Boost Your Response

Objection resolution is an often over-looked component of a good sales letter.

As the prospect reads your ad, certain reasons not to buy pop into his mind. If your ad addresses them, it will be more effective and generate more sales.

Joe Karbo’s famous ad “The Lazy Man’s Way To Riches” is a great example.  Written back in 1973, it was hugely successful.  Thanks to the ad, Joe reportedly sold over three million copies of his book.

The ad succeeded for several reasons.  It started off with attention-getting incongruency, had excellent social proof and credibility, and used a 31-day hold.

Interestingly, a significant portion of the ad addressed objections.  Here are the exact quotes …

It doesn’t require “education”
It doesn’t require “capital”
It doesn’t require “luck”
It doesn’t require “talent”
It doesn’t require “youth”
It doesn’t require “experience”
You don’t have to give up your job

If you’re looking for ways to boost the response of your sales letters, Karbo’s ad is an excellent study piece.

You can see the ad here …

http://tinyurl.com/ygzyg6x

If you’d like to learn copywriting, check out these 3 free e-books.  They contain a wealth of solid copywriting instruction.

The three authors — Yanik Silver, Alex Mandossian, and Ben Hart — are successful marketers who’ve used their copywriting skills over the years to produce huge amounts of sales, both online and offline.

1.  14-Point Web Copy Analysis of a Winning Site

This book, written by Yanik Silver, is a great starting point for anyone eager to learn copywriting.  It breaks a typical web sales letter down into 14 component parts and explains each.

http://www.surefiremarketing.com/14-point_web_copy_analysis_ebook.pdf

2.  Alex Mandossian’s 21 Copywriting Secrets

In this book, Alex covers various topics, each important.  These topics include preparation, headlines, case-studies, selling strategies, and the order page.  The tactics he teaches will go a long way towards improving your copywriting skills.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/1027442/Free-Copywriting-Ebook

3. How to Write Blockbuster Sales Letters

Ben Hart’s book is geared towards direct mail, but don’t let that stop you from reading it.  The principles behind persuasion are the same whether you’re writing an online salesletter or an offline direct mail piece.  In all, he covers 80 topics.

http://www.freesalesletterbook.com/

Without a doubt, improving your headline is the best way to boost the response of your online sales letters.

This is what Gary Halbert said about headlines …

“You can run the same ad with a different headline and with nothing else changed whatsoever, that can increase your results by a factor of 500% to 700%.”

That’s 5 to 7 times!

Here’s one of my favorite techniques for writing attention-getting headlines.

This short video shows you how to write headlines that jump off the page and grab your prospects by the eyeballs.

Just go here to watch …

http://www.boostyourresponse.com/incongruent

Or, if you prefer audio, download the mp3 here …

http://www.boostyourresponse.com/incongruent/incongruent.mp3

Enjoy!

Today I have a FREE video for you.

It’s a critique of a lead generation ad I wrote. 

You’ll find the 7 principles I talk about in the video very helpful.  These techniques apply across the board … whether you’re writing lead generation ads or sales letters.

Here’s the link …

http://www.boostyourresponse.com/sbb

If you prefer audio, there’s also a mp3 available …

http://www.boostyourresponse.com/sbb/sbb.mp3

Enjoy!

Alex

No doubt you’ve heard Outback Steakhouse’s catchphrase, “No rules.  Just right.”  Well, when it comes to salesletters, the “no rules” approach definitely doesn’t apply.

There are certain rules you should follow if you want your ads to get the best response possible.  Here are four …

Rule #1: Be interesting

Include a headline that grabs the reader’s attention.  If your prospect is not interested after reading your headline, he most likely won’t read the rest of the ad.

Once the headline has grabbed the reader’s eyeballs, give him a reason to read the rest of your salesletter.  Start off with a story, or talk about the pain he’s in.  Above all, don’t be boring.

Rule #2: Be believable

One of the reasons prospects don’t buy is because they lack confidence in the sales message.  So make sure what you write in your ad is believable.

When you make a claim, prove it.  If you quote the results of previous buyers, be specific.  If you think your reader will doubt something you say, give him a reason why.

Rule #3: Use scarcity

Often times, it’s not enough to merely convince your prospect.  Use scarcity to compel him to click the buy button.

