Sales Letters

Sales letters, just like newsletters, will spell the difference between the success or failure of your marketing thrust. A poorly done sales letter will reflect by means of a negative impact on your marketing strategies. Composing an excellent sales letter is not something that should be done as a lark. It should be completely researched, tested, revised and tested again until such a time that it has reached its maximum potential.

If you receive a sales letter and you are tempted to buy, file it away. When you next have to write a sales letter, get the file out and look for inspiration. For each retained sales letter, examine the wording, the layout, the offer and how it is presented. You can even make notes on the sales letters that did not persuade you to buy. What did they do wrong? How could they be improved? Include testimonials in the letter. Comments from official sources outside your company or from satisfied customers will greatly add to the proof your prospect needs to become interested in your product or service.

One often-neglected part of the sales letter is the order or request form at the end of the letter. Make it clear, attractive and easy to complete. If possible restate the offer on the form so that the customer is in no doubt about what he is ordering. Make it easy for the prospect to contact you. Include a contact address, email, and fax number as well as a contact phone number.

When they first see a sales page many people scan the headline, then go to the bottom of the page to read the PS. This is because the PS often summarizes the offer. Make sure your PS does this. If you feel you need more than one PS to fully give the benefits you are offering use three, not two. How do marketers know one or three P.S.'s work better than two? Testing.

If possible test everything in your sales letter. A change to your offer, the price, the typeface or how a customer is encouraged to respond can each make a difference to your response rates. If you do not have the time or resources to test everything then at least test different headlines. A change in headline can double the response or better.

After the sales page has been before your prospects for a while take some time to analyze the results. How many sales did you make? When you sat down to write the letter you should have had a clear outcome in mind. Take a look at the response to the sales letter. Did you get the outcome you wanted? If you did not, why was that? If you find your sales letter cannot sell your product or service then either it is too complicated for your customers to understand or you have not expressed the benefits well enough

It may be tedious to create sales letters, but you should keep in mind that they are a necessary component of any successful vendor. Those who do business in the internet rely heavily on this method of marketing. The sales letter should not be taken for granted. It should present your company and products in such a way to make the customer feel as if they know you.