Having written an article on how to write a successful sales letter it seems like a logical thing to now outline how not to present your product or service to potential customers. The first thing to say is that, however brilliant your product, if you can’t get its value and benefits across to a potential customer your sales will be a great disappointment. The crucial issue is to write from the reader’s perspective rather than from your own. Using words such as “I” and “Me” will cause a reader to switch off very quickly. “You” is the word that should be used as much as possible. Your potential customer is interested in what the product can do for him/her; they are not interested in you.
If your sales letter focusses on the features of your product, however clever or useful you may perceive them to be, you will not connect with your customer. Benefits are the things to communicate. Features may interest a customer but they will not raise the desire to purchase which you need to engender. Any vague wording too will cause a reader to lose interest. The use of everyday words such as “Stuff” or “Things”, are far too general and could result in your reader losing the plot. All wording should be very precise and to the point; every single word should help to convey a clear message.
On the other hand, a potential customer should never feel that they are being lectured. It is possible to inform without seeming to preach. Never instruct your reader to “Learn how to do something”. It is far better to encourage them to “Discover how…..” Once again you are involving them rather than leading them. Never make them feel that they are back in school or college. Similarly the word “Tell” is best avoided. Use of a thesaurus to find alternative words which fit your text is a very good idea.
When it comes to the offer part of your sales letter avoid the word “Buy” at all costs. Use words such as “Invest” or “Claim”. The word “Purchase” is possible, if unavoidable, but never “Buy”. It is a word you find very rarely on the internet. This ties in with the necessity to encourage your reader to see the “Value” of your offer rather than its cost. Read any sales letter from any business and you will find the actual cost is the very last issue discussed. The hope is that, if your letter has been well written, your potential customer will have already grasped your products value and will, therefore, be more receptive when it comes to the price.
Never overload your sales letter with images of fast cars, exotic holidays, huge mansions, etc. if you are promoting business products, or similar hyperbole for other niche products. Be truthful and understate your case. If you go over the top your readers will start to view your offer with suspicion. That is human nature. It is an axiom in internet marketing that we always treat our customers with respect. Anything in a sales letter which goes against this axiom is likely to be off-putting and counter-productive. Do not insult the intelligence of your reader.
One general piece of advice, – don’t let your sales letter be too impersonal. Whereas it won’t help to be too chatty, it is a good idea to begin with a greeting of some sort and to end with a sign off, like any other letter. These needn’t be traditional wording; think of something related to the topic of your letter. Open with “Dear Entrepreneur” or similar if your topic is business related, and sign off with, “I wish you every success in your business venture”, or something along those lines. Do not just start and end your sales letter without acknowledgement of basic human courtesies. A sales letter, like any other form of letter, is a communication from one person to another. Let the reader feel that you are addressing them personally. Advice given in the training of TV announcers focusses on the need to speak to camera as if speaking to just one person so each viewer feels that they are being addressed directly.
A final test for any passage in a sales letter is to ask yourself, would that wording appeal to me if I were on the receiving end. If you have any doubts rewrite it.