Bright Ideas # 41 – Proven Ways to Power up Your Next Sales Letter 

Have you ever written a sales letter? How did it go? Did you get any response?

If you wrote it yourself, you probably went through the following cycle:

Procrastinating about writing the letter…

Agonizing while you write the letter…

Finally finishing the letter (Whew!)…

Mailing the letter out to clients, customers, friends
and/or associates…

Waiting…

And waiting…

And waiting, for responses that never come…

Feeling frustrated about all the time and money you wasted
sending the darn thing out!

If any of this strikes a chord for you—or you are thinking about sending out your first sales letter in the near future—this week’s email is for you.

Because today I am going to share the secrets of some of the worlds most effective direct mail experts including Dan Kennedy, Bob Bly and Richard Benson.

How do I know these secrets? First, because I am a readaholic. I subscribe to about ten e-newsletters per week. Plus, I rip through an average of two books per month on marketing, copywriting, sales, business management or psychology.

Second, because I’ve personally used these techniques to power up my—and my client’s—sales letters time and again.

Believe me, these recommendations are not just shots in the dark. Direct mail (IE sales letters, sales packages, postcards, junk mail, etc.) is one of the most tested forms of marketing.

Large firms spend literally millions of dollars each year on testing—sending out variations on a theme to see which generates the most response. Once they’ve found the best one, called a control, they then set out to improve on that with more testing.

These very tips have been scientifically proven to turbo-charge the money-making power of your mailings. So buckle your seat belt before you read on…

1) No matter who you are writing to, use an informal, conversational tone that sounds as though you are just one person speaking to another.

2) Don’t worry about your letter being too long. Years of research has shown that long sales letters (ten or more pages)—when they offer valuable information—outperform short letters every time.

3) Break up your letter using bullets, subheads and even handwriting in the margins to make it more skimmable and highlight key points.

4) Include testimonials whenever possible.

5) The headline and the PS get read first, and get read the most (80% of readers will read the PS). Leave them out at your own peril.

6) Don’t just mail one letter (or postcard) and expect to get oodles of responses. Instead, create a three (or more) step mailing sequence to give your prospects a chance to get to know you and decide to take action.

7) People are more likely to buy again in the first 30 days after making a related purchase.

8) A carbon copy follow-up of a successful sales letter sent two weeks after the original mailing with a note on it that says “If you missed the first one, here’s a second opportunity” will generate 50% of the response of the original.

9) Offering a premium or bonus (Remember the Ginsu knives commercials??? They always had a bonus for buying) increases response.

10) When it comes to payment plan options, sales will increase in direct proportion to the reduction in the size of the payments and the increase in the number of monthly payments.

11) Give people a reason to take action now—a deadline, a special price, a limited-offer bonus gift.

12) Putting a physical object in your mailings gets them opened more often (just recently I’ve received a magnet, a button, and a pen).

13) Don’t forget a call to action. If you don’t tell the reader what to do next, chances are they won’t do anything.

14) Always include a response mechanism. This can be an order form, order card, return envelope, phone number or even a Web address. Self addressed, stamped forms get more response than ones the reader has to stamp themselves.

15) Repeat your offer on your order form or response card. Don‘t forget to include your guarantee, any deadlines, bonuses or premiums as well as instructions. This could be all thy read.

16) Test, test, test. The only way to know how successful a sales letter will be is to send a few out and see what happens.

I’ll be the first to admit that writing truly powerful sales letters is both an art and a science. Few things can replace practice and experience…But these tips sure do help.

Best of all, you can also use these same tips to power up your direct mail postcards, as well as online and email sales letters. So print out this list and get writing!

©2002-2006 Success Stream. All Rights Reserved. www.success-stream.com

Do you have a marketing, advertising or writing question you’d like to have answered? Email me and you might see the answer in a future edition of Bright Ideas.

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