Why Does Your Sales Letter Stink?

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All right maybe your sales letter converts at a whopping 10%. It still stinks. Why?

Because even a mouth-watering 10% conversion means 9 out of 10 people are walking away from your site. Based on that I think it’s safe to say nearly all sales letters stink - even the ones I write. (Ouch!) Why is that?

Maybe it’s not your sales letter. Maybe it’s your sales process.

Think about this:

Someone searches for “peach jam” on the Internet. You make and sell peach jam. Your page comes up on the first page of a major search engine. Congratulations.

When they come to your site, visitors are slammed with your sales page offering them a special deal on your premium jam. Most take a look at your offer and leave. What’s going on?

First of all, it’s likely most folks landing on your page weren’t ready to buy peach jam right then. Maybe they were looking for a free Georgia rock concert. Maybe they wanted recipies. Maybe they sought an old girl friend from high school. Okay, so I’m stretching here.

In any case, it’s likely they never heard of you or your jam before landing on your site. Do your really expect most folks to buy right off the bat? Silly you.

What if, instead of a web site, you had a jam stand by the side of the road. Now if you’ve got a good sign out front, you may get some walk-in traffic. Once folks know about you, they’ll come to your stand when they hanker for your jam. If you put up some billboards with some toast dripping with tasty jam, you might get even more traffic.

The thing is you are now attracting people expecting to buy jam.

The second reason folks come to your site and don’t buy is…

They don’t trust you.

If someone shows up to your stand, they can see how good it looks. They can ask questions. They can see your business license. They can talk to other customers. You might even offer them a sample. None of this (or very little) happens on the Internet. You have to build trust.

Yet another reason is they’re not convinced your solution is the answer they want. While most folks can decide on a $3.00 jar of jam, if you’re asking them to spend $50 on your ebook, they might want to look around a bit.

Finally, your visitors don’t have a reason to act NOW. If they’re at the stand, they’ll have to come back if they want jam. Often that’s plenty enough to prod action. But on the Internet, what’s the hurry? If you don’t offer some incentive - a REAL incentive, not some lame buy by 12:00 midnight or the price goes up!

Offer something real and obviously limited. One of my all-time favorites was from Fly Fisherman. They offered a free fishing creel with a new subscription. But, they added, you’d better hurry because we may not be able to get any more. That bonus tied in beautifully to the magazine because it:

directly related to the audience

created real urgency

They never said how many creels they had. Or maybe they did in some letters and enjoyed a better response when no number was specified. One thing is almost certain - they tested their advertising.

So what do you do if your sales letter stinks worse than most?

You can live with it, try to improve it via testing or try an entirely new approach. If you’re getting any response at all, I’d lean towards testing first. However there are too many variables to say for sure. Every situation presents unique options. One thing for sure though - if you do have a sales letter that’s converting, no matter how pitiful the sales are, better to test it than simply replace it. Otherwise you may find your new “baby” is worse that the old.

God bless,

Andy

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