3 ‘Must Have’ Components Of A Killer Sales Copy

Everyone knows that writing an effective sales copy is the most important aspect of your marketing campaign.

What is an effective sales copy?

Let me explain it with an illustration of two examples.

Example #1: 1000 people has read your sales copy and 30 people respond to your ‘call-to-action’ and buy from you, then you have a conversion rate of 3%.

Example #2: 1000 people has read your sales copy and 300 people buy from you. Essentially, you have a conversion rate of 30%.

The sales copy in example #2 is more effective than the sales copy in example #1.

With the same number of readers reading your sales copy, an effective sales copy will have the power to influence and persuade more people buy from you.

Effective sales letter translate to more sales for your business.

Therefore, if you are marketing online or offline, you must learn to master this essential skill of writing effective sales copy.

Quoting from the late ‘Prince of print’ Gary Halbert: “The most valuable skill you can have in today’s world… if you want to become independently wealthy…is the ability to write a great sales letter.”

As a copywriter myself, I have read through many sales letters. I have discovered that all converting sales letters have this three essential components. They are:


1) Killer Headline

If you are a copywriter, you will probably come across “AIDA”. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. AIDA is used as a simple formula to guide copywriter to write compelling sales copy.

First in the list of AIDA is to attract ‘Attention’. If you do not have a headline that can capture your reader attention and move them to read on to the rest of the sales copy, then you will probably loss a lot of sales.

Let face it. Each of us are bombarded with thousand of advertising messages everyone. No one will care to look at your sales copy if the sales copy cannot capture them in the headline. You do not need me to tell you that the headline is always the first thing that people read in your sales copy most of the time.

Additionally, people are concern with their daily problem and to-do-list. Who cares about your sales copy? If you cannot write a headline that capture attention, you would probably loss more than 80% of sales.


2) Personalization

If you are walking down the street and some yell “Hi there!”, will you more likely to respond to them than when he call you by your name?

I am sure the later will probably make you turn around.

Similarly, you should write in a personal way. In other word, write the way you talk with a friend.

When you write the way you talk with a friend, your readers will be more responsive than when you walk in a formalized business way.

Remember the “Hi there” example? When I call you by your name, you will more like to respond than when I yell “Hi there’.

If you want your readers to be more responsive to what you want them to do in your sales copy, then learn to write the way you talk.




3) Scarcity & Call To Action

You catch your reader attention in your headline and you get them to be responsive to your call-to-action by writing the way you talk, what next?

It is obvious that at this stage, you should call them to take action (whatever action you craft your sales letter to accomplice, be it to buy from you or to give them your name and email address).

But what can motivate them to take action and more importantly, to do the single thing that you ask them to do in your sales copy?

One of the psychological trigger that you can use is ‘scarcity’.

Tell them that if they don’t act now, the offer will not be available anymore once the 500 copies are sold out or three days later. The condition for the scarcity is up to your creativity as long as you can get them to take action now.


I would coin this simple formula of writing effective sales Letter as KPSC. KPSC stands for “Killer Headline, Personalization, Scarcity & Call To Action”

Use this simple formula to guide you to write effective, compelling and sizzling sales copy.

Here are some good resources where you can read Sales letter written by copywriting guru Jo Han Mok. Read them and see if you can identify the three components of a killer sales copy in his sales letter. You be your own judge!

http://crackingtheinternetmillionairecode.com/recommends/internetmillionairecode

http://crackingtheinternetmillionairecode.com/recommends/InsidetheInternetMillionaireMind

http://effectivesalesletter.com/recommends/WarpSpeedIncome

http://effectivesalesletter.com/recommends/PillGates

7 Ways To Copywriting Successful Order Form

You can write very persuasive sales letter, but if you order form does not get your prospect to take action to buy from you, then every marketing effort of your sales copy failed.

It’s simple. Nothing happen until a sales take place.

At the core of direct response marketing, you want to track every marketing effort that you do.