Scarcity comes in two flavors: time and quantity.   Limit your offer to a certain period of time.  Or limit the number of items available.  And always be truthful.  Buyers can smell fake scarcity a mile away.

Rule #4: Make your offer irresistible

Other than the headline, your offer is the most important part of the ad.  Make it irresistible.  So irresistible, in fact, that a prospect would have to be “brain dead” not to accept it.

Establish overwhelming value in the prospect’s mind.  Give an off-the-wall guarantee.  Include high-quality bonuses.

People don’t buy for three reasons …

1.      They don’t want what you have to sell

2.      They can’t afford it

3.      They don’t believe you

There’s not much you can do about the first two.

But to some extent, you can control the third reason.

In your sales message, be sure to include elements of credibility and social proof.  They go a long way towards increasing your believability.

And as the final blow to your prospect’s skepticism, make him an irresistible offer.  An offer so good, so sweet, that he’d have to be brain-dead not to accept it!

By far, the best technique is to offer a Free Trial.  Give the prospect a certain number of days to try your product, and if he doesn’t return it, charge his credit card after the trial period is over.

That’s how magazine subscriptions are sold …

“Try Newsweek for one month.  If you are not thrilled with your subscription, just write ‘cancel’ on the invoice we send you in 30 days.”

The Free Trial is just as powerful online.  Unfortunately, it’s not always feasible, but when it is, it can help make your offer irresistible.

The technique used most frequently online is called “bonus pile-on”.  That’s when you offer to give your prospect numerous free bonuses along with the product.

Your bonuses should be high quality.  So high in quality that they would sell on their own merits if sold separately.

And your bonuses should relate to the product in some way.

For example, let’s say that you’re offering an information product about fly fishing.  As one bonus, you might include a resource guide that lists the best fly fishing spots in the country.   A second bonus might be a discount coupon good on fly fishing equipment at an online store.  And so on.

The more bonuses you include, the better.

Ben Hart, a successful copywriter and marketer says, “The most powerful motive of all is fear,” and fear is “The #1 reason people buy.”

And according to David Garfinkel, also a highly respected copywriter, “Fear and greed are really what motivate people … and fear works a lot better than greed.”

Getting old, going broke, being alone, getting sick, being left out, not leaving a mark … these are just a few of the fears that can be used to persuade your prospect to buy.

Throughout your sales letter, to keep your prospect reading, warn him.  Use facts that will literally scare him into wanting to read more.  Use phrases that bring up the fear he’s tried to bury deep down because it’s so painful.

Here’s an example.

Colon health is a serious concern for many people.  The following copy for a colon cleanse product leverages the fear of sickness and early death,

“‘Death begins in the colon!’ 

That statement comes from a Russian Scientist, Elie Metchnikoff, who won the Nobel Prize … and … it is very true! 

There’s no getting around it, if you want to live a long and healthy life … the most important thing you can do is … make SURE you have a clean and healthy colon.”

Fear also works well when closing the sale.  In your call to action, warn the prospect of what will happen if he doesn’t buy. 

Ethical Warning: Always have your prospect’s interest at heart and have sincere empathy for him.  If your product really works, scaring him into ordering helps motivate him to do what’s best.

Eugene Schwartz was one of the top direct response copywriters of the 20th Century. His space ads and direct mail letters sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of products.

What made him so successful?

Schwartz had a great grasp of persuasion techniques.  One technique he used with great effect was future pacing.  

Future pacing paints a positive picture in your prospect’s mind of what the future will be like after he buys the product.

Here are three paragraphs from Schwartz’s copy for a memory building product.  Notice how each one describes the future benefit of using the product …

“You will take any popular magazine you wish — one that has, for instance, 60 or 70 pages. You will study the magazine once, and perform a simple trick that burns each one of the pages into your memory … You will hand that magazine to a friend — turn your back and ask him to call off any number of pages he wishes, in any order he chooses. And … you will tell him instantly — not only the editorial content of each page, but the very advertisements that are placed next to them.”

“Once you finish this revolutionary new memory course, then you will never again forget the name or face of anyone important to you.”

