Copywriting An Introduction To Sales Letter Basics – 10 Key Points

Sales letters are the written equivalent of a sales pitch. For those of you selling a product or service online your website must, in effect, be your salesperson. Here I want to introduce 10 basic but key elements that make up an effective sales letter.
In summary, from the customers’ point of view, a good sales letter should highlight the benefits of the product, make it clear what the customer will get out of it and offer a good value proposition – in other words value for money. From a business owner’s point of view, a good sales letter should successfully do all of the above and in addition convince people to buy or try the product.
Now as I’m sure you will appreciate there is an art to sales and there are many, many books written on the subject – however they will ultimately refer to the same common elements. A sales letter is no different – there are some universally recognised key elements that are included in all good sales letters.
But first, just to clarify some definitions for those of you new to this: the words included in a sales letter are referred to as sales “copy”, writing a sales letter is known as “copywriting” and sales “copy” is written by “copywriters”.
Now I want you to try to find some example sales letters – search online and print out sales letters for products you think are selling well – or rummage through your waste paper bin for those junk sales letters you usually just throw straight out.
What do these letters have in common? What makes them stand out from the crowd? Chances are they all have the following elements and you should include all of them in your sales letters too.
1. They have a powerful headline.
The headline is often the first part of the letter a visitor sees. If it is good, the customer will want to read more. If it is bad they will click off your page or throw away your letter. It is said that you should spend more time on your headline than any other part of your sales page.
2. Write to your target audience.
You want to speak to them directly in a language and style they understand, using powerful words that create a sense of urgency. You want your customer to feel that they must have your product right now, today or else.
3. Write in SIMPLE language.
If you want to attract the widest possible audience, you should write simply and easily – almost conversationally. I hate to say it but it is generally agreed that you should write with the standard of a twelve year old. Do not use technical jargon (unless of course you have a highly technical product and market) or complicated language – if you do, you run the risk of scaring your visitors away.
4. Provide your readers several easy “calls to action”.
That means invite them to buy your product several times. It’s no good having a site with great sales copy if the visitor can’t find the link to click to actually buy the product!
5. Use multiple sub-headings throughout your sales letter.
This will help break up the paragraphs and keep your reader’s eye moving throughout the letter. Some people skim through sales letters by just reading the sub-headings so have them make sense and flow nicely on their own.
6. Keep your paragraphs short.
If you create long paragraphs, your reader will feel like they are reading a novel, and are likely to give up on you before they get to your sales pitch.
7. Tell your reader HOW you are going to satisfy a need they have.
The number one thing a sales letter must do is explain how you will satisfy a need they have. Then you can explain why they should buy their product. All customers have needs. You must acknowledge their needs in your letter, then tell them how they will benefit from buying your product. An easy way of doing this is to create a bulleted list of benefits – describing how they will benefit by buying your product.
8. Tell a story if you can.
We all love stories. One of the easiest ways to sell to people is by telling them a story. Tell them how your product helped you or someone overcome adversity or some amazing feat. Tell them about someone’s experiences with the product. By wrapping it up in a story you are making the product more comfortable and more memorable.
9. Use testimonials.
Apart from telling a story, using testimonials is one of the best ways to build credibility in a sales letters. However whatever you do, don’t make up testimonials, use real ones. Ask previous customers to provide you with testimonials or if necessary give away some free samples in return for testimonials. Once people see that your product helped others, they will more likely to see the benefits for themselves.
10. Use powerful closes.
Don’t fizzle out at the end. If your reader made it to the end of the letter they should be pretty interested in your offer. So ask for the sale and add some inducements. A common trick is to include some powerful “P.S.” statements at the end of the letter reminding the reader of the benefits and why they should buy right now.
Finally I want to leave you with one simple and easy way to learn how to write good sales letters. Find one of these successful letters and rewrite it yourself – not cut and paste but actually rewrite it longhand. Believe it or not, this will help you assimilate the thought process that went into the letter and help you then be able to create one yourself for your product.