In the case of writing a sales copy, you want to track how many readers buy your product, or technically, we call it the conversion rate.

The order form in your sales copy constitutes a very important role in getting you the sales.

You see, it is at the order form in your sales copy that your prospect decides if he/she is to pull out the credit card to make the purchase.

Here are 7 ways to writing successful order form.

1) Have a Headline to reassure your prospect that he/she is making a smart buying decision.

This is important. Just like you have a headline at the start of your sales copy, you need to have a headline at the start of your order form.

Why is it so?

Some prospects skip reader the sales copy and scroll right down to the order form to see what the heck you are offering them.

Use a headline to capture their attention and reassure them that they are right to read about it and place an order.

You see, people need assurance make a purchase. Give them the assurance in the headline and increase your sales.

Here is an example of an order form headline:

“Congratulation! You Are About To Access To A Rare, Hard To Find And Out-Of-Print Century Old Secret That Not One in A Millions Know.”




2) Have a checkbox to facilitate commitment and consistency psychological influence on your prospect

When people are committed to a cause, they are usually consistent in their action to follow through with what they have committed.

What can you do with a checkbox?

Yes, you simply check on it.

Whether the prospect does in physically (by moving the mouse and click on the checkbox) or he/she does it in his mind, either way, a commitment is make to buy your product.

This way, it makes it easier for him/her to make a consistency purchase.

3) Speak in your prospect inner voice to influence buying trance

During this time, at the order form, your prospect is struggling with a conflicting voice (the subconscious mind dialoguing with the conscious mind).

There is an internal dialogue in your prospect mind. You can influence that dialogue in your fervor by flashing a message that is spoken in the prospect inner voice just next to the checkbox.

Here is an example: “Yes Yew Heng, Give Me Access To Your Copywriting Empire Right Now!”

This strengthens your buying message from your prospect’s subconscious mind to his conscious mind, thus influencing him to a buying trance.

4) Summary of what the prospect will stand to benefit from the purchase

Generally, it makes sense to have a summary of what the prospect will get from the purchase in the order form.

This way, the skimmer ( those who scan through your sales copy quickly), will get a chance to make a quick buying decision, without scrolling up and down the sales copy to find out what is the deal.

If you make life easy for them, they will place more money in your pocket.


5) Display the product pictures on your order form

As the Chinese say “A picture speaks a thousand words.”

If you have amazing picture of your products in the order form, it increases the perceived value of what the prospect will get from the purchase.

This increases their appetite to make the purchase now, which is important as this is the job of your order form.

6) Highlight the guarantee that is being offer

In this age of uncertainty, especially when you are marketing online, having a guarantee is imperative to you making more sales.

Since a guarantee is so important, why not just highlight it in your order form. This will ease your prospect and make him/her to make a buying decision easier.


7) Have a persuasive “call to action” message at the end of the order form

At the end of your order form, you need to kick the ass of your prospect to make a buying decision now.

Some people are simply poor decision maker. They need you to command them to make the purchase you. They need a leader.

Tell them in the face “Make your best ever decision to get your hand on the copywriting system now or the price will soon go up.”

Incorporate scarcity and urgency in your message to get them to act.

You should also enclose your order form in a Johnson box. Normally, people are attracted to the information within a Johnson box.

This is what you want. You want your prospect to be attracted and focus on your order form.

You can definitely up your sales if you polish up your order form in your sales copy.

4 Fatal Mistakes Most Internet Marketers Made In Copywriting Part II

Mistake # 3

One of the deadliest sin any copywriter commit is that they fall in love with the wrong thing.

Instead of falling in love with your prospect or customer, they fall in love with the product.

In their sales letter, they write some much about the product features.

It is not wrong to describe the product features in your sales copy. However, you need to understand that this is a PEOPLE business.

You are writing to a person, not a robot. You need to write in a way that brings out the aroma of your product that will appeal to your prospect.

Your messages in print must intrigue them enough to make them want to buy your product.

