Writing a sales letter
Mastering copywriting is a bit like mastering a craft such as pottery or oil paint-
ing: It involves a tremendous amount of art. That said, writing persuasive copy
starts with understanding the fundamental components of a sales letter. In truth,
you can apply the principles that comprise a persuasive sales letter to all your
communications, including emails, blog posts, presentation titles, and more.
A beginner can use the process we describe here verbatim, but as you become
more comfortable with the process, feel free to change it to meet your circum-
stances. A sales letter, above all else, should be truthful and therefore might not
contain some of the elements outlined in this process simply because they don’t
apply to your offer.
Here are the steps of the process required to write a well-crafted sales letter. You
can refer to this as a checklist to ensure that you’ve included all the essential ele-
ments of a persuasive letter:
1. Craft the headline.
2. Write the subheadline.
3. Write the opening.
4. Show ease of use.
5. Forecast the future.
6. Establish credibility.
7. Write bullets that sell.
8. Show proof.
9. Make the offer.
10. Sweeten the deal.
11. Communicate urgency.
12. Reverse risk.
13. Make the call to action.
The following sections explain each part of the sales letter.
Step 1: Craft the headline
The headline is the first thing that people read and is therefore the most critical
piece of copy on the page. If you’re just getting started, use a “How To” headline
because they are simple to write and very effective. The How To headline will
apply to 99 percent of the offers you are promoting. Of course, your offer may
require a different kind of headline. If that’s the case, use a search engine such as
Google to search for a list of proven headlines. You can find dozens of blog post
articles that provide fantastic headline formulas.
Don’t start with a clever headline. Start with clear, simple, and direct language
that communicates the benefit to reading the sales letter copy. Clear and direct
almost always converts better than clever and confusing. Later, when you get
more comfortable with copywriting, you can get clever.
Take a look at the following How To headline formulas and feel free to use them
(filling in the blanks with your pertinent information) or to provide inspiration:
How to Get [desired result] in [time period]
How to Turn [blank] into [desired result]
How to [desired result] When You’re Not [blank]
How to Fast-Track [desired result]
How to [desired result] Even If [something challenging]
For example, this last headline formula might be used to write a headline at the
top of a sales letter that reads: How to Buy a Home Even if You’ve Declared
Bankruptcy.
Step 2: Write the subheadline
The subheadline is optional but is often needed to elaborate on the headline. Once
again, you can find dozens of articles online that provide lists of classic headline
formulas. Here are a few to get you started:
Discover How Quickly You Can [desired result]
Learn How Easily You Can [desired result]
You, Too, Can Have [desired result] in [desirable time period]
What Everybody Ought to Know about [blank]
How [authoritative person] Got [desired result] in [time period]
For example, the last headline formula might be used to write a subheadline that
reads: How Serena Williams Got in The Best Shape of Her Life in 14 Days.
You made a claim or promise in the headline you created in Step 1. Your subhead-
line should support the headline. It shouldn’t introduce a new claim or promise,
and it certainly shouldn’t conflict with it.
Step 3: Write the opening
By the time your landing page visitors are reading your opening, they have read
the headline and subheadline. Some readers have even scrolled to the bottom of
your letter to see the price and offer. In other words, they are interested.
If you’re just getting started, try the classic “Problem/Solution” opening to a sales
letter. In the first step of the opening, you identify the problem that the prospec-
tive buyer has.
Your visitors are wondering whether you truly understand their problem. As the
marketer, your job is to establish common ground between you and your visitors.
Show empathy for the problem and be specific about their state of discontent.
Next, you want to reveal that a solution to this problem exists, and it is your prod-
uct or service (of course!). You don’t need to go into great detail about the product
or service at this point; you do that later.
For example, if you’re selling tax preparation services, you might open your sales
letter with the following:
It’s that time of year again. April 15th is drawing near, and you’ve got an entire
weekend circled on your calendar to dig up all those receipts and tax documents.
Let’s face it, preparing your own taxes is frustrating at best.
If you’d rather spend that beautiful spring weekend with friends and family, let our
firm handle your taxes this year.
Step 4: Show ease of use
The key to this part of your sales letter is to communicate (if applicable) that your
solution is easy to do or quick to deliver results (or both). Now more than ever,
prospective customers want results quickly and easily. If you can demonstrate
ease of use or speed of results through text, images, or video, do it.
Step 5: Forecast the future
In this part of the sales letter page, you paint a picture in the minds of your readers
of what it will look like if they solve their problem. You want your readers to
imagine and feel the sense of being free of their problem.
The easiest way to start this section of the sales letter is by filling in the following
blank:
Imagine what it would be like to.
For example, Ford Motor Company might write the following to sell the
Mustang GT:
Imagine pressing the gas pedal and feeling the thrill of the Mustang’s
435 horsepower engine.
What problem does buying a Mustang GT solve, anyway? It won’t cure customers
of the flu or get them out of credit card debt. In Chapter 1, we talk about articulat-
ing the customer’s movement from the Before state to the After state. In your
sales copy, you must be able to articulate the value of that After state. In the case
of the Mustang, you’re freeing people from their boring, old, and slow car of the
Before state and delivering to them a new, beautiful, and exhilarating car.
Step 6: Establish credibility
In this step of putting together your sales letter, you need to address a question in
your visitors’ minds: Why you?
