Tutorial: How to Write A Sizzling Sales Letter

by Jennifer McCay

When you sit down to write a sales letter to your prospects, it can be difficult to know just where to start. Regardless of the purpose of your letter, it has to accomplish several things:

capture the attention of the reader
speak to the reader's individual needs
give good reasons why your prospect can trust you
communicate your offer succinctly and clearly
encourage your prospect to act now

And furthermore, it has to have sizzle. In other words, it needs to grab your prospect's attention and appeal to them emotionally so that they want to respond.

Here is my step-by-step guide to writing a winning sales letter:

1. Establish your letter's main purpose.

First of all, what do you want to achieve by sending out a sales letter? Be specific.

Do you want to generate leads? Sell your services or products outright? Use your letter as a "get to know you" device for prospects who have been referred to you by trusted colleagues?

Second, what is your offer? Any time you contact prospective clients, you need to have something to offer them. It's a busy world, and your prospects are barraged with too much information as it is. So simplify their lives by narrowing down what you are marketing to them in a way that is easy to follow.

If you're a life coach, perhaps you would be giving away a half-hour coaching session as an introductory offer.

Do you want your prospect to contact you regarding her upcoming consulting needs? Your offer might be a special report on how to get the best results from your consultant. Giving away information is an excellent way to show your expertise without having to sell your services outright.

If the latest version of your software is about to launch, you might send current-version owners a letter offering an inexpensive upgrade if they act quickly.

The important thing here is to figure out 1 main offer for your letter. Just 1. Keeping it simple will make it easier for you to write the letter to begin with; plus, your readers will easily grasp what you're asking them to do as well.

What is most successful for your prospects will depend on how well you ...

2. Give the people what they want.

Who will be receiving the letter? Outline the types of prospects you'll be contacting.

Then list their individual needs based on what you're selling. This will help you determine not only how to appeal to your readers' emotions, but also lets you figure out how many different messages you have to have to reach your targets.

For example, if you're a real estate agent wanting to market to prospective buyers in a ritzy neighborhood, as well as to less financially able individuals who are looking for homes in a more upscale neighborhood than their own, you're going to be writing 2 different letters, or at least 2 different permutations of the same letter.

Why? Because the wealthy prospects already have established themselves and are looking for downright luxury in their new homes, whereas the latter group wants to find a home in a more comfortable neighborhood where their kids can play outside safely and go to good schools. (The well-off prospects pretty much take these aspects of home-buying for granted, though they are still important benefits.)

Ask yourself:

What do my prospects need that I offer?
What do they want?
What do they desire deep down inside?
What do your prospects fear will go wrong if they buy?
How can you put their fears to rest?
Why should they choose you (from their perspective)?
What would make them absolutely thrilled with what I am selling?

In other words ...

"What's in it for me?"

Your prospects are concerned about their own needs and no one else's, and they're not out to do you any favors, so your job is to show them what only you can can give them.

If you keep in mind both the rational and emotional needs and wants of your prospects, you're already a step ahead.

3. Structure your sales letter properly.

Although the structure of your letter is important, steps 1 and 2 lay the foundation for everything else to do with your letter. So make sure to work through the above-mentioned steps prior to getting started writing.

What's the right structure for a sales letter? The good news is that every effective sales letter has several elements in common:

a headline, or Johnson box
a salutation
a powerful opener
an easy-to-follow internal structure that guides your reader from one point to the next
a solid offer
a P.S.
credibility boosters

I will walk you through each of the main elements and help you determine how best to write your next sales letter.

Headline/Johnson box

Every sales letter needs to begin with a headline that captures readers' attention quickly and easily -- and most importantly, it impels your prospects to keep reading. Your headline is the first thing that people read, so if it doesn't make the cut, your letter will be thrown out. They won't even make it to the good stuff further down!

Your best bet is to tell your readers about a problem you can solve for them, a benefit of your product or something else about what's in it for your prospects that is eye-catching and shows them that they have something to gain by reading further.

Rather than state an overly general, "me-focused" headline (as in "me, the writer"), such as:

Now <Your Company> offers teleseminars on life coaching!

A more powerful approach would be:

Could you stand to make just 1 change in your life that will give you more time in your day and more money in your pocket?

Another alternative:

You can format your headline as a bold header at the top of the letter -- or give it a visual separation in the form of a box/border.

Coined by direct marketing expert Frank Johnson decades ago, the so-called Johnson box gives your headline even more prominence, ensuring that it gets read. So make sure your headline's worthy of the attention!

Salutation ("Dear so-and-so")

I always advise personalizing your mailings. Not only does it show that you are speaking directly to your prospect, it will result in a higher percentage of sales in the end. One personalized campaign I worked on got a full 3% higher response rate than its counterpart, which stated something along the lines of "Dear~Reader." And personalization seems to work better across the board.

If you're not convinced that the time it takes to implement the personalization is worth it, I highly recommend testing both approaches in your next mailing. Numbers don't lie, and you will learn what works best for your market.

Opener

This is the first copy after your salutation. Here you want to take the promise you stated in your headline and show your readers how you can help them specifically.

Internal structure

The best sales letters read quickly. That's not to say that they are short, necessarily (see below), but rather, that each point follows from the last one logically and answers your readers' questions as the letter moves forward.

After your opener, each paragraph of your letter should build toward your offer. Ask yourself at the end of each paragraph whether your copy answers the question "Yeah, but ..."

In other words, if you provide speech training and promise that you will help your clients remove any traces of a foreign accent from their voices, you might want to throw in a snippet about how you go about doing it that ensures your claim sounds plausible. You might also want to throw in the names of well-known people whom you've helped who have no audible accents (in other words, Arnold "The Governator" Schwartzenegger won't help your case!).

