Sales
letter is an important cornerstone in any campaign.
This is also one of the most popular forms of
advertising today, and have been for some time.
The reason for this is simple - it works. However,
with no generalized guideline on format, content,
style and length - writing a truly effective sales
letter is a daunting challenge for even the most
seasoned marketing professional. After discussing
tips on how to write an effective sales letter
with examples - let us focus on common mistakes.
Mistake No 1 : Your Direct mail campaign is
as (in)effective as your mailing list
What is the most important part of your direct
mail campaign ? - Its not copy, not the artwork,
not even the format. It is the mailing list. A
great mail campaign with superior content and
format may attract double the response of a poorly
conceived mailing for the same mailing list.
But a carefully designed mailing list can pull
a response 10 times more than the worst list for
the identical content and format. Remember - in
direct marketing, a mailing list is not just a
way of reaching your market. It is the market.
In mushrooming mailing list market - how do you
select the best package? Do you go by price? referral?
advice from friend ? The best mailing list for
your product or service is the one you are sitting
on, buried in your mail folders and address directory.
Yes, it is your house list - a list of customers
and potential customers who previously bought
from you or responded to your advertisement, mail,
public relations campaign etc. Typically, your
house list will pull double the response of an
outside list. Yet, only about 50% of business
marketers pay attention to house list.
Mistake No 2 : Sales Letter without offer is
as effective as dinner invitation without address
of dinner hall
Your direct mail MUST contain an offer - something
the reader gets when he/she responds to your mail.
In fact, a key success factor of a direct mail
campaign is to sell the offer - not the product
or service. Remember - the offer should be something
perceived as beneficial to reader. It can not
be features of your products or an invitation
to visit your web-site. It could be free brochure,
free technical information, free analysis, free
consultation, free demonstration, free trial use,
free product sample, free catalog.
Your letter should state the offer in such a
way as to increase the reader's desire to ask
for the offering. For example, a catalog becomes
a product guide. A collection of brochures becomes
a free information kit. An article reprinted in
pamphlet form becomes "our new, informative
booklet--'How to Prevent Computer Failures.'"
Mistake No. 3 - Emphasizing features - ignoring
benefits
Perhaps the oldest and most widely embraced rule
for writing direct-mail copy is, "Stress
benefits, not features." This still holds
good except for highly technical products where
readers look for features to differentiate between
products (e.g. computer, semiconductor etc.).
Translate features into benefits and place them
in bullet points towards beginning of the mail.
This requires an understanding of readers' mind.
In short, your challenge is to find out what the
customer wants to know about your product--and
then tell him in your mailing. Obviously mass
mail packages are of no use here - underlining
the importance of your house list.
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