You are here: Home / Archives for Writing Sales Letters

How to Write a Powerful Sales Letter?

July 13, 2011 By 2 Comments

When you write a sales letter, have a customer-centric focus– always.  Make your sales communication powerful by viewing the problem through the customer’s eyes.  That way, you gain the confidence to present your services and products as effective solutions.  Here are tips that help you craft a sales letter that leads you to your goal—sell.

Headline:  Write an attention-grabbing, powerful headline.  It’s the bridge that connects to the body of your sales letter, so make it strong.  Enclose the headline between quotes.  Here’s an example of an enticing headline:  “Announcing 24X7 access to your documents just by the click of a mouse”

Tone:  Keep it informal and interactive.  Use simple words and build your letter.  Ask questions to make your prospective customer feel as though you’re talking to him.  A conversational tone also helps build a better rapport with the client.

An interactive style of writing the sales content can also touch the emotional plateau of your prospect with positive effects.

Structure:  Use paragraphs as the building blocks of your sales content.  Write the letter with paragraphs whose sentences vary in number.  Mix short and long sentences in the paragraphs to create interest.  Remember, however, not to use longer sentences, as they disrupt the message flow. Through bullet points, highlight the main benefits of your offers.  Such a method draws attention to key points.

Header:  For e-mail sales letters, a simple GIF or Flash animation, as a header, can emphasize the products / services benefits.  Include product photos and or conceptual images with text to draw and sustain the reader’s interest.  Make sure the animation is relevant and it loads faster.

Salutation:  Which is better: “Dear Mr. Jones” or “Hello Customer”?  The first one, as it conveys warmth.  Therefore, take a step forward to your sales goal by personalizing the communication.

Content:  In the first paragraph, address the prospect’s present or future problem.  State how your solution can remedy the pain.  Be sure to explain why your offer standout as the best.  

Backup what you say with numbers where possible.  Look at this statement: “XYZ e-learning solutions improve employee productivity greatly.”  It is very general and not effective.  The customer wonders, “How much productivity increase?”  So, make such sentences powerful with actual data.  For example, “XYZ e-learning solutions enhance employee productivity by 30%”, gives a clearer picture to the prospect and helps move him / her to the sales line.

Expand on your solution in the subsequent paragraphs.  Give customer testimonials to increase the credibility of your services and products.  Keep in mind clients’ positive comments on your wares can positively influence the prospects’ buy decisions.  Create the urge for action by offering a discount with a time limit.  Make it easier for the customer to order by multiple channels like the web, mail or phone.   Let the customer pay by credit card, check or other.  Invite questions through a dedicated e-mail ID and telephone number.

State the no-questions-asked refund policy.  Like customer testimonials, a guarantee increases the confidence of the prospects in what you offer.

Highlight the key benefits, discount offer and guarantee again.

Closing:  Use a word / phrase like Sincerely, Regards, or Best regards to end the sales letter.  After the last line of the letter, make the discount offer again: First, type P.S., which stands for post script.  Next, type the offer.  P.S. is a great way to turn the spotlight on key points of the sales letter.

Sales Letter Example:

“Train your employees with XYZ e-learning solutions and cut training costs by more than 65%”

Dear Mr. Jones,

Has training taken a back seat in your company because of high costs?  Training is essential to drive your business on a track of success and growth.  So, why compromise on training?

With XYZ e-learning solutions, cost is no more a stumbling block to train your employees.  Our cost-effective e-learning courses prepare your workforce to deliver best results.  It means your company gains a competitive edge and thrives in your business domain.

How can you train your employees with XYZ e-learning courses?  We host our courses on fast servers.  After you buy a course, your employees can access it through the internet with their login ID and password.  They can then self-learn at their own pace and time and from anywhere!  That’s what we call on-demand learning.

“XYZ e-learning courses are an effective solution for our staff training.  Our employees’ productivity has significantly improved since their training with XYZ courseware.”

