Fifteen Tips For Better Sales Letters
6. Write to communicate, because that's all that matters. Write in a conversational, working person, sitting-down-talking-to-someone-you-know-face-to-face style. Forget about always writing in complete sentences. You don't always talk in complete sentences do you? And it's OK to start sentences with "and" or "but". Remember, you're trying to generate a lead or advance or close a sale, not get an "A" from your high school English teacher. None of your prospects or customers is getting paid to read your letter. In this case, if your letter is well written the reader will pay YOU.
7. Ask yourself the following question several times while writing your sales letter. "If someone were sitting in front of me…trying to convince me to take the action I'm asking the reader to take…and speaking the words I'm writing…would I be favorably disposed to taking that action?"
8. Use active, action-oriented language. For example, instead of writing "SES has provided many specialty courses to Government and industry since 1983" write "At SES we provide a wide range of specialty courses for government and industry - and we've been doing so for more than 20 years." Active, action-oriented language is more dynamic and persuasive.
9. Write as much copy as it takes to get the job done. There is no such thing as copy that is too long. There is only copy that is too boring, too uninteresting, too uninvolving, too me-me-me-we-we-we-oriented. (Marketing consultant Mac McIntosh describes it as "we-we-weing all over yourself.") The bottom line is this: Interested people will read everything that's interesting about an interesting offer. In Denny Hatch's great book, "Million Dollar Mailings," the average letter length for consumer mailings was 3.3 pages. For business mailings, 2.1 pages. And there have been many highly successful sales letters that were eight pages and longer.
10. Give your letter visual variety and appeal. Break up long blocks of copy. Five lines are usually the maximum for any one paragraph. When you speak you create variety through volume, tone, inflection and gestures. When you write you do this by underlining, italicizing, capitalizing and making copy bold. This will give your letter a livelier, more inviting look and make it more likely to be read. Be careful though not to overuse emphasis devices. Because when you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing.
11. Do not end any page except the last page in a complete sentence. The human mind seeks completion. If a page ends in mid-sentence the natural tendency is to go to the next page to complete the sentence. And the more interesting, dramatic or intriguing you make your copy leading up to that point the better the odds are that your reader will keep reading.
12. Use a comma in your salutation, indent your paragraphs and avoid long drawn out sentences like the plague. You should strive to give your letter a personal look and feel. Remember when you were a little boy or girl writing home from summer camp? I'll bet you always used a comma and indented your paragraphs. So do the same with your sales letter. Plus, indenting your paragraphs has the added advantage of leading the reader's eye into your copy.
And never, never, never justify or "block" your text! It's boring and hard to read. And avoid long, drawn out sentences. Remember, you want your letter to be easy to read. Long, drawn out sentences, in addition to being hard to read, can be confusing— a real "deal-killer" in any sales situation.
13. Don't try to be cute or clever. When was the last time you closed a sale by being cute or clever? Here's a suggestion: When you're finished with your letter show it to a friend or colleague. If their reaction is, "Boy, this is really clever. You know, you're a good writer." tear it up and throw it away. But if their reaction is, "Boy, this sounds like a really great product. How can I get one?" then, you're on the right track.
14. Tell the reader exactly what you want him or her to do. Don't assume anything. If what you want is for the prospect to pick up the phone and call, then say so, energetically and enthusiastically. Here's an example: "So why don't you pick up the phone right now and give me a call at 800-555-1212? Go ahead and do it now while you still have this letter in your hands."
15. Always include a P.S. Extensive research shows that the P.S. is one of the first things people look at. Restating a key benefit or guarantee here can pull your reader into the body copy of your letter. The great copywriter Herschell Gordon Lewis tells the story in one of his books about a test mailing of fund-raising letters by St. Jude hospital. The letters were identical except for the fact that one included a P.S. and the other did not. The letter with a P.S. pulled a 19% greater response. The moral of the story? It pays to use a P.S.
Ernest Nicastro is president of Positive Response, Dublin, OH.
(This article originally appeared in our sister publication, Direct magazine.)
