Does Your Sales Letter "Smoke" Your Product? How to Tell if You Need to Tone Down Your Sales Copy

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Copywriting and Marketing Categories article marketing and copywriting tips Branding Tips Blogging Tips Email Newsletter Tips grammar advice persuasive copywriting tips sales letter copywriting tips search engine copywriting tips technical aspects of copywriting the copywriting client web copywriting and marketing tips One Dollar Consulting Special Send $1 via PayPal, then email your most pressing questions about marketing to dina@wordfeeder.com today. for corporate clients copywriting for coaches copywriting for web designers Landscaping Marketing real estate copywriting copywriting for the specialty food industry technology marketing & copywriting	Custom Search Does Your Sales Letter "Smoke" Your Product? How to Tell if You Need to Tone Down Your Sales Copy by Dina Giolitto The other day, a client asked me to rewrite his sales copy in the "Dan Kennedy" style, and I cringed. Not because I don't enjoy hair-raising sales copy that's filled with hyperbole. It's just that this person's product was "fairly ordinary" - and not to discount what he was offering in any way, but I didn't want his copy to come off as dishonest or deceptive. Did you ever come across one of those hype-filled sales letters that makes the offer sound larger than life - like Jesus is going to appear and save your soul as soon as you click Buy Now? Then you get to the bottom and find out that the product is some rinky-dink, thrown-together marketing kit that's really just a list of 10 tips in downloadable, PDF format, that you could have easily obtained for free via Google? And The Good Lord isn't really coming down from the heavens after all, and you're out $47.00. Suppose you're the seller of the 10-tips marketing kit, and you truly believe that what you're sharing will add value to your customer's life. In that case, by all means say so in your sales copy. But beware the "over the top" style of sales letter writing. This copy promises the moon and the stars, and sure, some people will recognize such claims as blatant exaggeration... but others will appreciate a more straightforward approach. Think of it this way. Your visitors are reading your sales letter, and they're all hopped up on copy that sounds like Santa Claus on crack, and then they get to the bottom of the page and find out it's just another crummy marketing kit in downloadable PDF format. And now they're angry! Angry at you for misleading them. Angry that you didn't deliver on your "promises." Here are 2 ways to tell if you need to tone down your sales copy: 1. The features don't match the benefits. A benefit is an intangible concept - like freedom, relief, security, success, pleasure, or satisfaction. An example of a benefit might be the "relief" of knowing that you can work as little as 20 hours a week and still make the money you were making when you worked 80 hours a week. The feature that might bring that benefit (relief) down to earth could be something like, "Clear, step-by-step instructions on how to build and maintain your own, self-sustained business that will practically run on autopilot." Suppose I wrote to you in my sales letter that I had a special product which was going to change your life dramatically. And then I wrote paragraph after paragraph about how you could use this thing to captivate your children for hours... apply this product in ways that make your home more efficiently organized... and you can even make a fashion statement with it. And then what if I told you I was selling a bag of rubber bands? I mean, technically, none of the above is an all-out LIE... you could use a rubber band, or a bunch of them, in all of the above ways. But the features of a rubber band (small, stretchy, lightweight) do not support the above benefits in any way, shape or form. The two don't balance out, and anyone reading this copy would feel insulted that someone would try and persuade them into buying a bag of rubber bands with such an absurd and over-the-top sales pitch. 2. You forgot to spell out the savings. Another way to tell if your sales copy is too hypey: if, throughout the letter, you keep telling your customer what a can't-miss deal this is, but then when you get to the "what you get" section at the bottom, you don't spell out the value or savings for them. Many online business owners find creative ways to offer increased value to their customers. They do this by taking what they would normally sell, putting it all together in an attractive "all inclusive" package, and then offering that grouping of products and/or products at a reduce price point. The potential buyer can then view an itemized list of exactly what's included, as well as any bonus gifts that you're throwing in "for a limited time only." List the actual value of each item right beside it, then blow out the Package Price, and invite people to "do the math" to see how much they can save. Here's what's NOT cool to your customers, or at least not very impressive: when you spend your entire letter drumming up excitement for a great offer, and then after you list the inclusives, you just add a single price like "Get it now for only $59.97!" Indeed, this may be a deal, but if you don't point out WHY it's a deal, people are going to just shrug their shoulders and drift off to someone else's sales page. Having trouble achieving the happy balance between persuasive and practical? Dina@Wordfeeder.com can help. Copyright 2008 Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing . All rights reserved. Go to the page where we list all copywriting and marketing articles Ever Dreamed of Earning Your Living Writing Copy for the Web? 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