Will you read a sales letter 147 pages long?
Would you mail your customers a sales letter that
makes them page through 124 case studies before
you describe what you’re selling?
Will you read a sales letter that contains 56,938
words, enough to fill a 253-page paperback book?
Some online marketers think you will. I’m talking
about the ones who write what they call “long-copy
online sales letters.” These websites usually contain
just one page. There is no navigation scheme except
the page down button on your keyboard. You are
expected to start at the top and keep reading and keep
scrolling until you surrender by placing your
order.
You’ll find an example of the long-copy, one-page
online sales letter at www.trafficsecrets.com.
I hate these sales letters with a passion. For one
thing, they are not sales letters at all. “Online sales
letter’ is an oxymoron. “One-page” online sales letter
is another oxymoron. There are no pages online. If
your pitch is online it’s not a letter. It’s a screen with
words and pictures on it.
And there’s the difference. The web is an interactive
medium. A letter is not. You read a sales letter. You
interact with a website.
The whole beauty of the web is that you are not
constrained to present your pitch in a linear fashion
from page 1 to the postscript. Just compare the
Land’s End print catalog with www.landsend.com.
Online, everything is a few clicks away. Only
online can you search for shirts by gender, size, price,
style and type of collar opening.
You can’t do that with their print catalog. Print is linear.
Which is why a 56,938-word, 147-page “sales letter”
is so ridiculous.
Online shoppers aren’t linear. They don’t want to read
from top to bottom. They don’t want to scroll through
124 case studies to find your guarantee.
Online shoppers want to navigate to the pages that
interest them. They want to easily find information
about gift cards, weekly specials, your return policy
and plenty more.
Your goal as a direct marketer with a website is to
help your visitors find what they want quickly. And
make buying easy. So don’t give your sales pitch on
one page. And don’t put over 400 exclamation marks
in one letter either, OK?
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About the author
Alan Sharpe is a direct mail copywriter who helps business owners and marketing managers generate leads, close sales and retain customers using direct mail and email marketing. Learn more about his creative direct mail writing services and sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.sharpecopy.com.
© 2007 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the “About the author” message).
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