5 Sales Letter Blunders That LOSE the Sale

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The average conversion ratio of most sales letters is a pitiful1% -- or worse.
Thankfully, there are dozens of little nuancesthat can instantly boost the amount of prospects you convert tobuyers. Conv...
The average conversion ratio of most sales letters is a pitiful1% -- or worse. Thankfully, there are dozens of little nuancesthat can instantly boost the amount of prospects you convert tobuyers.
Conversely, there are just as many that can make thatratio take an *immediate* nose dive.Are YOU committing any of these five response-busting bloopers? BLOOPER #1: "This offer expires in 1.2 minutes!"Yeah -- right. And I'm Daffy Duck.FACT: Time-sensitive offers can and DO increase response.
FACT: Hundreds of visitors won't know the difference between fake, limited-time-offer hokey, and the real deal. FACT: You might be isolating several hundred MORE would-be customers with your dishonest "time-sensitive offer."FACT: The smart ones will know the truth anyway.All I need to do to find out if an offer REALLY "expires today!"is take a quick peek at the page's HTML code.
If I see a jumbleof JavaScript coding where today's date is supposed to be, I know I've got days, weeks, or even forever to get that "limited-timeoffer." Whoops -- I just released your "little secret!" Not to worry. See the end of this tip for a quick fix.This little coding trick doesn't bother ME personally, as I'llstill buy the product if the offer is good.
But, some peoplesimply *will not buy* if they see the same "limited-time offer"on your page for a week. It's true! But, you can offer limitedtime offers WITHOUT being dishonest to your visitors.Want to know how? e-Mail me and ask, at:If you *ask me*, I'll send you an idea that I haven't seen ANYONE else use as of yet.
Don't worry, I'm not disguising a product ofmine as the "idea," and you won't be added to any pesky follow-uplist. I'm simply reserving the details for the few *motivated*marketers actually reading this article, because this idea won'tbe quite as effective if everyone knows how it works.
BLOOPER #2: "Use that bold; just don't abuse it."The most important thing to keep in mind when bolding your salespage text is to bold THE RIGHT WORDS. Not only are too many boldwords hard to read, but they defeat the purpose of the bolding -- to stress an *important* point.Visualize the words in all caps in the sentence below as the boldwords in a sales letter:"LEARN a simple, easy-to-apply, 3-step formula for steadily increasing your WEBSITE profits each and every MONTH." Now ...
wasn't that goofy? BLOOPER #3: "Am I supposed to READ this thing or dissect it?"Imagine the trouble you have reading an e-mail that fills yourentire screen with one massive paragraph. Now, magnify thatfeeling 500 times over.
Congratulations! You've just experiencedthe amount of frustration Web surfers feel when they're expectedto read a 10-screen sales message composed of only 3 paragraphs.Massive blocks of text in sales copy are just not cool.Reading from a computer screen is already much more strenuous tomost people than reading offline documents, so make your salespage easy on the eyes by using paragraphs that are no longer than 4-6 sentences each. BLOOPER #4: "Is it a person, place, or thing, Pat?"If your visitors don't know what you're selling, they won't bevery compelled to buy it -- even if it IS the greatest widget inthe history of widgethood.
After all, if they don't KNOW it's awidget, why would they want it?Let me give you an example.The website of one "multi-millionaire" is selling a mystery itemdesigned to tell you how to make millions. Throughout their sales letter, they give vague "details" of their own personal plight to making millions with "just a little work" by using their formula.Even more interestingly, this person doesn't offer a money-backguarantee.
Instead, they offer to "give you a formula thatworks." (In short, all they "guarantee" is that you'll get theproduct you're paying for -- the "secret" of how they made theirmillions. Oh joy!)If it's such an effective formula, why not describe it? And moreimportantly, why not offer a money-back guarantee? Did I mentionthat a very minute percentage of customers ever take advantage of such a guarantee?Umm ...
I'm not buying it. Either figuratively OR literally.
BLOOPER #5: "If you're going to sell it, SELL it!"In 99% of sales letters I've seen, it's quite obvious that thewriter is intending to sell me something. Not to say that thisis BAD at all, because hey -- we all gotta eat.
However, if I'mgoing to buy something, I'll need to know the price.Case in point, I've seen sales letters deliver a huge pitch about their product, but have no price for it listed anywhere on thepage. Click to the order page, and still the same deal.
Fill outa form, advance to the next screen, and still no go. Get to thebilling information page, and only THEN do you see the price ofthe product.Why was it such a secret? If your product is worth the price, don't hide it.
Trust me. Indoing so you'll make your prospects think that you hid it because your product is overpriced -- and they'll leave without buying.
Final Words...So -- how does YOUR sales letter measure up? If you're currentlycommitting any of the five deadly sales copy sins above, it's notto late to repent and reform. Remember, you could be driving hundreds of hot prospects awaywith each one of the flubs above.
Take the opportunity now to fix your sales copy before you forget, and start increasing your hitsto sales ratio immediately. I'm rooting for you! Article Tags: Sales Letter, Sales Letters, Sales Copy Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .