learn how to improve your conversion rates by following the sales letter writing tips below…
Sales Letter Writing Tip 1 – Quality Content
The best sales letter is one that people keep. Something in the content inspires them to perhaps not act immediately, but to keep the letter for future reference. Even better are those missives that do both – cause the reader to buy right away but also save it to share with others or use at a later time.
How can you do this? Offer content that is valuable. For instance, if you sell computers, include a checklist of the top 10 features most consumers desire or the top customer-rated manufacturers. This is something that will get read, acted upon, and kept.
Tip 2 – Aesthetics
Your sales letter is meant to be read; make sure it appeals visually to the reader. Design it so that it is easy to read, yet eye-catching. Colour is an important component, but use it carefully. You don’t want the text to get lost or be too faint or small to read. Remember to include white space and graphics that break up long pieces of text. Your logo and contact information should be prominent.
Tip 3 – Always Include A Call To Action
Getting someone to read your sales letter is one thing; getting them to take action is another. You have to tell the consumer you want him or her to do and make it quite plain. For example, you could insert a link to the sales page of a particular laptop and include a blurb something along the lines of “Click here and get this great XYZ laptop for $100 off the regular price if you order before January 1st”. This provides a call to action by telling the reader what to do, how to do it, and by when to do it.
Tip 4 – Offer An Incentive
Consumers are more likely to act if you give them an incentive to do so. In the example from sales letter writing tip #3, the incentive is a $100 discount – pretty powerful as a way to induce someone to act. Other incentives could be an extra product for free, a buy one get one free sale, a percentage off all orders over a certain dollar amount, etc. Be creative. Not all incentives need to cost a lot to be effective.
Tip 5 - Personalise The Message
Instead of blanketing the market with a single piece of impersonal mail or email message, add the customer’s name, if possible. Use it throughout the letter, too. People are much more apt to respond to your call to action if they feel it is a personal invitation. Remember that you are creating a relationship and resist the urge to simply peddle your goods or services. Personalised communication sets your company apart from a larger, more remote corporation.
Tip 6 – Test For Effectiveness
Before you hit the send button or spend money on postage for all those sales letters you’ve just created, consider giving it a test run first. Use a small group of prospects or current customers and look at the results for this test run. If the ROI is dismal, you may need to tweak the content before trying again. It’s better to figure this out before sending hundreds or thousands.
Tip 7 – Help Them With Their Concerns
Try to figure out what might be holding them back. Is it price? Break down return on investment. Are they afraid it won’t work? Tell them about your no-hassle return policy. Do they need to see examples of how well your product works? Point them to your tutorial video, your customer testimonials, etc.
Help people through the sales process in your letter. You don’t have a chance to answer questions to try to anticipate and answer them in your sales copy. Test your sales letter writing skills on friends and mentors for feedback if possible and ask people who will give you more than a “great job” so you can get a real feel for how to go about making your sales letter better.
About Sean Rasmussen
Great tips Sean
Is there are resources you could recommend?
Hi Gee
This blog for starters is full of copywriting tips. Problogger.net and copyblogger.com are leading copywriting blogs. I also recommend copyschool.com, which is where I was initially trained in the art of copywriting. I’ve also studied under John Carlton (American) and Scott Bywater (Australian).
Wow, Lina, amazing, you must be an expert in sales letter writing. Tips to increase conversion must be a natural part of your communication now.
Thanks Lina
I wanted to get this information off you at the Sydney YOTA meeting and here it has turned up for me today.
The art of copywritng is a skill I know that I can learn to do, I just need to get the right teachers.
USA and John Carlton in 2011 for me. It’s on my vision board and it’s booked for next year. Good as done.
A sales letter is what I feel least equipped to do well. I know that it is something I am going to have to learn to do, but I find the whole thing very hard.
I must admit that your breaking it down as you have into 7 tips is a great help. It at least makes it possible to concentrate on one section at a time rather than trying to do it all at once.
When I get up the courage and feel I must write a sales letter, I will use this as a call to action and take it all to heart and see how I fare.
Thanks for making it sound easier than it is. I am sure it is the right approach. Now all I have to do is do it.
Hi Sean,
I’m sure you’re well aware that this is definitely a weakness for me. These are all great tips that I will try to use. I’m going to work on this and try to learn how to write an effective sales letter.
Still, I think I would rather pay a professional to do this for me until I’m confident that I can do it right.
Great starter tips!
Sales letter writing can be quite hard but as they say practice makes perfect. And if you can pay a pro to do – then sure, pay it. It’s better than wasting your time & money doing it yourself and to see it bomb terrificly!
And at the same time – it doesn’t hurt to give it a shot yourself! If you love writing as much as I do then it will be more fun! Get all the tools and practice, practice, practice.
Some really good tips in there.
Think I picked up a mistake in Tip 4
a buy one get one sale
is that suppose to be a buy one get one free sale?
Good pickup Lincoln, I have now fixed it. Thanks mate
Love that article Sean! Great tips, logical and a great checklist!
Thank you!
Have a top night,
Sue Brown
There are some handy tips here to lead your prospects through the article and into conversion status… Incorporating one tip per new article is an easy way to begin..
Some great points Sean, I’m learning so much
Great tips Sean. Sales letters are be something I will have to tweek a bit I think!!!
Hi Sean
I haven’t had the chance to write a good sales copy letter yet however I really want to learn how to do this and this article once again is an excellent resource for all of us to use.
Looking through your seven sales letter writing tips to increase conversion, there are many helpful hints and this article is worth bookmarking to come back to when I do get to write one.
Hi Sean,
I have not at present written any sales letters, I think I would check out the copy writing blogs before I start
I don’t like this comp – it keeps highlighting my weaknesses! LOL
Writing sales pitches etc just doesn’t seem my bag. I suspect it is because I don’t test or really re-look at things I do.
There’s always the option of outsourcing those things that are not your strengths
Also Peter, as strange as it may seem, sometimes the things we really don’t like doing and struggle with can end up being the things we are really good at when we diligently practice them.
If you want to sell a product you have to convince people why they should buy it over all the other products out there. Your sales letter writing tips will definitely help with that.
Very often just basic things (like aesthetics) are not given any attention, and to the customer this can easily feel like you don’t care about them.
Wonderful tips on writing a sales letter Mr Sean. I Like the tips very much, they are very useful and informative for drafting a sales letter. Thank you!