One of the biggest challenges to selling your product or service online is writing the sales copy. You are basically trying to use text to convey the benefits of your product to the buyer. Hopefully, the prospective buyer has already been searching for the answer to their problem. It is your job to convince them that your offer will satisfy their needs.
You have a product that you believe in and stand behind. Your price is competitive and you offer some incentives to the buyer. The problem is how to write a good, solid sales letter that will lead your prospects to buy from you. There are many ways to write effective sales copy. It is definitely not a cookie cutter science though. Learn to be attentive to the needs of your clients, and explain in simple language why they should buy the product you are selling. It is always in your best interest as a sales copy writer to keep things simple and to the point. With that said, let us move on to what components you should include in your sales letter to make it outstanding.
Start with the main focus of your sales letter: Ask yourself; What is the Unique Selling Position (USP) my company is trying to offer our clients? In other words, how is our product or service uniquely beneficial to the buyer? Answer this question first. Then you will have the basis for writing a compelling online sales message.
The USP must be something that your competitors do not offer, or your company does better for the customer. It might be something about the price, the superiority of your product or even the great service after the sale. Whatever you decide as your unique selling position, be sure to emphasize it more than once using simple down to earth language.
The outline to use for good sales copy includes these things in order of appearance on the page:
1. Benefit Headline. Tell your customer exactly how they will benefit from buying your product now.
2. State your USP in easy to understand text. Let the buyer know they have found a unique solution to their specific need.
3. Give the reader an idea of the many advantages of owning your product. This will keep them interested in reading deeper into your copy to discover if it really is what they want to buy. 3 to 5 bullet points should do it. Make the points clear and try to build desire in the reader's mind.
4. With one line of definite purpose, restate the main benefit you started the sales copy with in the headline.
5. Next, use a small list of the best features your product has to offer. A feature is something that the product has built into it that makes it special. This is important because here is where the buyer will make up their mind as to whether or not your product is right for them.
You have now captured your prospect's attention, interest and hopefully their desire. Some copywriters stress that the closing of the sale is the most important part of the sales letter. It is definitely important to emphasize this part of your pitch to the buyer. Usually a good incentive to make the purchase right now is necessary at this time. Use your judgement as to what you want to offer. This will help increase your sales conversion rate.
Closing the sale really comes down to simply asking for the person to buy your product. It may sound elementary, but do not overlook this part of the process. Experiment with different types of closing statements to see what works best. When you incorporate these elements of good sales copy, you will see an increase in the responses to your offers. Writing your own sales copy can be highly profitable when you follow these guidelines.
About the Author:
Dr. Charles Baldwin is a freelance copywriter living in Ireland, Canada and the Philippines. He has over 30 websites and blogs and specializes in direct mail and web copy. For copywriting & web design go to http://www.irishcopywriters.com. For free marketing tips go to http://www.yourmarketingsolutionblog.com & http://www.baldwin-webpromotions.com. All rights reserved. © Irishcopywriters 2008
How To Make Writing Good Sales Copy A Snap
