February 23rd, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
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I’m just finishing up the information page for it now. Sales Page Makeovers will offer testing services for selected clients.
Here’s the plan:
If you have a sales page, squeeze page or something else whre you want to boost conversions, we’ll set up the test and confirmation pages for you including 3 variations each on 5 crucial areas - headline, p.s., offer, guarantee, and your lead paragraph.
We’ll test them until a clear winner appears and you realize an overal conversion increase.
If you’re interested in finding out more, please send your name and email address. Don’t forget to confirm it or I won’t be able to contact you.
We don’t spam and we’re not out to sell, trade, or otherwise share your information with anyone else.
There will not be a sales page at this time. Why?
Since this is a service it needs tailoring to your needs. We’ll need to evaluate any page to ensure it’s a good candidate for testing.
Before we agree to test any page, both parties need to understand what can be expected. If you’re already getting a 5% conversion, we may not be able to promise a massive increase.
Our aim is to provide a service that not only pays but provides a significant return on investment in minimum time.
Again, if this is something you’d like to explore further, fill out the form above and we’ll get the ball rolling.
February 23rd, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
By a new sales page I mean for a new product or service but you could do this for an existing product too.
From here on out I’ll use the word “product” but the techniques are the same if you sell a service. I’m assuming you’ve used the product and you know it inside out.
Get some paper out and write down all the features it has - all of them. (A feature is something the product as or does.) Feature: Uses “AA” batteries.
Now for each feature write down at least one benefit. Benefits answer the question “so what?” Benefit: so you can use it anywhere you go.
You can use these as a list of bullets - one way is to list them in feature/benefit pairs.
Next make a list of all competitive products and their features. If you can’t do all of them at least try to get the best-selling or best-known ones near your price range. What makes your product different? Is it a better value? Why? What can you offer that your competitors cannot?
Now picture your customer (copywriter Ray Edwards puts it “BE” your customer). What does he want. What itch does your cusotmer have that can be scratched by your product.
If you’ve done your homework you can identify at least one itch only your product can best scratch. Even if you plan on hiring a copywriter to write your sales materials - you should have this research on hand to give to her.
It will save time and money if you’ve hired a decent copywriter because good copywriters usually insist on having decent information. (I say usually ’cause there’s always one wiseguy out there who has to whip up a cranking sales letter out of thin air. I’m not him.) This way you’re not paying a copywriter to research for you.
Oh, you made a package deal where your copywriter quoted a flat price and promised not to charge a penny more? And that was before you revealed you had almost no research about your product? Okay.
So, just assuming the copywriter based the price on the number of hours it should take to write your materials… what do you think she’ll do? Just spend an extra 4 or 5 hours on research or cut some corners? You tell me.
February 23rd, 2008 — Tactical Copywriting
Who doesn’t want to sell more? Selling more is what this blog is about.
While I assume most people coming here already have a sales page, you’ll also find resources to build one from scratch.
Short and sweet here’s what makes a winning sales page:
an irresistable offer - meaning an excellent product at a great value
a solid guarantee - the longer and more iron-clad the better. A note here… at least one marketer (Matt Furey) does exactly the opposite with this concept and bluntly states he offers NO guarantee for his products. Matt gets away with it. It’s possible you could too but for most of us most of the time it’s better to offer a good guarantee.
an attention catching headline
features and benefits - I’m going against what many will say because I’m convinced sales letters need both features and benefits.
