5 Sales Letter Blunders That LOSE the Sale
The average conversion ratio of most sales letters is a pitiful
1% -- or worse. Thankfully, there are dozens of little nuances
that can instantly boost the amount of prospects you convert to
buyers. Conversely, there are just as many that can make that
ratio take an *immediate* nose dive.
Are YOU committing any of these five response-busting bloopers?
BLOOPER #1: "This offer expires in 1.2 minutes!"
Yeah -- right. And I'm Daffy Duck.
FACT: Time-sensitive offers can and DO increase response.
FACT: Hundreds of visitors won't know the difference between
fake, limited-time-offer hokey, and the real deal.
FACT: You might be isolating several hundred MORE would-be
customers with your dishonest "time-sensitive offer."
FACT: The smart ones will know the truth anyway.
All I need to do to find out if an offer REALLY "expires today!"
is take a quick peek at the page's HTML code. If I see a jumble
of JavaScript coding where today's date is supposed to be, I
know I've got days, weeks, or even forever to get that
"limited-time offer."
Whoops -- I just released your "little secret!" Not to worry.
See the end of this tip for a quick fix.
This little coding trick doesn't bother ME personally, as I'll
still buy the product if the offer is good. But, some people
simply *will not buy* if they see the same "limited-time offer"
on your page for a week. It's true! But, you can offer limited
time offers WITHOUT being dishonest to your visitors.
Want to know how? e-Mail me and ask, at: <
mailto:FIX@ReadySetPROFIT.com >
If you *ask me*, I'll send you an idea that I haven't seen
ANYONE else use as of yet. Don't worry, I'm not disguising a
product of mine as the "idea," and you won't be added to any
pesky follow-up list. I'm simply reserving the details for the
few *motivated* marketers actually reading this article, because
this idea won't be quite as effective if everyone knows how it
works.
BLOOPER #2: "Use that bold; just don't abuse it."
The most important thing to keep in mind when bolding your sales
page text is to bold THE RIGHT WORDS. Not only are too many bold
words hard to read, but they defeat the purpose of the bolding
-- to stress an *important* point.
Visualize the words in all caps in the sentence below as the
bold words in a sales letter:
"LEARN a simple, easy-to-apply, 3-step formula for steadily
increasing your WEBSITE profits each and every MONTH."
Now ... wasn't that goofy?
BLOOPER #3: "Am I supposed to READ this thing or dissect it?"
Imagine the trouble you have reading an e-mail that fills your
entire screen with one massive paragraph. Now, magnify that
feeling 500 times over. Congratulations! You've just experienced
the amount of frustration Web surfers feel when they're expected
to read a 10-screen sales message composed of only 3 paragraphs.
Massive blocks of text in sales copy are just not cool.
Reading from a computer screen is already much more strenuous to
most people than reading offline documents, so make your sales
page easy on the eyes by using paragraphs that are no longer
than 4-6 sentences each.
BLOOPER #4: "Is it a person, place, or thing, Pat?"
If your visitors don't know what you're selling, they won't be
very compelled to buy it -- even if it IS the greatest widget in
the history of widgethood. After all, if they don't KNOW it's a
widget, why would they want it?
Let me give you an example.
The website of one "multi-millionaire" is selling a mystery item
designed to tell you how to make millions. Throughout their
sales letter, they give vague "details" of their own personal
plight to making millions with "just a little work" by using
their formula.
Even more interestingly, this person doesn't offer a money-back
guarantee. Instead, they offer to "give you a formula that
works." (In short, all they "guarantee" is that you'll get the
product you're paying for -- the "secret" of how they made their
millions. Oh joy!)
If it's such an effective formula, why not describe it? And more
importantly, why not offer a money-back guarantee? Did I mention
that a very minute percentage of customers ever take advantage
of such a guarantee?
Umm ... I'm not buying it. Either figuratively OR literally.
BLOOPER #5: "If you're going to sell it, SELL it!"
In 99% of sales letters I've seen, it's quite obvious that the
writer is intending to sell me something. Not to say that this
is BAD at all, because hey -- we all gotta eat. However, if I'm
going to buy something, I'll need to know the price.
Case in point, I've seen sales letters deliver a huge pitch
about their product, but have no price for it listed anywhere on
the page. Click to the order page, and still the same deal. Fill
out a form, advance to the next screen, and still no go. Get to
the billing information page, and only THEN do you see the price
of the product.
Why was it such a secret?
If your product is worth the price, don't hide it. Trust me. In
doing so you'll make your prospects think that you hid it
because your product is overpriced -- and they'll leave without
buying.
Final Words...
So -- how does YOUR sales letter measure up? If you're currently
committing any of the five deadly sales copy sins above, it's
not to late to repent and reform.
Remember, you could be driving hundreds of hot prospects away
with each one of the flubs above. Take the opportunity now to
fix your sales copy before you forget, and start increasing your
hits to sales ratio immediately. I'm rooting for you!