- C. LeBeau, Training Director, AAA Web Software

Why should you choose XYZ e-learning courses?  Here are just a few reasons:

More than 20 years of solid experience in developing training materials that are proven to yield outstanding results

All courses reviewed and certified by a panel of subject matter experts, all of whom hold Ph.D. degrees

More than 500 e-learning courses with rich multimedia, covering topics from soft skills to information technology to sales

Reduces your training costs by more than 65%

Excellent returns on your investment through surge in employee productivity

Top-notch 24X7 technical support

Free course updates for one year

We want you to be a part of our global customer base, which is growing at a great pace: Buy any of our e-learning courseware and get a 30% discount.  This offer is valid till June 30.  Order before June 10 and get an additional off.  Call 123-456-7890 if you have questions.  For an up-to-date list of our e-learning courses, please visit our website.

“XYZ e-learning courses are top-of-the-line.  We were frustrated with e-learning modules from another company and were skeptical about the e-learning route itself for training.  We, however, found that XYZ courses were excellent and were highly relevant to on-the-job needs.  Will recommend XYZ e-learning to anyone without reservation.”

- M. Nash, Senior Vice President (Sales), RYZ Insurance, Inc.

Our products come with an iron-clad guarantee.  Try them for 30 days.  If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with our courses, just drop us an e-mail.  We will make a no-questions-asked 100% refund.

If you want your employees’ performance and company profits scale greater heights, checkout our best-in-class e-learning courses today.  Feel free to contact me direct 456-789-1000 if you have questions or concerns.

Best regards,

John Doe

CEO

XYZ, Inc.

P.S.  Order today and take advantage of our special offer.  Take off +30% discount on all your orders before June 10.

Written by S Viswakumar
Professional Content Writer and E-Learning Developer

Filed Under: Writing Sales Letters Tagged With: , , ,

How TO Write Killer Sales Letters For Your Products That Pures IN Instant Pure Profits For You And Your Business!

July 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

After you have successfully written and put together your product,produced solid content and packaged it nicely,the next thing you have to do is to produce a Killer SalesLetter that will make people place orders for your products-the kind of sales letter that will remove every wall of reluctance between your product and the Reader.I tell you,If you fail to implement this steps correctly,you’d be good as not producing anything.

So,here are the key tips to churning out your own Killer Sales Copy that’s nice to even gain unfair readership above other adverts even in the same Niche.

1.The Kicker:

This is a kind of introductory phase or sentence that propels the reader to take a cursory look at what you have to write in the first instance.It is usually written in attractive colours and fonts to make the reader thirsting for more.It serves as a phrase introducing or heralding your main headline.It is better you get this right for easy method of catching your Readers’ attention.

Specific Examples:

”A Panel Of Top Communication Experts Agree This Is The Best Way Of Making Nice And Legit Calls Online…”

You can see the kicker is explaining to the reader that the information he is about to read is not fluff or junks,but at least endorsed by experts.It would then be a gory mistake,if you now go ahead in the Sales copy and make the Reader feel your kicker after all wasn’t true.It does more havoc to what you have to say,than it does good.

2.Headline:

This comes after the Kicker and is meant to permanently catch the reader’s attention to want to listen to you.You need to make sure your reader is at least 65% ready to listen to what you’ve to say after reading your headline.Though,you may later get to get him to reason along with you,It’s better to do the attraction at the very beginning.This is the most important part of your letter,and should be typed legibly and more boldly,and in attractive colours, placed at the centre of the whole letter.This is where you tell the reader the most desirable result of getting what you’ve to offer.

3.Then comes the Salutation:

This is where you address your target audience.Are you addressing Work At Home Moms,Teenagers,Adults.However,the most common of them is “Dear Friend”;It really comes in handy.

4.Introduction Statement:

This is where you identify and empathise with the reader.What He/She is currently going through and why you think you are in a more advantaged position to solve their problems.There are different problems all around,and we’d always think we would live more fulfilled without them.You need to identify the problem which your product seeks to solve.

Generally,you can make more influence than envisaged when you continue your introductory sentence with a short story.Let it be interesting and brief.This is where you literarily “transfer” your reader to the next step in your Sales Copy.