An easy way to include several key points in brief is to use a bulleted list, which makes your copy more readable and keeps readers' eyes moving downward toward your offer.

But remember, don't just list product features -- you need to focus on benefits, what your prospects have to gain.

You also want to create clear transitions from point A to point B to point C in your letter that keep the reading experience smooth and simple to follow. Terms such as "in addition," "furthermore" and sentences beginning with phrases like "that's why we ..." serve as clever ways of keeping the pace up and giving your readers the hints they need to know why you've stopped focusing on one benefit and moved on to another. "And," "but" and "now" are also excellent sentence starters for all but the most formal of markets.

Offer/call to action

After you've made your points about why your prospects can trust you, it's time to mention your offer. The more specific you are, the better. For example:

If you would like your copy of our free report, give us a call at 1-888-555-5555 by <Date>.

If your offer is simply that you are available for work, it is important that your offer sound confident and inviting, as in:

I invite you to take a look at my website to see some recent design projects I have handled. If you like what you see, give me a call at 1-888-555-5555 and we'll get started!

Notice that regardless of the topic, I have spelled out the specific means by which you want the person to contact you. You don't want the reader to have to work to find your contact info, again speeding up the process.

Although I have not included this in all of the above examples, somewhere in the body of your letter you need to make it clear that your offer is time-sensitive. It doesn't need to sound pushy like one of those overly nagging subscription renewal reminders you sometimes receive in the mail, but you will get a better response if you let people know that your special will only be available to them for a few days or weeks. (As a service provider, you might mention that your schedule books up fast, for example, which is perfectly legitimate because it's true! And if your sales letter works, this fact will be doubly true!)

In a brief letter, your offer should be the very last paragraph before you close your letter. In longer letters, you should state your offer toward the end and repeat it right before your closing.

Closing

Here you want to write "Sincerely yours," "Best regards," or another relevant closing statement, followed by your signature and name. If you are sending to a small number of recipients, sign each letter individually to add a personal touch.

P.S. (post script)

Aside from the headline, this is the most-read copy in your letter, so you want to make it a zinger! This is where you want to throw in one more reason why your prospect should take action -- and it better be compelling, such as a freebie or a limited-time offer.

It's also another place where you should consider reinforcing the time-sensitive offer that your letter offers. After all, if people read only your headline and P.S. copy, they need to know why they need to read the rest!

Credibility boosters

There are plenty of ways to beef up your credibility. Remember, your letter needs to gain the trust of your readers so that they check you out further and/or act right then and there.

Here are some tips:

You can add a guarantee if it suits your business model.

Testimonials from satisfied clients are truly powerful credibility boosters.

Depending on what you're selling, use of images might contribute to a stronger response from your prospects. You might want to include screenshots, images of your work samples, etc. if relevant, and a picture of yourself adds a human face to an otherwise somewhat impersonal letter. As a general rule, however, there's never a reason to add images just for the sake of doing so, especially since color printing is more expensive.

If you write in terms of specifics that you can offer, your letter will ring truer. Rather than stating that you have helped "over 900 people," mention that you have 983 clients whom you've coached over the years.

4. Other factors to consider before you send out your letter.

This tutorial focuses solely on your sales letter itself, so I will not get into the specifics of your envelope, order form and other accompanying materials. However, to enhance the results of any campaign, keep in mind the following points:

Formatting

Font size/type: In printed letters, serif fonts such as Times Roman often outpull sans-serif fonts like Arial by 3 to 1 or more. Serif fonts are easier to read on paper because the serif (or small decorative line) guides the eye. On computer screens, however, the effect of serifs is minimal, if not a hindrance to reading, according to recent usability studies, so sans-serif fonts are recommended. Make sure that your text is at least the equivalent of 11pt in size to ensure readability, with headlines typeset at 14pt or higher in bold type.

Strategic use of bold type: Remember that most people will skim your letter rather than reading it line for line. I always like to use bold type to tell the main story that readers should glean from a sales letter. In other words, select the phrases that can be read together to tell the whole story and make them bold so that your main claims, your offer and the most important part of your P.S. are highlighted visually.

Subheads: A short letter might not need subheads, especially if you use bold type here and there to highlight key messages. Otherwise, you need to implement benefit-oriented subheads that draw readers into the next batch of text.

White space: Despite the fact that words are more important than pictures in sales letters, you still want to ensure that there is enough room around each paragraph to "breathe." That means adequate line spacing, a 1-inch margin on all sides and doing your best not to make your letter look like it is crammed into a space smaller than it is written for. When it feels like that, it is the equivalent of forcing your reader to put on a pair of too-tight jeans! Not a good thing.

Length

This is a subject that warrants an article of its own, but for simplicity's sake, it's fair to say that your letter should be as long as it needs to be. No longer. No shorter.

If you're prone to writing long for no reason, it helps to ask a professional copywriter or editor to cut the fat in your copy. Another set of eyes will find all the places where you've spent a little too much "airtime" and can tighten up your wording.

And if you find that your letter is choppy, go back and see if you've fleshed out every claim you've made with enough benefits to overrule the reader's "Yeah, but ..." instinct. Then double-check that you have included enough transitional phrases to maintain a steady reading flow.

5. Make sure that your letter reflects your brand, your uniqueness.

If your letter looks and reads as if it could be from just anybody, your prospects will have no reason to choose you over your competition.

It's important to highlight the reasons why you specifically are the only source for what you're offering in your sales letter.

6. When it doubt, source it out.

Hiring a professional copywriter to write your sales letter for you often pays off, especially if you're not comfortable writing your own copy or need a second opinion.

All content copyright 2004-2008 by Jennifer McCay and AvenueEast.com

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