Interestingly enough the majority of people who ask me whether their sales letter is too long have missed the boat somewhat.

You see, their mind is focused on the length of their sales letter rather than the job the sales letter has to do, and when they do that it is impossible to write in a manner that will convince the reader to take action and buy their product.

No, your main focus when writing a sales letter must be on the job it has to do and that, in a nutshell, is to convince the reader that he/she needs to buy that product.

Pay special attention to the word ‘need’ here, you must focus upon the emotional need of the reader – this could be nothing more than ‘one-upmanship’ from his neighbour not a logical need. For it is a fact that man…

“Buys based upon emotion and justifies that decision with logic.”

Just think about that for a second, when was the last time you bought something for no better reason than cold hard logic? Probably never right? It was your emotions that pointed you toward the purchase.

Take a shiny new car as an example.

If you were to look at the purpose of a car through the eyes of cold hard logic then there would be very little reason to buy one with all the latest gizmos that are designed to pamper you. (and by the way cost you more)

All a car has to do is get you from A – B safely, dryly and quickly. Given that logical explanation, who has need of a radio, electric windows, self adjusting vibrating seats, automatic distance sensor for reversing and so on?

They don’t help you in the primary purpose of getting from A – B no, they rather serve to pamper you on an emotional level.

So going back to your sales letter you need to identify these emotional triggers inside your prospect and write about them in an exciting way that is sure to trigger the emotional needs of him/her.

If this means that you have to write 30 pages of copy to do so then do it!

The more you have to write the better the chances you will have of getting the sale, if you need to prove how your product has helped others add some testimonials and, the more the merrier. Proof from other satisfied customers is often all that needs to be added to convince.

You should ensure that your pages are full of emotional excitement and not just page after page of boring old features.

Going back to the car again:

“It has the latest auto-reversing, sensing device” – So What? What the $#^&!@ use is that to me?

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“The seats vibrate as you drive” – Er… Why do I need a car that has seats that shake about when I drive? I mean if I drive over a bumpy road I get the same effect don’t I?

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Blah, blah, blah… What is this doing for your prospects emotional needs? Nothing! It’s just another page full of boring old words, Goodbye!

Now if you change the above sentences to something like:

Save Money On Your Insurance Premiums!

The truth about sky rocketing premiums is out! Major insurance companies have admitted that 60% of all claims for minor ‘bumps’ on vehicles they insure is due to parking bay mishaps.

“Many people just don’t know how big their car is and accidentally bump into another when manouevering around in busy parking lots.” Insurance company spokesperson.

Your premiums are being loaded because of this, but…

Now you need never worry about how big your car is, because it will actually tell you when you are getting too close to another car! This means you have the pleasure of driving and saving on your insurance premiums at the same time.

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Personal Masseuse For Free

Imagine your very own personal masseuse… yours to pamper you as you drive. Take away the stiffness in your back and legs in an instant, so that you stay fresh and alert whilst you drive and arrive safely at your destination – No other car has massaging seats that will treat you like a king!

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Don’t these two paragraphs create a little more excitement in your mind?

All you have to do is keep building a little excitement with every word you write until your prospect suddenly says “Wow! I gotta have one of those!”

It doesn’t matter if you have to write 50 pages of copy to create that feeling, as long as you keep the excitement up your copy won’t be too long.

Remember that your sales letter has to be exciting and long enough to do it’s job – no shorter otherwise you won’t get the sale.

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Resource Box

Stuart Elliott is a world-class copywriter who has written numerous articles about sales letters and copywriting.

Drop by: http://howtowritekickbuttcopy.com to pick up your Free Copywriting Power Guide.

Article Copyright 2006 Stuart Elliott, All rights reserved. You may only reprint this article in its entirety and you must leave this resource box intact.

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