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How do you turn a one page sales letter into your most valuable asset? Treat it like one.
One Page Sales Letters are about the most powerful form of marketing copy there is. A well-written sales letter delivers customers like no other copy format because that one page is focused like a laser on obtaining one and only one action: closing the sale. Read this report to learn how to use One Page Sales Letters to increase your sales.
The Challenge of a One Page Sales Letter
Imagine giving an employee the task of being the sole representative and sales person for a company. The fortunes of the whole company–and everyone's bonuses–hing on whether that one sales person does a good job at connecting with his sales prospects, catching their interest, building their trust, and convincing them to make the purchase.
In a small business, tens of thousands of dollars, even hundreds of thousands of dollars may be at stake, with the responsibility resting on this sole employee. If he does well, great. But he can almost always do better. In larger business, we're talking millions of dollars that can come or go based on the performance of this single employee.
Now think about this for a moment...this is precisely the position a one page sales letter is in. At the moment of the sale, when the customer has a credit card in his wallet, the only thing that can convince him to pull it out and use it is the sales letter he is looking at.
That is how important it is to invest significant time and resources into making sure you get your sales letter right. Your sales copy is the last "person" standing between you and the customer. Your one page sales letter can make the sale like a seasoned pro over and over for years, or fizz out in the first paragraph. Which will it be?
Essential Elements of a One Page Sales Letter
- The Headline
- The Hook
- Stories / Testimonials
- The Pull Quote
- Bullet Points
- Supporting Details
- Graphic Design
- Call to Action
Writing a powerful headline
The power of a one page sales letter MUST start with an attention grabbing headline. The headline is no place for amateur copywriters, either. It can make or break a sales letter, because if the reader isn't curious enough to read past it, all the hard work put into the rest of the copy is meaningless.
Your headline can include deadlines, elements of your offer, and even benefits of your product or service. (See this article on benefits selling vs. features selling.) What it must do, however, is engage the reader and make them want to read on.
Here are some examples of good headlines:
- Cut your electric bill in half next month!
- How I made $938.27 yesterday in the stock market...in the first 12 minutes of trading
- Is your website paying for itself?
- How to generate explosive interest in your services
- You won't believe what I just did
All of these induce some curiousity and draw us into the hook that should be present in the opening paragraph.
Writing an effective hook
The job of the hook is to pick up where the powerful headline left off. It should build suspense, not satisfy the curiousity generated by the headline. You don't tell the story in the hook, you draw the reader in by engaging them, but leaving them wanting more.
Some examples of hooks to go with the above headlines might be:
Cut your electric bill in half next month!
My wife almost threw out the letter like the one in your hands right now. WOW. I'm glad she didn't, and she's glad too, because after we read it, we immediately cut our electric bill in half.
Here it was, the dead of winter in South Dakota with sky high energy prices, and by making just a few little changes to our home and thermostat, we banked $73.47. And that's just after one month. I expect to save well over $800 in the next year.
How I made $938.27 yesterday in the stock market...in the first 12 minutes of trading
My friends are all whining about their 401Ks. I'm sure not! I have nothing to complain about, even though the Dow is almost half what it was a year ago! I'm actually embarrased to tell people how much money I've raked in during this bear market. Let's just say it's in the six figures.
But before I get to the details of how I'm making money in this market day in and day out, let me first tell you how I came to learn everything I know...
When's the last time your website wrote YOU a check?
I finally turned the tables on my website. I used to fork over $80 per month for a website that didn't produce a single lead or sale for years. Why? Because I bought into the notion that I just HAD to have a website to be a real estate agent. Of course, that's true. But most real estate website companies are in business purely to suck your bank account dry month after month.
What's the answer? Here's exactly what you need to do to get your website to make sales for you in your sleep...
How to generate explosive interest in your services.
I hate to admit this, but I actually gave up on blogging years ago after my first post. It felt so good to press the button and see my words there online immediately.
Maybe that's what you did, too. But my work days pressed on, and I just didn't see the value in it. Boy, was I wrong! A friend of mine told me about an e-book called Blogging Secrets for Professionals, and let me tell you, this guy spoke my language!
