A Crash Course In Writing A Sales Letter

Boost your salesletter effectiveness by learning how writing a sales letter with this quick and easy crash course will get viewers attention, hold their attention and get them to buy.

Writing sales copy is very powerful and it took me a long time to perfect it.  There are lots of different suggestions for writing sales letters but from my experience, these are the things that have worked the best.

Before getting started, there are a few important items to gather your thoughts on and make sure you do when writing your letter.  These are important because you want to make sure they stick in your mind as you write.  These things can mean the difference between getting your salesletter read and making the sale vs. your reader hitting the back button.

I suggest you go through each topic below and write down how you will do each one. You may have to go through each of them a few times but keep going through it until you feel you've covered them all well enough.  Then we'll move on to the actual sales letter format.

1.  Who's your audience?
Think about who your customers are and gear your copy for them.  Are they young professionals? Are they elderly? Are they mostly stay at home moms? The products you sell can also tell you what type of audience you attract.  What is your product going to do for them? Once you know who these people are you can gear your copy to the needs and wants of these people.

Don't make the mistake of thinking this is about selling to your reader.  This is about understanding and satisfying THEIR needs. Your job is to create and build a relationship of trust with the customer so they feel comfortable and assured that your product is what they want to buy.

2. What emotions can you focus on?
Appeal to their emotions first, remember we generally buy things based on our wants, not our needs, "I don't need that 80" flat screen TV, but I sure do want it".  Hitting home emotionally is what puts your reader in "buy" mode.  People are very emotional when it comes to these 5 things, money, beauty/health, entertainment, comfort and ease.  If you can strike a chord in your reader that says, "I want that!" then you are on your way to making that sale. 

4. Remember your goal is to Persuade & Motivate
Don't be tempted to write your sales letter as a flat presentation of the facts, you will bore your audience. They don't really want facts, they want reasons to buy.   Your job is to persuade and motivate your reader.  This is best done with a friendly conversation with your reader.  Speak to them from experience and interject personal tips or suggestions that will help motivate the reader to consider your product. Be genuine and try to put yourself in their shoes.

5. Make your copy easy to read?
Use short sentences and easy to understand words.  Remember, people on the internet read a lot, so they want to be able to get through your copy fast without a lot of long wordy copy. Keep it to the point and keep it flowing.  Don't jump from one thought directly into another. 

6.  What are the benefits to your reader? 
Remember we're talking benefits, not the features.  Benefits are what the features will do for them.  Come up with as many useful, compelling benefits as you can.  Name each one individually but don't stop there, add an additional sentence or two as to why it's a benefit.  Remember, your reader is always thinking 'What's in it for me" so keep that in mind when you write.

7. How can you Arouse interest?
Your copy should continue to pique interest of your reader.  Continue to pepper your copy with curious facts, interesting phrases and human interest.  Write things that involves your reader and helps them to relate to what you are talking about. You want your reader to feel that they know you and can count on you to understand what they are feeling and needing.

8. Create a sense of urgency
Most people are procrastinators so even though they might want your product,  they tend to put off buying it. To help get around this, create an overwhelming reason to buy NOW.   For example you could mention that your offer is available for only a limited time, or offer a bonus that is limited, or mention that you're only selling a limited number of copies. You could also take a few dollars off the price and limit that offering or offer limited free shipping.

9.  What do you want your reader to do.
If you've done a good job of convincing your reader that you have the product they need then tell your reader what to do to get it. If you want your reader to order today, or sign up for your newsletter then say so.  If a signup box is on the left, tell them sign up to the left. If your order box is below, tell them order now below.  People like to be directed on what to do.  They much prefer it over figuring out what it is they should be doing. 

Formatting your salesletter

You can certainly format your sales letter any way you wish but these are the things that get my letters the most attention.  The placement on your page is up to you and may depend on your product, however this is a logical flow that I find effective.

Headline/Sub-headline
This is where it all starts.  Your headline must create interest and your sub-headline needs to back it up.  It should hit a nerve for the reader with regard to emotions, wants and needs. 

Your headline should point out what your reader can expect to get and your sub-headline should emphasize the points you just made in your headline.  I also suggest testing your headlines and sub-headlines.  Create several of them and swap them in and out for several weeks at a time to see which ones work best.

Attention grabbing headlines start with thing like 'Discover how ...', Get Ready To ..., Experience the.... Your sub-headlines work well with asking questions like:

Did you know that..., Wouldn't You Like to...? Are you Ready For...?

Your headline should be in centered at the top of the page.  Capitalize the first letter of each word only.  The text should be in BOLD.  After skipping a few lines your sub-headline should be directly beneath your headline. It should be a font smaller, text is bold and in a different color than the heading text.

Introducing the problem Section
Write a few sentences or paragraphs on what the problem is.  If you're selling a product that relieves back pain you would touch on things like how back pain limits things that you love to do.  How sleeping can be a problem, how chronic pain can lessen your enthusiasm for like, things of that nature. 

Introducing the solution Section
Now it's time to introduce a solution.  Talk about your remedy or what you have to offer without really introducing the specific product. Simply talk about the things that you can help the reader accomplish.  For example, here's what I can help you with

Credibility section
I like to include a 'Why listen to me' section.  Give reasons, personal or professional on why you created the product and why the reader should listen to you. For example, if you wrote a book about ' how to grow award winning roses' tell your reader how many awards you have won with your roses, how long you've been growing roses, etc.  Give the reader some background into understanding how you qualify in giving them what they need.  Kind of like writing a resume.

Features and benefits Section
List the feature and benefits of your offer.  Use a bullet point to list each feature, then next to the feature list the benefit of the feature.
Be clear and to the point.

Introduce your product Section
Here's where you introduce your product.  This section should be in paragraph form.  Mention the most important and impressive features of the product.

Testimonials section
Pepper small customer testimonials throughout your sales letter. You may not have one to start and that's ok, as you get them you can introduce them into your salesletter.

Summary Section
Do a nice little summary that covers the overall benefits of your product.

State the price
State the value of your product and include the price.  Hint:  I've been told that prices that end in a 7 or a 9 seem to work the best. For example $7, $9, $27, $29, $37, 39... etc.  For some of my products I've experimented using both 7 and 9 and I didn't find a difference either way.  You may want to experiment with this as well.

List your bonus
Include bonuses.  Bonus products are always a plus.  It gives the reader an impression of over-delivering.  Be sure to include the value of each bonus product but that you are offering it for free with purchase.

Your Guarantee Box
Specify a separate box for your guarantee. Clearly state what your guarantee is and is not if you think there may be confusion.

Download box
I like to use a download box that summarizes exactly what the customer will get with their purchase. Also include any details about how their order will appear on their credit card statement.  Include your guarantee statement if you have one and have your 'buy here' button clearly at the bottom of the box.

Your signature
Include a closing salutation with you name. 

The P. S.
Many people will not read all your copy at first, they may simply scroll to the bottom. By having a powerful P.S. at the bottom it gives you another opportunity to get them involved in your copy.

So use the P.S. to repeat the strongest elements of your copy in a short paragraph.  The P.S. should contain things like your money back guarantee (if you have one).  If your offer is time sensitive state that in the P.S.  If you offer a FAQ state that.