The Top Ten Mistakes in Preparing Sales Letters1. Poor Headline. Or what's even worse, no headline. The most important part of sales letters is
headline. Unless headline immediately attracts attention and generates interest, your prospect will stop reading right then and there. This means you have no chance--zero--to fulfill purpose of sales letter, which is to make a sale. Your headline should communicate strongest customer benefit of your product or service.
TIP: Spend hours, days, even weeks if necessary, creating headlines. Create at least 15 to 25 and test strongest ones. I write as many as 200 to 250 before choosing two to four to test against each other to find most profitable.
2. Copy is full of "Me" messages. Some examples: My products are terrific. My company is wonderful. We've been in business for 15 years. We have a long tradition of quality, etc., etc., etc.
So much advertising is full of this drivel. This is all about you. No one in world cares besides yourself.
Your prospects want to know exactly what benefits they will get from your products. In other words, if you sell grass seed, don't dwell on what it's composed of. Instead describe how beautiful their lawn will be.
TIP: Here is fastest way to improve your copy. Review first draft of your copy. Eliminate all these words--I, our, we, my. Substitute you and your. I promise you'll be amazed and truly gratified with result. It's sure to blow your mind!
3. Copy fails to answer question "What's in it for me?" The process, of course, starts with headline. An excellent copywriting technique is to prepare bullet points. These should consist of all benefits a buyer of your product will get.
Tip: Your benefits should be stated in headline format. The secret of making benefits even more powerful is to describe benefit of benefit.
4. Exaggerated Claims. Many copywriters and marketers think more astonishing your claims are, more persuasive. This is a fallacy. If a claim is exaggerated, it seems and feels untrue. You thus lose that all-important credibility.
Tip: First you should dramatize your advertising claims with help of short emotional words. Then prove each claim. Expert comments and testimonials can be a big help.
5. Confusing offer. So many sales letters do not make a clear, easily understandable offer. The result is few or no orders. Reason? When consumers are confused, they don't act--they do nothing. Confusion always breeds inaction.
Tip: Think through your offer very carefully and write it down before you prepare a single word of your sales letter.
6. Copy is too short. As old saying goes-- more you tell, more you sell. Tell complete story of your product. Include every benefit you can. Copy can never be too long. Some of my sales letters are as long as 56 pages. But you can be too boring. The biggest sin of any copy writer, even in a two-paragraph letter, is to bore prospect.
Tip: The secret is to tell a complete story, but in fewest words possible. Eliminate every single unnecessary word.
7. Large blocks of copy and few subheads. Lengthy paragraphs without frequent subheads make copy intimidating to read. This discourages reading and response. Place at least two or three subheads on each page. Plus, keep paragraphs and sentences short. Paragraph length of no more than five sentences or less should be your goal. Some paragraphs can be one to three words.
