How To Write Your Sales Letter Step By Step & 5 Magic Tips To Consider Before Sending Your Sales Letter
A step-by-step tutorial for creating effective sales letters. It's packed with tricks, techniques, and tried-and-true strategies for transforming letters, emails, and mailers into high-impact selling tools. Learn how to break down sales barriers by tapping into the deepest psychological motivators of prospective buyers. Discover the three critical components of your offer; how to motivate procrastinators; and how to structure the crucial close that converts prospects into customers.
Sales pitches bombard the average consumer. So, if you're selling a product or service to today's ad-weary consumer, you'll need a step-by-step plan that breaks down the barriers to buying. A strategy that bypasses the mind and goes straight to the heart.
If your heart's in it, your brain will follow.
Purchasing anything is primarily an emotional experience. Emotions drive purchases, whether they are for paper clips or plain paper copiers. Facts, specifications, and the like are simply used to justify a decision that has already been made. That means that every sentence, every phrase in your sales letter must appeal to your customer's emotions.
What emotions?
The simple truth is that there are only two emotions that truly motivate people: the promise of gain and the fear of loss, with the latter being stronger. As an example, consider the following headline: "Save money on legal fees." Alternatively, "How to Avoid Being Sued." The latter is more likely to elicit a positive response.
Seven key emotional hooks, or basic human needs, support the promise of gain and the fear of loss. Your sales letter must directly address as many of these basic needs as possible, regardless of your product or service:
-
Safety & Security
-
Wealth
-
Good looks
-
Popularity
-
Self-satisfaction
-
Free time
-
Fun & Excitement
So, how do you get them to act? How do you get from 'head to heart'? What is the copying paradigm? Consider yourself in a baseball stadium, facing an audience in rows of bleachers. It's the game of the century. It's the ninth inning, bases loaded. And you have a bag of peanuts that you must sell or the boss will fire you immediately. What would you do to get their attention? "Peanuts?" you exclaim.
Begin with a verbal "2x4".
You must use an emotional motivator to get their attention. That means you begin with the envelope. Remember, gain or loss must be boldly displayed on the outside. (How often do you rush to open a plain white envelope?) Here are two examples:
"We Put a Money-Making Miracle in this Envelope," says the winner.
"Throw This Away and Work Hard for the Rest of Your Life," says the loser.
Okay, what do they see when they open the letter? A dull paragraph about your industry's leadership? Stuffy sentences about dedication, innovation, and commitment?
Whoosh. In the round file it goes.
It's time to revisit our primary motivators: gain or loss. Again, it has to be in a headline they can't ignore, and it has to reinforce the headline that compelled them to rip open that envelope. Both headlines must communicate the same message and have the same emotional impact.
For example, "Finish reading this letter and you're halfway to becoming wealthy."
Then comes the crucial body copy. What do you say to make them want your product? We do this by probing the consumer's emotions for clues to the perfect selling pitch.
A step-by-step tutorial for creating effective sales letters.
What’s the problem?
McDonald's used to beat the pants off its competitors. So Burger King hired a major advertising agency to increase their market share. They investigated secret sauces, elaborate contests, and toy tie-ins. Nothing was working. Finally, they distributed questionnaires, conducted focus groups, and literally pulled people off the street. And do you want to know what they discovered? Not what customers liked about hamburgers, but what they didn't. For one thing, the most popular hamburger was practically "factory made" with everything on it. Some people liked pickles, while others disliked onions or mayonnaise. That was "the issue." The solution was simple: custom-made hamburgers, followed by the now-familiar slogan "Have it Your Way." The point is that you must identify and capitalize on your customer's problem. Make your product the star.
Life without your product is miserable.
So you've successfully captured your reader's attention. You've uncovered their "issue." It's now time to remind them that they are all miserable. That problem affects their lives. If you're selling a cordless electric lawn mower, remind them of all the problems with their old gas mower. For example, running out of gas, finding the gas can, taking it to the gas station, returning with a can full of stinky gas in the car, and possibly spilling gas on the carpet. When you get home, you have to deal with the annoyance of yanking the starter until your arm feels like a wet noodle. And there's the fire risk of having a can of gas in the garage with children playing nearby. The point is that you want to paint a bleak picture of life without your product.
Life with your product is absolute bliss.
It's time to provide your solution now that you've piqued your reader's interest by making them feel the agony of life without your product. This is where you will introduce yourself and your product or service briefly. There will be no more running out of gas, smelling gas cans in your new car, or yanking the starter cord until your arm falls off. Simply flip the switch to start mowing. It charges overnight when plugged into an electrical outlet. Your concerns have been alleviated. You go on and on, emphasizing how your product or service is the ideal solution. At this point, your reader is likely to ask, "Sounds interesting, but who the hell do you think you are to think you can solve my problem?" I'd never heard of you before."
Credentials time
This is where you establish trust by highlighting key facts that inspire confidence in you and your company. You could begin by displaying some customer testimonials. If these come from people in the industry who your prospect knows, that's even better. And getting photos, phone numbers, and so on will boost your credibility even more. This is also the time to mention how long you've been in business and any articles that have appeared in local or national media about your company and/or its products (these can be particularly valuable since they come from an impartial source).
Now that you've allayed their concerns about doing business with an unknown, they'll want to be completely convinced of your product or service. This is where you get specific. And now is the ideal time to do so because you've built trust. They won't be concerned with who you are but with what you can do for them—how you plan to solve their problem.
Benefits, not features, should be highlighted.
