When most new or struggling marketers talk about what feels most daunting to them about this business, it's often putting themselves out there with a product that may or may not be well received.
Therefore, they take a lot of time to polish their eBook or video recordings, only to be disappointed when sales are lackluster and affiliates are nowhere to be found for their launch.
The reason many online entrepreneurs fail to succeed with their own products is because they have not yet made an effort to master sales copy. In their mind, the product is good, and it should sell itself.
As long as they put the facts on the sales page, they feel as if that is enough, when paired with the right price point, to convert visitors into buyers. If you look at any successful launch online, you will see that the one thing they have in common is not the quality of the product, but the crafting of high quality sales copy.
Below, you will find 10 sales copy tips that can elevate your next launch to the next level. Instead of seeing visitors bounce from your sales page and having affiliates fail to answer your recruitment efforts, you will get to enjoy the profits you deserve.
#1 – Start with Professional Graphics and Formatting to Deliver Your Message
Sales copy graphics are more important than many inexperienced marketers may understand. It gives an instant air of credibility and professionalism when someone lands on your site and sees a professional looking sales letter that has been designed for a brand and formatted for maximum impact.
Everything from the style and size of the font to the color patterns that are used is important when you are developing copy for your launch. You want to be using images, videos, and other graphics that can draw attention to the right things on your sales page and highlight important messages.
Even the use of strategic white space on your sales letter is an effective way to impact a visitor when they are scrolling through your content and encountering a variety of headlines, bullet points, testimonials and other content elements.
If you are not adept at creating graphics yourself, you will want to outsource this task to someone else. You don't have to hire a $10,000 graphic designer for each launch, but you can find someone who has the skills and talents that you need on a site like Fiverr.
There are also many page builders that have built in sales letter formulas where you can simply plug in your content in the right places, and it will have the professional appeal that you want it to.
#2 - Nail Down Your Demographic Before You Write a Word
Before you begin actually writing your sales letter, you want to envision who the person is who will be reading it. Understanding your demographic or target audience is imperative to your ability to write a message that will tap into their own needs and wants.
You want the sales letter to speak to them and address their pain points or goals in life so that they immediately feel as if they have landed on a site that finally understands them and can help them.
You want to think of all of the demographic data that will help you sell to the right person. For example, are they primarily men or women? What age group are you targeting?
Are they worried about their finances? Are they experiencing pain that is limiting their ability to enjoy life to the fullest? You want to be able to tap into these emotions and paint a picture that has them seeing themselves as the most likely person to benefit from your product.
#3 - Highlight the Benefits and Pain Points in Your Copy
There are two different messages you need to convey when you are writing your sales copy. The first is the benefits that the person will enjoy if and when they purchase your product.
For example, does your product help them save money in some way? Will it enhance their productivity or efficiency? Will it add a level of happiness to their daily life? Will it make them look better?
You want them to be envisioning what life will be like after they have purchased and used your product to the fullest. Those are the benefits that they will receive in the end. However, you also want to touch on the pain points that they are experiencing.
Pain points may or may not be actual physical pain. Depending on your product, it may be something such as emotional discomfort, sadness, financial problems, relationship woes, and more.
#4 - Spend a Lot of Time Tweaking Your Headlines to Perfection
If there's one area of your sales copy that you give more attention to than any other, make it your headlines. Headlines are probably the single most important part of your sales letter, because it's what stands out as a larger, bold font for the reader.
You will have multiple headlines throughout your sales letter, and each one will have a specific goal in how it grabs the reader’s attention and points out a specific benefit or pain point to them.
Because many people simply skim a sales letter for the headlines, you want to have those laid out in a way that not only creates a sense of urgency and encouragement to your reader about needing the product now, but also helping you set the tone for the rest of the content on the page, should they want to slow down and read in a more in-depth manner.
#5 - Back Up Your Statements with Proof If Possible
Having proof on a sales letter is always a wise idea if you want to have your product convert at a higher level. Proof can come in many different formats. For example, you have probably seen info products in the Internet marketing world where they show proof of their earnings.
These can be screenshots of inside their account. You can also have other types of proof on your sales copy that include things like statistics or other numerical data that has been released in your niche.
