Since 1999
Ritesh Sahay
Senior Web Content Writer
A sales letter is nothing less than an advertisement. The word “ad” immediately conjures up images of typical print or TV ads in our minds.
However, web advertising with its limitless scope for innovation and reach has shattered the limitations of traditional advertising – you can have almost a free field to play with text, images, audio, video, interactive response features and what not.
A sales letter thus must have the attractive look and appeal of an advertisement. Don’t even for a moment think that a sales letter is only a “letter”. It’s much, much more.
As I said before, web advertising leaves you virtually free of limits so you can let all your creative juices flow to make your sales letter attractive and user friendly presentation of your product/service. Along with “what you say” about your product/service, its equally important “how you say”.
However, having freedom doesn’t mean going berserk. Here’s what you must keep in mind while designing your sales letter.
$1 Attractive Layout: Your sales letter must be placed on a neatly designed eye catching background. The copy must be supported with meaningful image. Avoid “loud” graphics, borders, and colors—unless they’re already a part of your product or brand image (if you are selling children’s games or surfboards, for example).
$2: Steps to order: If you are sending sales letter to online buyers then a sales copy must clearly spell out the steps to order or buy:
$3: Audio/video presentations: You can embed a small audio or video presentation in the sales letter too of your product or service. Seeing is believing, as they say. A live demo right away helps your customer assess your product immediately without the need for additional clicks or downloads.
$3 Add genuine testimonials: Cooking up testimonials is not a good idea at all. Get your customers to send in some genuine ones. Even with all their typos and wrong English, genuine testimonials sound convincing.
But remember, just including a two or three-line quote with initials, last name, and a state is not enough because these are perceived as authentic by many. Make this area two-fold by adding a call to action along with authenticity. You can use, “visit my web site for additional testimonials and live links to contact these people.”
$4 Call to Action is Must: You have created a good headline and have actually compelled your reader to read till the last line. What next? Your objective is not only make him/her read the letter but also makes a purchase decision.
In order to do that, you must end your note with an appropriate call to action phrase depending upon what you are selling or promoting, such as “Buy now” (for products), “Join now” or “Sign up now” (for events, seminars, groups, etc) “Call now” (for more information), etc.
$5 Add Postscripts: Postscript is a paragraph, phrase, etc., added to a letter that has already been concluded and signed by the writer. It’s often helpful to include a postscript as the recipients tend to read the heading and then skip to P.S before reading your body copy.
It’s a good idea to include your primary benefit or any special offer in your P.S. to motivate prospects to spend time with your letter.
Not all good salespeople can write good, effective sales letters. It’s a creative work which require in depth business acumen, deep insights into customer psychology and solid understanding of marketing mechanics.
If you have carefully read and understood the ingredients of effective sales letter, what are you waiting for now, shoot point blank at the targeted customers. An effectively written sales letter can really make a difference for you.
If still you are not sure of replenished arsenal and hesitant on how to write a killer sales copy for your prospects you can seek help of professional, who knows the brass tacks of sales copywriting. Some jobs are best left to experts, nah?
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