There is one important caveat here. Avoid entangling your reader in "featurespeak." It's simple to do, and it's what most inexperienced writers do. Featurespeak is intended for your sales team, not your prospective customers. Avoid phrases like "Our new cordless electric mower comes with the X9T Autoflex handle and the PT600 Zenon battery." "Our new electric mower's handle easily adjusts to your height for maximum comfort," it's better to say. Or, "the rechargeable battery lasts up to 5 years without needing to be replaced." If your product or service has more than three main advantages, list them in bullet points to make them easier to read.
Make them an offer they can’t refuse.
This is the most important part of your sales letter. Your offer should be enticing, irrefutable, and timely. You want your reader to say, "This is a fantastic offer; I have nothing to lose except my problem." In your offer, try to combine the big three: an irresistible price, terms, and a free gift. If you're selling a cordless electric mower, your offer could include a lower retail price, a low interest rate, and a blade-sharpening tool. Increase the perceived value of your offer by including extra products or services, such as an extended warranty or safety goggles for electric mowers. Complement this with the compelling advantages that these additional products or services will provide.
Assuage with a guarantee
Every customer has a little voice in the back of their head that says, "Buy this and you'll be sorry." So make your offer impenetrable. Take the risk out of the purchase. Give the most fervent guarantee you can. It conveys to your reader that you are confident in your product or service. enough to support it with a strong guarantee. Make this final commitment without fear.
Motivate the procrastinators.
So they've read your letter and are fairly certain that your company and your product or service can solve their problem. They wish to purchase The mind is eager, but the flesh is frail. It's time to introduce our main motivator: loss aversion. One way to capitalize on this fear is to persuade your reader that because this is such a good deal, only a few mowers remain. Or that the extended warranty is only available for the next few days, or to the first 50 customers. Gain, our old motivator, can also be applied here. "Buy now and receive a $20 gift card—FREE!"
Call to action--KISS
You and your staff understand what readers must do to purchase your product or service, but your readers are bombarded with offers every day. And each offer has a unique purchasing procedure. Allow them a break and guide them through the ordering/purchasing process. Also, KISS (keep it simple, stupid). Use action words such as "Pick up the phone and call now!" Always include numerical phone numbers if your phone number spells out a catchy slogan or company name. Tell them if they need to fill out a form and mail it in. Use a large type on your form if possible, especially if you're selling to seniors. Make it clear what they're ordering and at what cost.
ABC!
Follow Alec Baldwin's advice in the film. Glengarry "ABC" — Always Be Closing, says Glen Ross. Your call to action should be sprinkled throughout your letter. Request the order. Then, at the end of the letter, the call to action will not come as a surprise, but rather as a reminder. Even better, if they're halfway through your letter and ready to order, they'll know what to do.
Postscripts are magic.
Postscripts aren't read, right? Wrong. After the headline and any image captions, the P.S. is the third most read element of a sales letter. Several patterns (P.P.S) are used in the letters of the best wordsmiths. It's a great place to remind readers about your irresistible offer. However, you must be succinct and compelling, establishing urgency and value while drawing on your key motivators of gain and loss.
Drive it home on the order form.
Some of the most important sales are won or lost on the order form. It's at this point that that little voice in the back of your customer's head comes back to life and says, "You'll be sorry" or "Are you sure you want to buy this now?" "Preemptive Buyer's Remorse is what I call it." It's time to call in our top persuaders—gain and loss—for one last time. Use the same persuasive arguments as before, but make them shorter, more compelling, and more urgent.
Do you want steak knives or the El Dorado?
You now have the prized Glengarry lead. and the formula for creating a successful sales letter. Begin by understanding your prospect's problem, then use the emotional motivators I've described to drive home key benefits. Remember Alec Baldwin's other adage, AIDA—interest, decision, and action. Get their attention, pique their interest, persuade them it's the right decision, and then persuade them to act. Best wishes The English alphabet contains 26 letters. It's all about how you use them—whether you get the steak knives or the Cadillac ElDorado.
5 Magic tips before sending your sales letter
People have used various sales pitches in their sales letters but have yet to achieve the desired results. The importance of a sales letter can be compared to having a car dealership. No one will buy your cars if the appearance of your shop does not make a good first impression.
As a result, you must ensure that your sales letter contains answers to the most basic questions, and that these five specific questions pique the interest of your visitors in your product:
1. What’s in it for me?
The first rule of sales is that people only buy for one reason: to get the results from a product, to get what they will get out of it. To accomplish this, you must be quick to capture their attention with your headline from the start. Create a compelling headline that tells your visitors what they will receive in a single shot.
2. How will my life be better?
This is where you must understand the emotional appeals that draw prospects to you like moths to a flame. Do they want to be richer, smarter, more attractive, thinner, or more popular? They wish to save money, time, or effort.
Study your niche market until you know what emotional buttons to push, and you'll notice an immediate increase in sales. Use their desires to attract them; this is where you'll get them nodding their heads and reading all the way to the end.
3. Why should I trust you?
People are skeptical when they have to pull out their wallets to purchase a product. You must dispel their concerns by providing positive testimonials from previous customers and emphasizing the advantages of your product.
If you don't have any testimonials for your product, look for forums related to your niche and offer a free copy in exchange for a testimonial—you'll usually get a quick response.
4. What will happen if I say no?
That's it. You're not going to let them say no. Remind them of their problems, frustrations, how much money they will lose, or how unhappy their lives are right now – and tell them how they can change all of them in one shot with a small investment in your product.
5. Will I be stuck with your product?
This is the point at which you seal the deal. Tell them you offer a money-back guarantee and that they must order it right away. The most important thing is to persuade them to buy, and the rest is up to them. 70% of people who buy a product will not return it unless they have seen something similar before or have planned to "borrow" it from the start.
When you have all of these points in your sales letter to answer your prospects' questions, you will not only gain an unfair advantage over your competition, but you will also show your prospects that you care about their problems and have the solution that they require