You can look up news and do a screen grab of an article that you turn into an image to insert into your sales copy. You can also do a case study to show that the claims you are making about your product are true.
#6 - Weave Strong Emotions into Your Copy
If you were to write a sterile, cold sales letter, it would fail to convert highly for you. Consumers are looking for that emotional appeal that helps persuade them to take action.
There are many different types of emotions that you can use in your sales copy. You want to deliver a powerful message that truly resonates with your audience. The emotions you use may be envy, nostalgia, worry, or something else.
Sometimes, fear is an effective emotion to use in your sales copy, whether it's fear of missing out on something or fear of what could happen. You might also want to use an emotion like happiness if you are wanting to convey the feelings that they will experience once they purchase your product and put it to use.
Not only can your content as a whole convey a certain emotion, but each element such as the types of images you use, the buzzwords that you insert, and the story you tell can all contribute to the painting of a specific emotion that you want them to feel.
#7 - Tap Into Social Proof Using Real Testimonials
Whenever someone is scrolling through a sales letter, and they come upon a testimonial, they will often stop to read what someone else thinks of your product. This helps them determine whether or not it's a good fit for them.
The key is to use real testimonials, not phony ones. You want to be offering real evidence that your product is a good value and that it is effective for your target audience.
If you don't have any testimonials yet, because your product has not launched, you can always arrange for some people that you trust to get an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback about the product.
You can approach certain individuals and give them a free review copy, and ask for permission to use their feedback along with their picture or, if they're willing to, ask them to upload a video review for you.
Another thing you can do is watch for feedback to come in naturally from your buyers, and whenever someone has a positive experience, you can ask them if you can use their commentary on your sales page as a testimonial.
#8 - Hit Them with a Strong Call to Action at the End
Your call to action statement will be near the end of your sales letter, and this is where you are going to emphasize the need for them to take action right now. There are hundreds of different call to action statements, and you can usually find a swipe file online to download that you can tweak and use as your own.
These are short, punchy statements that tell someone exactly what to do. They are not long sentences or vague. Some examples of what you can use as your call to action are phrases like, “Order Now and Get 50% Off,” “Act Fast and Get a Free Bonus,” or, “Join Today and Get Grandfathered in at the Lowest Price!”
#9 - Have an Element of Real Scarcity Built Into the Offer
Scarcity is a concept that should be in all sales letters, but never in a way that lies to your audience. There are many marketers who use false scarcity and simultaneously ruin their reputation.
If you say that an offer is going to end at midnight, it needs to end at midnight. If you say that the price will go up after the next 10 sales, the price needs to go up in the next 10 sales.
Scarcity should be used as a motivator to help people make a quick decision about buying your product. Whether it is time sensitive or limited in number, you don't want to sabotage your credibility by using false claims.
Using a countdown timer is an effective way to instill scarcity without necessarily using any wording. However, there are some people who have countdown timers that reset for every visitor, and they eventually get found out and humiliated with this bad behavior.
#10 - Split Test and Optimize Your Sales Copy Continually
The best way to write high converting sales copy is to begin a split testing process where you are pitting two concepts against one another, known as A/B testing. Good copywriters know that their first draft is never the best.
You want to start your launch with two versions of the same sales letter. Only one element needs to be altered between the two, such as a single headline or the type of button that you are using.
You might split test a specific call to action to see what impact, if any one has against another. After you send a group of visitors to each sales letter, you want to monitor the results to see which version converted higher for you.
At that point, you will take the winning version and create two different versions of that one, changing a different element this time before sending it out to another group of your target audience.
You might want to split test the same element, such as the top headline or call to action on the page so that you can make improvements on that - or you might choose something completely different, such as the bullet points that you use or the testimonials on your page.
After you pinpoint the best version of your sales letter, you want to leave that in place for a larger portion of traffic to see how it performs. Writing high-converting sales copy is not something you master overnight.
You get better at it by adhering to the 10 strategies above, and by analyzing data to see how your target audience responds. Over time, you’ll learn what works (and what doesn’t) for your readers, and you will never again be embarrassed by a low-performing launch again.