“Once you learn this simple technique, then you can memorize anyone’s telephone number (including the area code) in as little as thirty seconds flat, and never forget it as long as you need it (even if you carry as many as 50 or 100 of them around in your head).”

The entire ad can be found here:

http://www.copywriting1.com/Eugeneschwartz.pdf

To dramatically improve your ad’s response, use future pacing.

There’s a lot of competition out there. 

In order to succeed online, you must stand out from the crowd.   You must communicate to your prospect how your product is unique and what that difference does for him.

If you can’t describe the uniqueness of your product, you won’t have much success selling it.

This uniqueness is known as the unique selling proposition, or USP.

Create a USP that addresses a void in the marketplace that your product fills.  Ask yourself these 3 questions …

1.      What is different about your product verses direct competitors?

2.      Which of these factors are most important to your prospects?

3.      Which of these factors can be easily communicated and understood by your prospects?

Once you’ve created a USP, make sure to communicate it in all of your advertising.

Let’s look at an example.

I run a business that provides leads to professionals in a certain niche (not real estate).   Before I began providing this service, most of these folks got their leads from direct mail, telemarketing, and referrals. Very few used the Internet effectively.

So I developed an automated lead generation system that gets them leads from the Internet.  And these are leads they otherwise wouldn’t get!  That’s my USP.

My sales letter has a very simple, but effective headline …

“Discover How You Can Harness The Power Of The
 Internet To Get More Listings!”

The USP doesn’t necessarily have to be the product itself.  It can be you or your circumstances.

Terry Dean, legendary internet marketer and coach, has come a long way from his days as a pizza delivery man.  And he makes sure his prospects know it.  Being a former pizza delivery guy for Little Caesar’s is his USP and makes him unique from the other well-known internet marketers.

Another example is Matthew Lesko.  He sells books on how to get free money and government grants.  A rather “ho-hum” product to be sure.  However, Lesko has successfully differentiated himself.  He’s become very successful with his flamboyant personality and manner of dress.

Be unique.  And your chances of success as an internet marketer will be greatly increased!

You did your research, and you offer a product people really want. 

You’re targeting the correct market with sales copy that explains all the great benefits your product provides. 

And yet, for some reason, people aren’t buying. Why not?

One reason could be, they simply don’t believe you.

At the most basic level, there are really only three reasons why people don’t buy …

1. They don’t want what you have for sale

2. They can’t afford what you have for sale

3. They don’t believe you

There’s not much you can do about the first two.

But you can control the third.  In fact, you can infuse your copy with so much believability, your prospect’s skepticism will burn away faster than a lit piece of flash paper!

Here are three elements you can add to your sales copy that will make your product more believable to you target market …

Specificity

Be specific when you make a claim about your product.  Specificity gives your claims more believability in the prospect’s mind.

Headlines are a great place to use specificity.

Here’s an example of a headline without specifics and how it could be dramatically improved …

“You Could Be Losing Money In Overcharged Worker’s Compensation Premiums … And Not Even Be Aware Of It!”

“If You’re Like 73.2% of Our Clients, You Can Recover an Average of $98,563.32 in Workers Compensation Overcharges!”

The second headline implants actual numbers in your prospect’s mind thereby making your claim much more believable.

Proof

Proof is vital to making your sales copy believable.  Be sure to always include the positive results your customers have gotten using your product.

And when providing results, don’t be shy.  The more the better!  By doing so, you activate another believability factor, repetition.

When dealing with numbers, proof can take the form of screen shots showing the actual results.  Or a simple chart with before and after numbers is also good.

Testimonials are the most widely used form of proof and are still very effective.  Audio and video testimonials from your customers are best and should be included in your sales copy whenever possible.

Authority

If you’re associated with a recognized authority, and you make that fact known in your sales copy, your believability skyrockets.  The respect your prospect has for the authority automatically transfers to you.

The authority can be a prominent person or a highly-respected institution.

Don’t know Donald Trump or Armand Morin?  All is not lost.  Get yourself interviewed by a large city newspaper or a reputable news organization.

Larry Coker, who lost 600 pounds and sells a weight loss program, did just that.  In his sales copy he writes,

“Maybe you saw my story on CBS Live or Good Morning America. You may have read about me in the Detroit Free Press, the Oakland Daily Tribune or even the National Enquirer.”