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vangogh
08-21-2008, 02:17 PM
Chris Garret wrote a post for Invesp.com on the real secret of sales copywriting (http://www.invesp.com/blog/sales-marketing/the-real-secret-of-sales-copywriting.html).

From the post:



The real secret behind sales, and especially sales in written form, is to KNOW with certainty and clarity


What you do and who for
Why that is needed and beneficial
The way you work
Typical results you should expect
How you are different, and why that is important

Can you answer these questions simply, clearly and in a way that any prospect would understand and recall?
What do you think?

cbscreative
08-22-2008, 07:25 PM
I tend to agree. It especially struck me that his experiences match what I often try to point out based on my own observations. More traffic to a web site may mean more sales by sheer volume of traffic, but weak copy will cause more rejection. SEO without conversion is just more numbers, more bandwidth, and still not hitting the root cause as Chris pointed out.

In talking with people, I have used this as an illustration. If you are face to face with a hyped up, pushy, line quoting salesman, you will look for an exit, but most people will still try to be tactful and polite. When a web page comes across that way, walking away is very easy...click.

The mistake I often see is the writing tries to sell from the perspective of the seller. It may contain technical terms that they expect you to understand. Worse yet is worn out pitches, manipulation, cliches, and overused buzzwords.

Just be real, think from the perspective of why your solution benefits the buyer. Approach it from their perspective. Address their needs and solve their problem. Sales will result when they believe in your solution.

vangogh
08-22-2008, 09:19 PM
If you are face to face with a hyped up, pushy, line quoting salesman, you will look for an exit, but most people will still try to be tactful and polite. When a web page comes across that way, walking away is very easy...click.

That's a great illustration and describes the situation so well. I know I've left quite a few sites because I felt they were too pushy from the moment I arrived.

Thinking of things in terms of the buyer is the way to go. It's why you have to place the emphasis on the benefits the custom will receive and not the features you're so proud to have included.

Agree too about SEO being only part of the success. You can drive all the traffic in the world to your site, but if you can't convert it what's the point.

Chris Garrett usually has great advice in general about blogging and marketing and copywriting. So for anyone who's not familiar with his blog it's worth checking out.

KristineS
08-24-2008, 09:46 AM
The mistake I often see is the writing tries to sell from the perspective of the seller. It may contain technical terms that they expect you to understand. Worse yet is worn out pitches, manipulation, cliches, and overused buzzwords.

Just be real, think from the perspective of why your solution benefits the buyer. Approach it from their perspective. Address their needs and solve their problem. Sales will result when they believe in your solution.

I've seen that very problem so often. I encounter it a lot with our companies. Some of the stuff we do is technical or the industry has it's own jargon. My job is to translate that into text that is accessible for everyone. I think that's so important.

orion_joel
08-26-2008, 01:35 AM
I think even just those few points you quoted Vangogh, are just as important in Verbal face to face sales as they are in the text based internet sales.

While i am sure that there has been an absolutely huge amount of testing that has for whatever reason proven long winded sales copy works on the internet, it is the one thing more then anything else that causes me to click away. Generally it is nothing about what the copy says or how it says it. But if it does not straight away let me know what the product is, what i am getting for my money and how much it costs, it will almost every time have me click away before i just past the first screen.

In reality the products i have purchased online have generally either been recommended to me or i have come across a very brief summary as i mentioned and read absolutely none of the 15 to 20 page long sales copy they have maybe spent hundreds or thousands of dollars crafting.

KristineS
08-26-2008, 08:18 AM
We always put our longer pieces and brochures into PDFs and give people the option of downloading them. That way if you want more information it is available. If you just want a short synopsis, you can get that on the site.

cbscreative
08-26-2008, 11:42 AM
Joel, I believe you're right that they have "proven" some things work on the Internet, especially those every text color in the rainbow pages that scroll forever. This "works" because they generate millions of visitors so a few buy, therefore proving that they have been successful.

vangogh
08-26-2008, 12:49 PM
Joel I tend to click away from the long sales copy too, though I do like to scroll down to the bottom to see the price out of curiosity. Sometimes I will read though to learn how another is writing their copy.

