My brother has a great lesson for you on sales letters that DONT work.
He just got a new golden retriever puppy. Talk about cute.
Growing up our golden retriever once had 13 puppies that we got to watch grow up. Watching them walk out of the dog house one by one, single file and line up in front of the fence was an AMAZING experience.
Speaking of amazing experiences, have you ever had to potty train a puppy? Oh boy, that’s what my brother is dealing with now.
The last time I was visiting he told me he searched Google for how to potty train a dog. And he was having trouble finding an answer.
He did find one page and this is how he described it…
“I was reading it and it kept talking about all this stuff I didn’t care about. Then they were trying to sell me a bunch of different products and all I wanted was some tips to potty train my dog.”
I knew right away that he had found a sales letter. And one that did NOT work.
I decided to trace his steps so I could learn from the process.
* He searched Google for “how to potty train my dog.”
* He clicked on a sponsored link that is ABOVE the search listings, without knowing it was an ad.
* He read or skimmed most of the copy… even though that meant clicking through 3 different pages… and even though he didn’t understand why they were telling him all this unnecessary information. (It lacked a clear logical argument that mattered to him.)
* He saw a ton of bonuses (which were unnecessary) and thought they were trying to sell several products, when all he wanted were some tips to potty train his dog.
* The order link was finally on the third page, but with no call to action.
* He didn’t buy.
I have no clue why the site owner made the prospect click through 3 pages. Sometimes I’ve seen this done strategically with good results, but this was done very poorly and hid the solution my brother was looking for.
Lesson #1: Keep your sales copy on one page unless you have a good reason.
Lesson #2: Make sure to craft a strong logical argument in the copy that FLOWS from the conversation going on inside the prospects head… and not a logical argument that flows from the copy formula you saw someone else use once for a product in a completely different niche.
Lesson #3: You don’t need to have 10,000 bonuses ever. And you don’t need to have a half-dozen bonuses when your prospect is trying to solve one specific problem. You’re just confusing the prospect.
Lesson #4: Your copy can’t just give a couple compelling arguments for why they should buy, then drop them off at an order link. Finish the job. Build up the value of the product. Explain why they’re getting a good deal IF they act now. Then tell them how to act (usually clicking an order button).
February 16th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Great stuff, Stephen, as always. This is timely advice. Thank you for sharing.
Best,
James
James Palmer’s last blog post..Bob Stone’s Timeless Direct Marketing Principles
February 16th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Thanks for the comment James, and thanks for stopping by.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Excellent - I would have loved to say this many times but didn’t say it as good as you can! We all don’t have time to wade through what some sites have!
Thanks for the prize book - it arrived and it’s on my list to read next. I’m into 3 books right now. Thanks again. Maybe I’d better move this one up in priority though! I’ll leave the others until I get the one you sent done!
Zazzu
February 17th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Glad you got your book Zazzu!
My complaint isn’t that some sites are too long but that they are boring. Some letters need to be long, but it needs to be relevant and engaging.
You might be a skimmer. I always skim sales copy and I’m a copywriter!
February 18th, 2009 at 2:42 am
It was a really good read.
I think it is also important to use a story (like you did in this post).
Franck