If you do any kind of direct mail, sooner or later you’re going to have to write a sales letter. The point of a sales letter is to get people to read it and not toss it in the trash. You need to get their attention fast and get them to act. Your product has to sound appealing and your copy needs to be written to “sell”.
Your sales letter needs to stress the benefits of your product. If you don’t know what they are, spend some time writing them down. People generally act on their emotions, so your copy needs to play on emotions hard enough to force them to act. Start your letter with your product’s strongest benefit.
There are no hard and fast rules on the length of a sales letter. It can be 2, 4, 6, or more pages. Just make sure that every word you include is necessary; don’t be wordy just to increase the letter’s length.
After you present the benefits, you need to ask for the order. You’d be amazed at the number of writers who skip this simple step. Tell the potential client what to do — i.e., “call now” or “mail the card.” Give people directions and a good reason to act immediately. Phrases like “limited time offer,” “special price,” and “limited number available” can entice your buyers to act quickly.
Another tip that will help motivate potential clients is to offer them a free bonus. No matter what you sell, try to come up with a “free bonus” you can tack onto every order. People love getting something for nothing. Offering bonuses works, but make sure the bonus item is worthy. Don’t offer something that has no value. Try adding a free bonus item along with your next sales pitch and watch your sales increase.
Always offer an “unconditional money back guarantee.” A strong guarantee convinces a customer that they have nothing to lose by trying your product.
Use courier font in your letter and if possible scan or write a handwritten signature. Studies have shown that blue works best for the signature, while the rest of the letter should be in black. At the end of the letter make sure you add a P.S. line. Besides the headline, the P.S. is the next thing that grabs the viewer’s attention.
Some may just read the headline and the P.S. and just scan the rest of the letter, so you want to make them stand out. The P.S. should repeat your product’s strongest benefits. That’s right, I said “benefit,” not “feature.” If you don’t know the difference between benefits and features, you should. A benefit is what your product or service will do for the potential client. A feature of the product describes it — for example, “red” or “6 inches in height.” Remember this simple fact and you’ll do well in the “crazy” world of sales.
Now that your letter is complete, drop it in a #10 envelope and send it off. If you’ve done a good job and followed the advice above, those orders will start pouring in.
That, my friend, was the benefit of reading this article!