The long sales copy isn't an online thing. It's actually an offline thing. The idea is that since you're not there with the potential customer your copy needs to include as much information as possible to close the sale. Even though the general thought is that people don't read as much online, the long copy still works.

Dan Furman
09-02-2008, 11:36 AM
About long copy...

I write it at times (although I like doing shorter sites better, myself), but I know it works quite nicely for many, many situations. People here seem to be saying "I'm sure someone has tested this, but in my eyes, I can't see the merit because I don't like it". Some even call it "long winded", or say the only reason it works is because hundreds of thousands of people see it and a few order...

I say open your mind to it (or anything.) Just going by how you react online (or anywhere) is actually pretty limiting when it comes to any kind of marketing. You should always look beyond what you personally like. That nutty TV commercial you hate might sell a ton of cars.

Look at it this way - I wear an XXL shirt, and I'm often stunned that many stores stock a dozen smalls, a dozen mediums, a dozen larges, yet just have 2 of sizes beyond that.

Wait.... isn't everyone an XXL like me? Who is wearing all these small and medium shirts??

The point is, these pages do have plenty of merit, and they work well for many things. It doesn't matter if you personally read it - they weren't spending the thousands of dollars on you (or 96 others) - they were spending it on the 3% that the page DID convert (or whatever the conversion rate is).

The other thing you have to realize is long copy is usually meant to convert somewhat cold prospects to a particular product or service, and it's usually meant to close the sale (replacing a salesperson, a telephone call, etc.) It's also not meant to compete with other online outlets - nobody is selling mainstream DVD's using long copy.

vangogh
09-02-2008, 12:05 PM
Good points Dan. I remember the first few times I saw some of those long copy sales pages my mind was thinking spam, though it was less the length of the copy and more the yellow highlighting and other things like that.

In time I realized that the format was used so frequently and that it did work for what it was intended to do. I likely wasn't the market for what was being sold.

From what I understand it's like you say that these pages are written for what is essentially a cold call and the idea is to get as much information as possible in to anticipate any question the person might have in mind. Most people probably don't read the entire page, but rather skim to find the parts that answer their questions. I suppose the the reason for the highlighting is to help you find things quick.

One thing I've seen recently is video replacing some of the text on these typical pages. Sometimes it's one long video that covers everything the copy would have. Other times it's a series of shorter videos mixed in with the content.

Dan Furman
09-02-2008, 01:04 PM
One thing I've seen recently is video replacing some of the text on these typical pages. Sometimes it's one long video that covers everything the copy would have. Other times it's a series of shorter videos mixed in with the content.

Maybe the Buggles can have another hit.

"Video killed the copywriting star!!" (actually, I doubt it :)

cbscreative
09-02-2008, 01:50 PM
For the record, I wasn't referring to all long pages that seek to provide information, sometimes that actually is needed. But the ebook that tells you how to make millions while sipping pina coladas on some tropical beach is typically very long winded, uses every primary and secondary color in the color wheel for text, and several other "proven techniques" that convert to sales. It's the virtual equivilent to the high pressure, stereotypical used car salesman who knows his techniques work because he actually sells cars that way.

I suppose a case could be made for the need of these ebooks and programs, because so many people want something for nothing, someone has to claim they can provide that. In marketing terms, it's giving the people what they want.

vangogh
09-02-2008, 02:32 PM
Dan you bring me back to the early days of MTV. I still remember that video from when it first aired.

Steve I think those ebook landing pages are still providing information. It might not be info you or I want, because we're not interested in the ebook, but it's information for the target market of that ebook. What I meant by information was simply everything that someone who might be inclined to buy the book would want to know.

If I'm not mistaken those landing pages are taken from direct mail sales letters that also try to include everything in the single envelope.

The idea with the landing pages is to anticipate every possible question someone might have and every possible objection they might have to purchasing the book all on one page. The info could easily be dispersed to several pages, but all the advice I see says sales go up if the info is all on one page and if you leave the prospect with two choices, to buy the book or leave. It's why you generally don't see much in the way of navigation on those pages even when there's a full site a page away.