The Secret of Successful Sales Letters
Published by Renae E. Gregoire December, 2002
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Does the title of this article sound familiar to you? Probably, because it’s a common ploy direct marketing writers use to get you to open their direct mail envelope or email letter. Can you recall the last really good mail piece you received? One that lit a fire inside you and made you pick up the phone, or get out your checkbook? How about the last time you opened an email letter from a well-known company (read: a marketingrich company), and actually took the time to read the whole thing? Or, more importantly, followed the instructions at the end of the letter, and clicked through to learn more or to order? Now how do you suppose that successful letter came to be? Do you think the company hired a copywriter who churned out one letter that brought them instant success? they know what goes into a successful sales letter. Make sure they understand direct marketing concepts, and that they know what works--and what doesn’t. x You Are Here
Instead, we’re starting at the point where you have a final sales letter in hand--ready to mail. It’s already been tweaked and polished, and has all the elements that should make it a success. Your next step is called a test mailing. No matter what your list size, use equal portions of up to 20% for testing. Note the results. Now, change ONE variable in the letter. Any variable. In fact, if you’ve hired a writer, you can ask them if their fee includes multiple variables so you can work through your testing phase. Another alternative is to create and mail two letters simultaneously, and test them against each other. When you have a winner, begin tweaking the variables. What variables can you test?
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PrecisionTargeted Marketing Copy
Sorry to burst your bubble, but successful direct mail and email letters usually don’t happen that way. But successful letters DO happen--they CAN happen, and I’m going to tell you how. Testing, Testing, Testing Now I’m not going to tell you how to write a great sales letter. There’s plenty of information available on the topic. Besides, if you’re hiring a writer to create your sales piece for you, you just have to make sure
Headline/subheadings Opening paragraph Offer (1/2 off or buy 1 get 1 free?) P.S.
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The Secret of Successful Sales Letters
The Secret of Successful Sales Letters
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Font size Placement of offer Subject line (for email letters) Appeal (benefit focus) Illustrations/graphics
By the way, these concepts also apply to web page sales letters, and print advertisements. How Variable Changes Boost Results 1. Change Headline Appeal. Resort in the Berkshires ran a full page ad with a headline “Feel pleasure in places you never knew existed.” It generated 97.4 percent more inquiries, and converted 50% more inquiries into sales. Previous headline? “New life form discovered in Massachusetts.” Change Font Size. Email sales letter campaign by popular clothier brought a 10% increase in response by changing the headline from a size-10 font to a size-12 font. Change Offer. Web service seller with single page web sales letter boosted sales by 5.5% after offering free sample of services.
Test everything on a small scale before you spend money on a large scale…. It enables you to multiply the results you get from the dollars you spend in advertising. John Caples, in Tested Advertising Methods
This list is not all inclusive. You can also change price or incentive offers like free booklets or other giveaways. The point is to change one variable, and one variable only, and then send out another test run. Are the results better than before? If so, keep the change. If not, change it back, and try another variable. I’ve been asked before: Can we change more than one variable? I want to change the whole thing! My reply? If you change two variables, how will you know what increased or decreased your response? And sure, you can change the entire letter, but then you’re starting from scratch. If you’re writing yourself, or if you’re using a copywriter who has not studied successful direct mail advertising, then you may as well sent out a one-shot letter and hope for the best. Or, read up about what works in successful direct mail advertising, and implement those ideas into your very first letter. (If you hire a good copywriter, your initial letter will have all the success elements to begin with, although you’ll still need to test.) And the Winner Is... When you’ve completed several testing cycles, the letter with the best mix of variables--the one that brings the greatest results--is considered your control. Once you’ve got a control letter that’s proven to bring you the results you’re looking for, your goal becomes to KEEP TESTING...and to beat the control!
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“Web service seller with single page web sales letter boosted sales by 5.5% after offering free sample of services.”
Don’t Delay. Order Today. Testing your letters, web content and advertising is time consuming, but it pays rich dividends in the end. But don’t fall prey to the common misconception that hiring a writer is the end-all-be-all extent of your sales letter campaigns. Think about it. If you’re paying a writer $750 for a sales letter, you’re paying for a starting point only. If you’d like your copywriter to work through the testing phase, expect to pay extra. Or, hire an advertising agency for $6,000, and let them do the testing for you. Winning sales pieces happen with testing. Since you owe it to yourself to develop sales pieces that perform, test, test and test some more.
Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game. Goethe
Target Your Market Precisely. With Copy by The Write Idea.
Renae E. Gregoire, President St. Petersburg, Florida
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