When writing a sales letter, its important to place special focus on creating an impressive and attention-grabbing start with your opening sentence or paragraph. If you dont start it correctly, its highly unlikely that your readers will get past the first paragraph before deleting your emailand categorizing it as SPAM.
6 tips to write effective Sales Letters
1. Write About a Current Event
Current events stick to mind because theyre events that actually did happen in the real world and they could happen to you, too. Current events present real threats and promises either of which you could use to emphasize the need for the products or services youre selling through your sales letter.
2. Use Statistics
Statistics always exercise great influence on a persons opinion because they can reflect the majority of the publics opinion and theyre a product of careful study and research. By using statistics as an opening in your sales letter, youre able to immediately establish credibility for your company. It not only gives them a reason to read more of your sales letter but it also convinces them to believe in you as well.
The statistics youll use in your sales letter must be easily understandable and can immediately convey your message. It must be directly related to your products and services. The facts and figures from these statistical reports must also have been professionally computed by experts. Be sure to provide proper credits so your readers can confirm their validity and reliability right away.
3. Problems And Solutions
Think of the number one problem that your target market is suffering from and something that your products or services could immediately solve. Summarize it in one to two sentences and your readers are sure to be hooked.
Say youre selling portable sewing machines. If your target market is those who sew for recreational purposes, you can start by addressing the problem of space. Sewing machines generally require you to use a certain amount of space for them, but thats not going to be a problem with portable sewing machines. With such an item, your reader will be able to sew right in the comfort of their bedroom without having to rearrange the furniture.
4. Ask A Question
Another great way of opening your sales letter is by asking a question. Asking a question allows you to directly and immediately address your reader and catch his attention. But the question cant just be any question obviously. It has to be related to the topic of your sales letter, but more importantly than that, it must be a question that will make the reader wish to know more.
Say youre selling office software and your target market is composed of home-based professionals and business owners. Your question could be something like Is getting your numbers straight the hardest part of managing your home based business? Math is something many people find notoriously hard but your office software could solve that particular problem.
5. Emphasize The Benefit
Items that are considered necessities would benefit with a problem-and-solution type of opening but for items considered as frivolities or those that merely satisfy wants rather than needs, they might have no problems to solve. What they do have however are benefits, and thats what you can use when opening your sales letter.
6. Use Imagination
Lastly, you can use the power of imagery to effectively start your sales letter. This works especially well when aesthetics is a major factor of your product. Examples of such products and services are travel packages, jewelries, and clothes. While you dont need to write an elaborate and overly long description, the words you do use should all create a stunning image that will reinforce the need to buy what youre selling.