5.What You Have To Offer:Definitely,you’re not just blabbing since-you want to really make a particular impact in the reader’s life,which ushers in the next step…

…The Solution You Provide.How you wish to solve the problem,and why you think the product would do what you’ve promised.Tell them about your skills,experiences(relating to the product).

Then you go further to refer to tips and tricks you have employed in your product,without actually mentioning them,of course.You  can go on and tell them why your product single out from other products around them,without bragging or boasting.Then comes the next step.

6.Provide A Proof That The Product Works:

Every and Anyone can talk till tomorrow about their products and  what they’ve done,but who will provide the proof?The person who provides the proof tend to win the people’s heart.

People,generally are somewhat skeptical,and to eliminate the friction between their credit card and your Order Button,you need to provide quality proof that your product works,and would solve the problem highlighted.I tell you,this is the fail-proof way of getting customers.How do you go about this?

Provide a testimonial-Give the testimonials from people who have gotten your product,either by giving them as free gift or past purchases.One or two testimonials will be fine.

You can also pose a challenge by telling your readers to test you on a certain activity-this could be a nice option.

Then,you get more specific,and why getting the product at a later date may not be their best bet.

Round up your salescopy  by summarizing what and what they stand to gain from the product in few straight-to-the-point sentences.

And Voila…You are done with your sales copy.Perform checks and balances on the write-up and you’re through.

Written by DIDEOLU

Filed Under: Writing Sales Letters Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

How to Test Your Sales Letter

July 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It doesn’t matter whether you use snail mail or email to reach prospects. Either way you should plan on doing some aggressive testing.

Why? Because if you don’t have a testing program in place that’s dedicated to helping you beat your “control” mailing, you’re missing one of direct response’s great benefits: the ability to constantly and quickly get direct feedback from the marketplace. Your testing program should be like a feedback loop that constantly funnels vital data back to your marketing team.

What should you be testing? Well, by now just about everyone knows that, first, you’ve got to test lists and offers. But don’t forget to test your letter. It’s one of the keys to direct response success.

Here are just a few questions you should ask yourself as you prepare your “control buster.”

1. Is my letter long enough?
If you’ve been using a one page sales letter, consider testing two or more pages. NOTE: Years ago the direct mail mantra was “the more you tell, the more you sell” so copywriters, myself included, often wrote four-page letters. This is less true these days. Now, people expect to get their information more quickly and telegraphically. As a result, you might want to write somewhat shorter letters and email. But this doesn’t mean you can’t test longer lengths, too.

2. Am I starting out with a terrific headline?
Makes sure your letter gets off to a fast start by setting it up with a punchy headline placed above the salutation. It doesn’t have to be short. You can easily
fill up the first fifth of your cover page with your headline introduction.

EXCEPTION: If the letter is personalized or more formal, you don’t need a headline. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to blow all the advantages of a “personal” relationship by using a headline that’s shouting about your offer.

3. Does my letter get off to a fast start?
If you don’t grab the reader’s attention right from the beginning, you’ll never make the sale. If you’re beginning with a soporific like the following, you know
you’re in trouble: “Allow me to introduce my company, DullsVille Software. Our mission is provide a comprehensive suite of solutions to businesses who need
to solve a broad range of problems” The reader’s response? This is Borrrrrrrring.

4. Am I devoting an entire section to my guarantee?
All too often letters bury the guarantee in the body copy. Big mistake. You should really highlight your guarantee and feature it as a distinct graphic element, complete with a border (a 1-point rule will do fine). The guarantee overcomes resistance and should really pop out of your letter or HTML email.

5. Am I including a P.S?
The humble postscript, sitting beneath the signature, can have a tremendous effect on the power of your letter. Copy research proves it. For example, René Gnam, a fellow direct mail specialist, reports the following results. He did a split run test where one letter contained a postscript. The other letter was identical except that the postscript copy was moved to the last paragraph above the signature. That was the only variable. The result? The mailing with the P.S. outpulled the non-P.S. letter by three to one!

Written by IvanLevison

More Writing Sales Letters Articles

Filed Under: Writing Sales Letters Tagged With: , ,