There have been some people who have asked me how to write a sales letter before, so I figured I’d try to help you guys by writing out a semi guideline on how to go about doing so. Though, I can’t promise it’ll be a “how to write a good sales letter.” 
Just joking!
I have only written a handful of sales letters for people (and for myself) before so I’m far from being a professional at it. Though, those people I have wrote something for have been happy with the writing with no complaints (maybe behind my back on the complaints but not to my face ) and someone told me their sales have been pretty damn good.
Hey, if I can impress those few, you guys should easily be able to do the same and more. I mean, there are a lot of people who are in need of people who write sales pages. Not necessarily because they can’t write it themselves but simply the fact that they are crunched for time. Those are the same people who outsource all their work (design, sales letter, traffic, etc) and I bet if you do a good enough job, you’ll get someone to keep you around for quite some time.
The reason why people come to me is simply the fact that they think I’m good at writing as well as good at persuading people. I think I’m okay but just as long as other people are happy with it, then that’s all that really matters to me!
Plus, it’s not that hard, you just have to cover and highlight the best qualities of whatever product you’re selling.
Anyways, below is a guideline on how to write a sales letter:
Create an Attention Grabbing Headline - This should be in big letters and should be the very first thing you see besides the header design. It should be somewhat short, snappy and something that sticks out. A lot of people tend to ask a question when doing this but you don’t have to.
Some people use quotes on it as well but it’s not necessary. But I would definitely suggest it. Also, you may want to use the headline format as well as change the color so it’s different from the rest of the body’s text.
Example:
“Who else wants a powerful online money making system that does 90% of the work for you?”
*This was taken from a sales letter I seen.
I tend to also write a couple of bullet points right below it just to back up the headline. It should only be a few lines that highlight your main selling points.
The Body Should be a in Formal Letter Format – If you know how to write a regular letter to someone, then that’s exactly what you should do here. The main body of your sales page should be this long letter. I mean, it’s called a “sales letter” for a reason, right?
The reason why you’re writing in a letter style is you want to make it personal and ask questions that you already know the answer to.
Address your Potential Buyer – Most people start off by addressing in a “Dear so and so”. But the “so and so” part should be what the customer is or will be.
Example:
Dear *insert product and customer info such as “future online entrepreneur”*,
Ask Questions You Already Know the Answer to – Ask a bunch of questions you think they would want answered. Especially the important ones that would catch their eye right from the get-go.
Example:
Are you tired of getting scammed by these other products that simply don’t work? How would you like to generate more income by doing X, Y, Z?
They say not to ask yes or no questions because you want to control the outcome for both. But yes and no questions can still work in my experience. Because you can catch them with a line like “if you answered yes to any of these questions then you must keep reading because…”
Answer those Questions – If you ask the questions, you should be prepared to answer them as well. You want to briefly answer those questions with why your product is different or stands out from the rest.
Example:
*Your product* is a proven way of making money based on the *benefits*.
Answer Doubts before they Doubt – Why wouldn’t people have doubts? They probably have been scammed before or have it in their mind like “hey,will this actually work?” Of course, you have to also remember that most people aren’t like you and me who know a little bit about online business so they probably are more likely to purchase it quicker.
Example:
“I know this sounds outrageous. I’d be skeptical too. But then I did some research, found out more about *your product* and I decided to give it a shot. And this is why you should give it a shot too…”
List a Few Good Reasons – This should be examples that backup your reasoning. I mean, if you have stats that you can toss out there or customer satisfaction stuff, that’d be even better.
Example:
“Four out of five customers will agree this product is one of the best…” or “This is highly recommended by dot com moguls such as…”
Highlight your Special Features and Benefits- If you have special features or anything that really, really stands out, highlight them here. And the same thing goes for benefits. Highlight the features and then incorporate it to how it would help your potential buyers.
Sell Your Product Already! - If you haven’t mentioned your product, well, it’s time to put a link to your checkout page. Remember, sell, sell, sell! If you don’t get them to sign up, purchase or whatever, then you’re not doing your job.
Summarize Everything - It’s always good to reiterate the benefits, your products and so on. If they don’t read everything in the middle, you should have the main points in the beginning and towards the end where they purchase your product or sign up for your newsletter.
I think that covers most of what you need to know on how to write a sales letter. I’m sure I’m missing a few things on this guideline but if you include everything I mentioned, you should be fine as well.
Any questions? Feel free to drop me a line by commenting below.
To Write a Sales Letter is very dificult as it require acomplete knowledge about product or service.
These is really great tip to write sales letter. Which i think is very integral part of any business.
Nice tips, yehe it is pretty difficult to write good looking sales pages as you need to have a lot of knowledge and information about the product or service your selling. Writing a sales page will take some time and effort, but if done well you may get quite a lot of sales. As stated in the post try making it as interesting as possible, only this way people will buy something.
As most people suck at writing sales pages, it’s proberly best to outsource your work.
Good tips. I’ve also read that its best to have the more important stuff in the beginning and the end part of the letter, and the trivial/bad news in the middle.
-Jack
Nice posting dear. For make best in affiliate marketing it is really important to write one best sales letter.
It is true that the beginning and the end of the sales letter are the most important parts of any sales copy, but that does not mean that the rest of the sales letter is any less important.
The first part of your sales letter, generally speaking is not the headline, it is the preheader.
The purpose of the preheader is purely to get the reader, to read the headline.
The purpose of the headline, as well as getting one’s attention, is to have this person/s read the first sentence.