To overcome this obstacle, you can visualize yourself as your prospect or customer. Picture yourself in their position.

What are you thinking of now?

What do you really want?

Put those answers in print and your sales copy will connect with your prospect like a human magnet.

Mistake # 4

Again mistake # 4 is really related to mistake # 3.

Now instead of falling in love with the product, this time, the copywriter falls in love with themselves.

Have you ever sell sale copy that is very much self-centric?

The copywriter uses a lot of the word “I” or “We” instead of the word “You”

Why is it so?

Simply because they are so self focus that they talk more about themselves than to cater to the needs of their precious prospect or customer.

This is also the mistake make in institutional advertising. They write too much about themselves.

Here is an example of how institutional advertiser writes their sales copy “We are a top notch company established since 1813 with more than a century of history. We have more than 10,000 employee and we are in this business for over 100 years old…..”

Do you know what going on inside the head of the prospect?

Two words surfaced up to the top of the head: “WHO CARE!”

Instead you should construct sentences like: “You are able to discover…..”, “You have make the right decision to visit this webpage….”

In summary, these are the four mistakes most internet marketers made in writing the sale letter:

1) Headline does not catch the prospect attention (worst still, some sales letter don’t even have a headline.This is amazing, but it is true. )
2) The sales letter telegraphs a high level of desperation for the prospect money.
3) They write too much about their product in the sales copy. They fall in love with their product.
4) They fall in love with themselves. They write so much about themselves that they ignore the prospects reading the sales copy. The messages in the sales copy is not engaging to the prospect.

As I said, “Failure Leaves Traces”. Learn from other people mistake and you can short-cut your success in a writing a sizzling hot sales copy.

Whatever mistakes that you learn here that internet marketer made in writing a sales letter, do the opposite and you are on the springboard to quirkier success in copywriting and internet marketing.

Be Bold, Be Opionated

This should be the way you write your sales copy.

You want to slap people upside to head to get their attention so that you can present something useful to them.

Some will love you for that while other will hate you.

Heck, do you care?

Understand this...

Good marketing is offensive.

As long as you make the money from those that love you again and again, then you can be very very rich indeed.

Let's face it. Not everyone will like you even if you are a Mr Nice guy.

Look at the Rich Jerk.

He is selling his products like crazy by highlighting the fact that most of you are poor and that he is filthy rich.

In order to be rich like him, you should buy his wealth creation product.

And he telegraph the fact that he did not need your money any way, that you are doing yourself a favour by buying his product.

Talk about offensive marketing.... watch this video to see how "Jerky" the rich Jerk is.


Though he talk and market like a real jerk, still many people buy from him.

Why?

People wish they could be as outspoken as the rich jerk, that direct, that blunt. They cry for freshness in their lives.

The world is filled with people who are crying for leadership and direction.

They want to be told what to do even though they act as though they are not.

You can be opionated and controversial in your own way, maybe not the rich jerk way.

People will respect you for being that straightforward, non-sugarcoating approach.

When you write a sales copy, speak what you want from the heart. Be yourself.

This way, your sales copy will contain a personality favouring, truly yours.

People will sense it.

Remember, you are in a people business, writing to a person via the Internet as a medium.

You need to speak the way your talk and be yourself.

This will help to differentiate yourself from other copywriters.

Have you read John Kennedy "No Bullshit" series of sales and marketing books?

Here is your "No Bullshit To Copywriting" education.

4 Fatal Mistakes Most Internet Marketers Made In Copywriting - Mistake #1

The digit '4' is very significance in the Chinese language. The digit '4' in Chinese signifies "death". It is the culture of the Chinese to avoid any number that have the digit '4' in them.

Here is first of the '4' Fatal Mistakes that most internet marketers made when writing a sale copy. Fatal Mistake #2, #3 and # 4 will follow in subsequent post.

To commit this mistakes is suicidal to your internet marketing business or any business for that matter.

As Armond Morin, the internet marketing guru said: "Success leaves traces".

