Credibility-Building Devices

Great sales letters will include testimonials from satisfied customers, respected gurus, or impartial rating sources (like software reviews or user ratings).

In addition, screenshots of your earnings statements, a real mailing address and phone number, photos and video of whatever you are selling, or samples (such as a free chapter from your e-book) also support the case that you are real and your product and offer are legitimate.

Because your readers have an inherent distrust of your sales pitch, credibility building devices are necessary to overcome that distrust.

Revealing and Justifying the Price

Prospects want to be sure they are getting the best deal for their money. That can be tough, especially if you are charging a high price for your product. So comparisons with similar products, an explanation of your manufacturing process, or the expense required to develop your product, can help to convince the prospect that your price is reasonable.

In most cases, you don't reveal the price until the end of the sales letter or website.

Elimination of Risk

You cannot sell anything online without a money-back guarantee. Prospects will simply not purchase from you unless they can be sure that they have a way out of the deal. It pays to be generous. For example...

* Offer a 150% money back guarantee.
* Give them the option to get a refund for 60 days after purchase.
* Allow them to keep the product AND get their money back.

Don't worry about being generous. If you have a strong offer, most people will not ask for a refund. In fact, even if you have a crappy product, most people will not ask for a refund.

Create a sense of urgency

You can do this in both positive and negative ways.

Positive ways include piling on the "early bird" bonuses, giving a discount for ordering immediately, or upgrading the offer if they buy right away. In other words, give your prospects a reward for acting now.

Negative ways include telling prospects that the offer will be withdrawn soon, or the price will be going up.

Call to Action

At the end of your sales letter, you need to bring it all together. Provide a quick summary of your main selling points, your guarantee, and a "Buy Now" link.

Postscript

Many readers will just scan the headline of your sales letter, then scroll to the bottom of the page to read the price, and the PS. So your PS should summarize the dangers of inaction, the urgency behind your offer, and your gurantee.

The PS is very important to the sales copy. You want a PS that further reinforces your close, which should be a strong one."PS - Don't forget, you get ALL of this for just $47 ONLY if you order TODAY! I can't promise that the price or the bonuses will still be here tomorrow. "

This instills the element of fear in your prospect that if they don’t take advantage of your offer today, they may not be able to take advantage of it tomorrow. This also greatly increases conversions.

Also, include the download link after the PS as well.

A lot of direct marketers will add a couple of PS's. You could give it a shot, but be sure to test whether this kind of gimmick actually works for you.

Buy Now Buttons

One of the strangest things that I learned about sales copy was the actual order link itself. I used to use those pay buttons and Clickbank logos, etc.

What I found out is that a simple text link like "Click Here To Claim Your Copy" is actually more effective. And sure enough, in split testing, it is more effective. But that was in my particular case. In your case, it might be different, so try it out, and compare the results to using a conventional "Buy Now" button.

And here's an insider tip: don't just put the Buy Now button at the bottom of your sales letter. Scatter it throughout your sales letter. Because you want to make it as easy as possible for your readers to purchase immediately, and so you don't want them to have to hunt.

A Note on Order Forms

If you have the need to create your own order form on your website or in your direct mail pieces, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

Keep it simple. Don't make it intimidating with lots of legal notes and small print. You've got your prospect this far, don't mess it up by scaring them off.

And if you are creating an old-fashioned mail-in order form, be sure to pay for the postage. Include a stamp, or use a postage-paid envelope.

The Lift Letter

Sometimes, you will see a button on websites that says "Still undecided? Click here?" This takes the reader to another page that restates the problem (usually in very emphatic terms), highlights the benefits of the solution, and asks for the order again.

In the old-fashioned world of direct marketing, this kind of thing was called a "lift letter."

In some cases, you might find a better price for the product in the left letter, or a slightly modified offer with a similar product, but at a lower price. You don't see this a lot in internet marketing, but sometimes you do. Hey, why not give it a shot in your sales letters?

Signature

Signatures are extremely important. You can’t even begin to imagine how important a signature is. The look of the signature has to be just so. There are sites online that actually specialize on creating professional signatures for sales pages. Go to them. Look at the styles. Get a feel for what works. A poor signature, believe it or not, will greatly decrease your conversion percentage.

Give them your name with a nice sign-off, like "To your success, John Smith"

Adding a graphic of your signature is a nice touch, and adds to your credibility.

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