The purpose of the first very short sentence, is to get people to read the second sentence and so on and so forth (a slippery sales funnel).
The introduction to the sales letter is all about setting the tone of the sales copy, otherwise referred to in the trade as creating the buyers or buying environment.
You can do this by getting the potential buyer to say YES! – as much as possible in their subconscious mind.
You might ask questions which also empathize with the target audience feelings of frustration and pain.
Realize that most people do not buy for rational reasons, they buy to satisfy their emotions.
It is your job with any sales letter to move the prospect from a feeling of frustration or pain to the emotion of pleasure. If you do this well, you will get the sale.
The main offer you should make as irresistible as possible, giving the prospect every reason to want to buy from you and you alone over your competitor’s in the same niche market.
Do not underestimate the use of scarcity, testimonials and bullet points to draw attention to your benefits.
There is a vast difference between benefits and features, another good point to bear in mind.
Keep your language simple, do not use overly complicated long words. They might help you to think that you look intelligent but in salesmanship in print, they are always best avoided.
Offer a darn good guarantee, usually longer is better. 365 days sounds a lot better than 1 year.
Never underestimate the power of the PS points, these should once again draw attention to your main benefits.
Bonuses, make sure they are related to your product or service and use no more than 3 of them. If you pay too much attention to the bonus items and not the offer itself, your main offer will lose it’s credibility.
I hope these few brief tips help a few of your readers out.
Mark Andrews
IMCopywriting
Thanks for the good advices related to how a sales letter must look.
@live wire: That is probably based on psycholacical theory. Because the human brain can focus more on some parts of the content.
Mark – I appreciate you giving us your feedback and knowledge on writing sales letters. Hey, I said I wasn’t a pro at it so thanks for the added info! Definitely appreciate it man! I’m sure my readers appreciate your wisdom too!
Jay
No worries Jay, it was my pleasure.
On the point of the guarantee.
If anyone is selling an informational product, for example an eBook or information system and you write a sales letter for that, in order to get more sales….don’t be afraid to offer a longer guarantee over a shorter guarantee.
What you’ll find is that a longer guarantee your offer will have more credibility in the mind of the reader if you employ this tactic.
So, rather than offering a 30 day rock solid (blah blah blah lol) guarantee, extend that guarantee period up to 365 days instead.
In doing so you take away any urgency to get a refund if any reader is not perfectly happy with the information ordered and received.
They’ll put it off, asking for the refund, telling themselves, ‘Hey! I’ve got all year to ask for this refund’. And they will never get around to it in the vast majority of cases.
It works a treat this strategy. It makes your offer look more valuable and you retain more money in your pocket as a direct result of employing this strategy on your sales letters.
In a nutshell if you can offer a longer guarantee over a shorter guarantee, do so!
I hope this further tip helps some of your readers Jay.
Here is to everyone’s continued success, writing their sales letters!
Best regards.
Mark Andrews
Internet Marketing Copywriting
Mark – Thanks again man! Hey, I learned a few things myself. Though, I’m not trying to be a professional sales writer, I occasionally have to write some for myself! Matter of fact, I have a eBook coming out soon. I’m not sure if I’m going to set up a sales page for it or just promote it to my readers yet. I know its probably best to make a sales page for it… but I’m a little lazy.
Oh, also, are there any other companies besides Clickbank that you would recommend for selling products?
Jay
Well, I’d be happy to that for you Jay.
I’ve actually just updated my copywriting rates and made some other adjustments to my copywriting website, if you would like to check it out.
Give me a shout when you are ready and let’s see if we can negotiate a deal.
Kindest regards.
Mark Andrews
http://IMCopywriting.com
Mark – Oh, also, are there any other companies besides Clickbank that you would recommend for selling products?
Jay
My apologies for the typo in my last reply.
Hmmmmm besides CB, well, that’s obviously the best. It depends really what exactly you are intending to sell.
Another option might be PatDotCom.com or if you want to reach another large market of internet marketers, how about trying the WarriorForum.com (massive).
Does that help Jay?
Kindest regards.
Mark Andrews
Internet Marketing Copywriting
http://IMCopywriting.com
Use a readable script font such as Andy that looks like you have hand-written the letter. Credibility sells. This is the first place that you sell yourself or your company. Some people include their personal photos. The absence of a return address sends a junk mail message.
@@@ Mark Andrews IMCopywriting :: I’ll throw out PatDotCom also. I think they are a nice alternative to the old dinasaur like clickbank.
Writing a sales letter is no doubt an art that not many people possess but the step by step guidance that you have given will definitely help even the unskilled to write a decent sales letter. Thanks a lot for the useful guidance, it will be a lot of help to me.
Suggest you become a reader if you aren’t already. Start with Dan Kennedy’s “The Ultimate Sales Letter”. He covers everything from A to Z in this gem. You can find it at Amazon or Chapters.
It’s genuine attempt. But few more bullets would be a lot more value to your readers.
#1. Language – comfortable & semi-formally conversational
#2. Grammar & spell check.
#3. Create a sample & finalize with an eye for simplification.
#4. Genuine interest & care for readers is essential to be seen in letter.
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Always check your work too. Any errors in spelling etc. take away your credibility.
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I think, in my opinion, the best sales letters are highly focused (so they don’t appeal to everyone), are in the writers voice and solves the problem of the people reading it.
Instead of going broad with your letter, trying to grab everyone, keep it extremely relevant to the target niche. Your voice is important for credibility and people are looking at products to solve a problem.
Cover these and you’ll be ace.
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