I can also tell you "Failure leaves traces".

If you know what causes a business to fail, then you can learn from them (not to adore them, but to avoid them )

Here is the Mistake #1 and #2 made by most internet marketers in writing a sales copy. Mistake #2 and #3 will comes in the next series of the article "4 Fatal Mistakes Most Internet Marketers Made In Copywriting Part II"

Mistake #1

The headline does not graph the attention of the prospects.

As Elmer Wheeler, author of the classic "Tested Sentences That Sell" used to say "Do not Write, Telegraph"

He says the first 10 ten words are more important the next 10,000 words. In fact, if your 10 words are not the right words, then you don't have the chance to use the next 10,000. Your customer will walk away physically if he did not flow with you mentally.

You must write a headline that grape them by the throat and make them focus their attention on your sales letter.

Understand that the each of us are bombard by thousand upon thousands of advertisement messages every day.

We are confused subconsciously.

You need to write a headline so captivating that they will drop everything in their mind and focus on what you have to said.

Generally headline with announcement, warning and breakthrough news can draw attention to your sales copy.

The word "Free" can catch the attention of information bargain hunters. Use it with discretion though. If your sales copy is intended to sell a product, by inject this false belief in your reader can be catastrophic to your sales.

Ted Nicholas Headline Challenge Exposed..

Finally, Ted Nicholas revealed the result of his Headline Challenge.

I got it wrong for one of the qeustion.

Just to recab, this are the questions:

1. (A) The Ultimate Tax Shelter
(B) Tax Shelter For All Incomes

2. (A) How To Be A Successful Consultant
(B) What Makes a Consultant Successful?

3. (A) Do You Suffer Joint Pain?
(B) Do Your Joints Feel Like They Are On
Fire?

For 1, the winner is "(A) The Ultimate Tax Shelter"

I got it right for this one.

For 2, alas, the winner is "(B) What Makes a Consultant Successful?"

I got this one wrong. After second thought, i think i know why B is the winner instead of A.

"What Makes a Consultant Successful?" are more personal and it speak right into the desire for a consultant seeking to be successful.

As for "How To Be A Successful Consultant", it sounds like that is a lot of work involved to be successful as a consultant. Even though the "How To...." headline are proven winner, this time round, it failed.

As for 3, the winner is "(B) Do Your Joints Feel Like They Are On Fire?"

This one i got it right. It is more emotional and will definately attract more attention.

You can read more about how i select the winning headlines at my last post at
--> http://copywritingbreakthrough.blogspot.com/2007/07/ted-nicholas-challenges.html

However, Ted Nicholas did not just end his email by just announching the result, he teach us a very important lesson in copywriting.

Here is what he said in the email, words for words:

"No matter how sure you are of your assumptions about copy, you must test those assumptions in a 50/50 split (an A/B split is even more scientific this is every other ad or sales letter). The best marketers in the world, including me, are not right 100% of the time.

I challenge you right now to look at your currently successful copy. I'm sure that some portion of it, especially headlines, would benefit enormously by careful testing. Let me know the result."

So remember to test your sales copy even though your inner voice tell you that it is the best ever.... not until it is tested.

Believability And Copywrting

Most of Ads that we see this days are simply not believable!

The readers are not stupid. They can sense it when a sales letter is blown out of proportion.

For example, if you read a sales letter with headline that go like this "Amazing Saving For Owning A Brand New XXX Salon Car!"

Then it goes on to say that you can save $5000 from the list price. And this offer will gonna change your life!

How can this be so?

How can a $5,000 saving change our life.

No Way!

When writing a sales letter, a copywriter must first believe in the product/service that he writes.

If it is a supplement, then as a copywriter, you should consume the supplements yourself before you put pen to paper.

This way, you can truely write from your heart, since you have experience first hand the benefit of the supplement on your own life.

Understand this....

"What comes from the heart go to the heart"

Writing a sales letter is like having a heart to heart talk with your potential buyer.

It's that simple.