That is, why are you or your organization qualified to solve their problem? You
need to establish why the solution you have is credible. You have a number of ways
to demonstrate your credibility, including the following:
» Use a testimonial: If you have a broad testimonial from a happy customer
that fortifies your credibility, you can place it here.
» Give your credentials: Provide any credentials that give people a reason to
believe in you as a solution — for example, you’re a doctor, earned your MBA,
served as an Air Force pilot, or other credential that relates to the type of
solution you’re offering.
» Borrow credentials: If you know someone whose credentials are worthy and
who endorses you and your product, identify that person here (and include
his or her endorsement, if possible).
» Tell your story: Have you had an experience that makes you qualified to
solve this problem? (Gotten over your stage fright, taught yourself to walk
again, lost 50 pounds?) Tell that story.
» Use impressive numbers: If you have impressive data, years’ worth of
experience, or numbers of successful customers, use them here.
Remember that at this point, no one who doesn’t have the problem you’re describ-
ing is reading this copy. At this point in the sales letter, you must explain why
you’re qualified to solve the problem.
Step 7: Write bullets that sell
Although you hope that the reader of your sales letter will read every word you
write, the truth is that most people will only skim your letter. Adding bullets to
your sales letter breaks up the text and often causes even the most hurried skim-
mer to pause and read. You should include three to five bullets that explain the
benefits of your offer. Take your time on this step, but don’t get bogged down. For
your first draft, this step should take no longer than 30 minutes. You can come
back and spend more time on these benefits after you have created this first draft.
This is not the time to explain the product or service you are offering. This is the
time to outline the benefits your reader will receive if they buy your product or
service.
Remember that people don’t buy products and services; rather, they buy a desired
outcome:
» They don’t buy cold medicine; they buy a good night’s sleep.
» They don’t buy a gym membership; they buy a shapely or healthier body.
» They don’t buy pest control; they buy a clean, safe home for their children.
Step 8: Show proof
In this step of writing your sales letter, you create the most important element of
your copy: proof. Proof isn’t the same thing as credibility or the credibility of your
organization, which you established in an earlier step. Establishing your credibil-
ity creates trust, but throughout your copy, you’ve started to introduce promises
to your readers. Now you need to substantiate those promises by providing proof
of your claims. If you’re selling a physical product, this is a good time to demon-
strate, through video or images, how the product works and show it doing the
things you described in the bullets you wrote earlier.
Infomercials have mastered the concept of showing proof. They show knives cut-
ting through nails and then easily slicing a tomato, or they demonstrate a cleanser
removing a red wine stain. Proof appears in many forms, including:
» Demonstration: If you can show that it works, do it.
» Social proof: If you have testimonials that fortify the claims you’ve made,
include them here. Mention how many other people have benefited from
your solution.
» Data or research: Use data and research that you have conducted yourself
or from reputable sources.
» Borrowed credibility: Find and use information from reputable sources such
as The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, or trade associations.
The higher the risk involved in your offer, the more proof your buyers will need to
feel comfortable in making a purchase with you.
If you can’t properly substantiate a claim you’ve made, consider removing it.
A claim or promise with no proof can do more harm than good.
Step 9: Make the offer
The offer you make to your readers should include exactly what they can expect to
receive if they give you money. Most important is for your offer to be clear and not
at all confusing. If your readers have even a shadow of a doubt as to what they will
get, they won’t buy. Here are some examples of information to include for the
sake of clarity:
» Will you ship a product? How long will it take to get there?
» What are the dimensions of the product? What is the weight?
» How much does it cost? Are payment terms available? Do you accept
American Express?
Think through the questions that your readers might have about the offer and be
sure to answer all those questions.
Step 10: Sweeten the deal
You may find that bonuses are not applicable to your offer. However, if you can
add bonuses, you will almost certainly increase response. Perhaps you can add, at
no additional cost to your buyers, a bonus product to the first 100 people who
respond. Or give those who buy before a specified date an additional discount.
Adding a bonus is a great way to increase urgency (covered in Step 11) by taking
those bonuses away after a certain date, or after a certain quantity has been sold.
Step 11: Communicate urgency
Adding urgency to your offer, if appropriate to your product or service, gets your
readers to take action now, which is what you want. If they decide to think about
it or to do it later, they’re unlikely to return.
You can persuade people to take action now by communicating the urgency of
taking the offer now. If they believe they could come back tomorrow, next week,
or next year and get the same offer, they’re less likely to take action now.
Don’t manufacture scarcity or urgency, but if you have a real reason that people
should take action now, be sure to communicate it. Here are some examples:
» Register for this event now; there are only 32 seats remaining.
» Buy now: This offer is available only until midnight, January 26.
» Only 1,000 of these coins were created by the U.S. mint.
Another way of creating urgency in your sales letter is with a simple statement,
such as, “Think how much it is costing you every day that you don’t take action
on this problem.”
Step 12: Reverse risk
In this step of the sales letter, you add risk reversal, which provides people with a
feeling of security about the purchase. You have numerous ways to reduce risk,
including by
» Providing a guarantee
» Offering a free trial
» Providing a return policy
» Using trust seals, including association membership logos, BBB insignia,
secure checkout seals, and so on
Step 13: Make the call to action
A call to action tells people exactly what you want them to do and how to do it. It’s
a simple command statement, such as “Click the Add to Cart button below.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your happy
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