How To Write A Long Form Sales Letter ?
If you can write, you can sell.
Writing long form sales letter is tedious as you will need to put in a lot of thoughts and research into it. In fact, if you are planning to sell online, I suggest you try to at least understand the basics… so that at least when you outsource, you know what your “hired gun” is really worth.
The reason why I got into writing long copy was because when I got started, I was really bootstrapped. So, in a way, I was forced to learn how to write them. Sure, you can hire a professional copywriter, but a good copywriter would cost you anything between $7.5K to as high as $15K. I know for sure top gun Dan Kennedy charges up to $50K per copy with a rev share on the backend.
Ok, so how do you start ? Well, if you have read my post on How to Write Million Dollar Ads , then you’ll know how I really got started. But in general, there are certain elements that you’ll need in your copy.
Each of these elements stacks up on each other and help your copy become more persuasive.
So, here are my 7 basic elements of a good sales copy:
The Hook
You don’t see a lot of people talking about this. To simplify, the hook is the “element” that gets your reader curious about what you have to say. It is what draws the reader to your story and helps to enhance your selling of your product.
I could write a whole blog post on this, but here are a few good examples of a good hook >>
1) One Legged Golfer Beats PGA Pros..
2) How John Became A Pilot With The World’s Best Airlines Faster Than Anyone..
3) Certain Diet Secrets That Burn Fat While Eating…
These are almost like your USPs, but the Hook is the story that draws the reader in and makes your copy more enjoyable. As the saying goes… story sells.
Headline
The headline is the single most important element that will determine if your copy gets read or not. I don’t know what research says, 90%, 95%, 80%…. just know that its going to be the 1st thing your reader sees before they decide if they should continue reading your copy. If your copy is not read… they’re not selling… and this also means that its bloody not working.
So… lets just say… Headline is Fucking important.
The way I write headlines… it must not only tease your hook, but also sums up your benefits in a large way.
1) Amazing Secret Discovered By One Legged Golfer Adds 50 Yards To Your Drives, Eliminates Hooks & Slices And Can Slash Up To 10 Strokes From Your Game… Almost Overnight ! >> Taken from John Carlton’s classic copy
2) How A 20 Year Old University Drop Out Became A Pilot With The World’s Best Airline In Just 1 Year Using A Backdoor Secret No One Dares To Talk About… Until Now!
3) How To Burn Up To 350 Calories of Fat Without Working Out…. Doctor Reveals All
Of course, what you claim in your headline must be true… but you get the idea. Headline draws the reader in, and your hook sells the story. Get this 2 distinction right… and you’ll be fine in your journey as a copywriter.
Bullets
The bullets are benefits of your product. If you are selling an info product, you can tease them with what they are going to learn and how its going to benefit them. If you are selling a physical product, same thing, benefits and how its going to help them.
For example:
1) You’ll also get my entire $1,258,988 campaign blueprint. These includes all the ad copy, the emails, the videos. Swipe and use them to create your own million dollar funnel.
2) xyz contains Vita C in it’s purest natural state, so that it can be absorbed deep into your skin, radiating that youth look on the outside while it renews and repairs your cells on the inside… all day long.
Testimonials
Ah… Testimonials… its ever so important to show credibility of your product.
These can include guru endorsements, celebrity endorsements or even better, students or customer success stories.
I’ve seen people combine both endorsements and success stories to great results, so… don’t forget to add them if you have it.
Risk Reversal
Basically, this elements aims to give user or prospects a “peace of mind”. If they want to try your product but are unsure if its really for them, this element here aims to answer that concern.
First thing first, if you are really proud and believe in your product, then there shouldn’t be any problem in offering a risk reversal element.
There are 2 basic way to address this and the first one is the most common ones that you’ll see in the market today. It’s known as a “Guarantee”.
I’m sure you’ve heard about 30 day, 60 day money back… and the best practice is this… the longer your money back, the better its going to help you convert. =)
The other way, which is the more powerful way of stating how confident you are of your product… is to put an “unfair” risk on your end. ie, if you don’t make your first $1,000 within your first month in this business, I’ll personally refund all your course fee and on top of that, pay you an additional $500 just for testing this out.
Scarcity
The scarcity element is there to add a sense of urgency and helps to motivate your prospect or customer to buy right now.
I’m sure you’ve seen brick and motar business using this to great effect.
For example:
One day only, everything must go 60% OFF !
Basically, anything that has a “limit” to it, can be use as a form of scarcity for your offer. These “Limited” offers can be in the form of…
1) Quantity
2) Price
3) Time
P.Ses
When you have everything in place… the last element you’ll want to include are the P.Ses.
P.S, P.P.S, P.P.P.S…
These are the places where you re-instate all your “reminders” on why they should get your product. ie, here, you can restate your product benefit. Here you can remind them why there’s simply no risk in testing the product and how it can really help solve their problem. Here you can remind them of the scarcity…
Basically… its your last chance of “selling” to your prospects.
Now.. you may be asking… is it really that important ?
If your copy is good, a huge chunk of people will read the P.Ses. Basically, it acts as a form of reassurance for them… and if you need any more reasons to write P.Ses, well, research has shown that many people reads the headline, then jump to the price point… and there, just right below your price points, are your P.Ses…
So… that’s it. A simple way to structure your long form sales copy. Hope you’ve enjoyed and learned something from this post. Now… start practicing !!