My business simply exploded when I put into practice his blogging concepts. I couldn't keep up with the work that was flooding in...in fact, I had to hire someone to help me out! Now I'm not so desperate to take every project that comes my way, because I know that the clients I'm getting are willing to pay me good money.
You won't believe what I just did!
I just fired myself. Yes, you read that right. I finally got fed up with my own job performance, and gave myself the old heave-ho. Let me explain...
You see, I've been trying to write my own copy for my website for years. It has never performed like I wanted it to. Maybe it's because I'm not a natural writer, or maybe it's because my career is actually real estate, not copywriting. But whatever the reason, my website has sat there for years doing nothing for me but costing me money in website hosting fees.
But I finally wised up and fired myself, hiring a professional copywriter for the first time in my career. I just about fell out of my chair when I started all those new leads! These people were sold on my services before I even talked to them! Why? Because they read my website, that's why.
I've learned to never underestimate the power of the written word to move people to action!
Using stories and testimonials to build trust
Stories are an indispensible element of the sales process, and should be in every one page sales letter. Writing facts about your product or service can only go so far without the added credibility you get with a good (and truthful) story about what you do, or how your customers are benefiting from your products.
Think about your product or service and translate some of the benefits into stories that explain in a tangible way the value you can provide. You can even ask existing clients for testimonials. Put some good copywriting polish on their version, then get their approval again before you use them. With a well-written story, you can make even the most mundane of subjects interesting, informative, and effective at delivering your sales message.
Use the pull quote to draw the eye to key elements of your sales message
Pull quotes are those little boxes off to the side of many one page sales letters that highlight a short blurb that the author thinks is particular noteworthy. Your one page sales letter shouldn't be without them. You can use pull quotes for:
- Bullet points
- Features
- Benefits
- Testimonials
- Call to action
Making use of bullet points in your sales copy
Paragraphs are great, and copywriters make a living writing them. But good copywriters also know the powerful ability of well-crafted bullet points to summarize, simplify, and sell. You can put them in the body of your sales letter or in pull quotes off to the side. I've even seen them used very creatively in a form that a reader could check off as he read. The form didn't even submit any real data. It just turned a list of reasons the reader might want to buy the product into an interactive checklist.
Always supply supporting details to support your claims
Supporting details play defense in your sales copy when the reader has some doubts. The more specific your details are, the better. You can provide details about features, details about benefits, or details about real applications of your product or service. Preferably, you should provide all three.
Your claims should be supported by the facts. Those facts need to be presented carefully so that they are not boring, but they do need to be presented.
Use graphic design to put your reader at ease
Most professional copywriters will agree that the powerhouse of the sales letter is the copy. But good graphic design has an important role in the sales psychology, and that is to not get in the way of the sale.
Most good sales letters are understated in the graphics department, and for good reason. While it's true that too many words on the page without a graphic break can be overwhelming for some readers, it is far easier to err on the side of clutter and distraction with too many graphics. When that happens, your message and call to action get hidden in the clutter.
When you use graphics, use them to convey something important. You can use a chart to show increased sales, or photos of real people using your product or services to show that the reader will be in good company.
One of the best places to use graphics is in the call to action, whether it's in the form of a "Click Now" button, or a photo of the product.
Make a repeated call to action
Whatever you do, don't scrimp on the call to action. Even if the rest of your one page sales letter was crafted well, if the call to action is missing or underwhelming, the sales letter has failed. It needs to really close the sale with the major benefits of acting today–right now–not tomorrow.
Don't be afraid to ask for a response repeatedly. If your order form is at the end of your sales letter, place links throughout it to jump the reader down to it. Even if it's on a separate page, provide those links throughout the letter.
Don't save your call to action for the end of your sales letter. You don't know which paragraph a reader will be on when they decide they HAVE to have your product. Make sure you give them a way to get there!
Want some help with your copywriting project? Good copywriting is not cheap, but it's worth its weight in gold if you want results. Contact me for your professional copywriting needs. |