The Characteristics and Hallmarks Of A TRULY Great Sales Copy - Part 2

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Do also join our FREE membership where you will find tons of bonus marketing reports, cheatsheet and guides. Yep. 0 charge, 100% value. Join NOW!

In Part 1, we explored 8 of the finer points of what make a brilliant persuasive sales copy that can tempt even the wisest of Eskimo to buy ice.

In Part 2, we shall delve further. C’mon, lets jump right in!

9. Personal stories of triumph

Everyone loves a winner. If the seller can convey his own personal experience of how he has achieved success through his own methods that he is selling, it will be good. If he sets out to display that this feat can be easily modeled and emulated, it will be great. If he comes out with a story of overcoming the odds, from being an underdog to winner, from chump to champ, from loser to the stud who brings home the prom queen, we got a winner on our hands.

Good sales copy usually presents strong engaging stories that do not come across as too egoistic. These stories are normally crafted in a way that are believable and not come across as excessive.

After all the sales copy is all about the buyer, buyer, buyer, and not the seller. The buyer will only care mostly about what is it in for him and not so much about how great the seller is.

10. Value-added bonuses

Bonuses are great in increasing the perceived value of the product. Not just any sub standard bonuses but quality ones that complement the main product. Generally, the more bonuses there are, the more valuable and attractive the selling product package becomes.

Usually the bonuses will be tabulated in a detailed manner, with the price beside it to emphasize the great perceived value.

However a copywriter will always be careful in not overdoing the giving out of bonuses. After all, too many bonuses (say more than 12) might confuse the buyer, and also dilute the value of the main focal selling product. Buyers too will get suspicious and think that, perhaps, there are so many bonuses given out to cover the inadequacies of the main product.

11. Comparing the perceived value vs actual price

Many compelling sales copies use this to great effect. They bring out the perceived value of each components in the products, tally them and contrast it with the final selling price, which is usually much lower. This creates an illusion that the product is one hell of a bargain, and that the buyers are actually getting much more value then what what they are paying for.

Let me ask you, which is more attractive to you, a 50 dollars product with a perceived value of 10,000 dollars or a similar product that cost only 25 dollars but has no actual perceived value to show? I’ll grab the former in an instance.

12. Compelling price

The final selling price is important. If the niche the sales copy is targeting is aimed at the teens crowd, do you think the buyers will pay top dollars for it? If you are selling a report that teaches one how to cook different recipes, do you think people will want to buy it if you priced it at say, 97 bucks?

The price has to be reasonable and irresistible at the same time, and more importantly, fitting of the niche the product is aimed towards.

Let me give you two examples of successful products that are priced at opposite ends of the selling scale.

John Reese’s traffic secrets cost a whopping 997USD but it was a massive success, generating 1 million dollars in sales over an extremely long period of 1 day! That will take some beating to emulate.

It sold out like wildfire partially because he created and build up some anticipation for the product, but also largely in part, due to the immense value the traffic generating ideas the product will bring to the buyers, who are banking on using the traffic ideas to in turn generate more sales for themselves.

It was a worthy investment many were willing to take as they feel that the potential returns will far outweigh the initial cost.

On the other end of the scale, Jonathan Ledger, the man behind the 7 dollar secrets craze, has a wonderful product that is available at a price that cost the same as a Macdonald meal. Many see the great value in the product and the best thing is that it doesn’t cost a bomb!

13. Risk removal

Do you notice virtually every great sales copy comes with a risk-free 50 or 60 days money back guarantee? This is important to the buyer, as they are more inclined to buy a product which they can refund easily if they aren’t satisfied with the quality of the product.

In fact, the longer the risk-free money back duration, the less likely the buyers are to refund. Why? Simply because they are can take their own sweet time to evaluate. When the buyers are less pressurized, they are also less likely to find fault with the product. In fact, with a long risk free try-out duration, most buyers will simply just forget about the refund aspect. In addition, it allows the buyer to differentiate from the rest who are offering a period of say, only 30 days of money back guarantee.

14. Clever manipulation of prices

Nope I’m not talking about manipulation of stock prices.

Do you notice that great sales copy always like to tease the mind of the buyers?

They will go something like:

“With all the value present in this product and bonuses, it is easily worth $999.

How much are we selling?

Not $777

.

.

Not $555

.

.

Not $277

.

.

Not even $77 dollars which already represents a FANTASTIC DIRT CHEAP bargain!

The product is going at $27!”

How clever. Playing around with prices to again create an illusion of a fantastic impossible-to-resist offer.

Strikethroughs are commonly used tactics too.

Example:

The price is selling at $999, $777, $555, 277, $77 $27! A bit tacky but it works!

15. Utilizing P.S and P.P.S

P.S and P.P.S are used at the end when signing off, and it is a good quick way to reiterate and remind the readers of the great value of the products and also to squeeze in some last minute pitching, as well as to tell them that they will be missing out on a great offer if they don’t buy. You may think that this tactic is more long-winded than your affable grandma, but again, it works!

16. Giving out a FREE teaser report

Buyers love this. It creates a win-win situation for both them and the sellers alike. The buyer can have a preview of the product and can better understand what he is getting himself into, while the seller can presell and warm the buyer up, putting him into the ‘buy’ mode. It also goes some way in credentializing the seller.

Such teaser reports will usually require the would-be prospect to opt in to a list, thus it will be a fantastic way for the seller to follow up, presell, and of course cross sell and up sell further down the road.

17. Box/book/CD image ecover of the product

This is especially crucial for digital products which are not physical in nature. An image of a product looks more tangible to the buyer. It has been proven without a doubt that an ecover that accompanies a product will have a higher sales conversion as compared to one that doesn’t have.

Look at this ecover for XsitePro, a website builder for Internet Marketer.

Looks much more appealing than a simple text introduction, ain’t it? After all, a picture speaks a thousand words.

18. Manage expectations

Honestly there will always be some buggers who will expect more than what they are paying for. So right from the start, a great sales copy will state first that who should buy and who shouldn’t.

Sales might decrease, but you can be pretty sure that those who buy will be less likely to issue a refund. The key is to get hold of quality targeted buyers.

19. Creating components/modules

This point should have been listed in Part 1, but it somehow slipped my mind. Anyway, with components or modules in the package, it presents an image of the product as being comprehensive, all rounded and complete. In addition, with the various parts broken down and and tabulated out, it makes it easier for the buyer to go through and digest the various information, features and benefits.

20. Provide Customer Support

My last point, but no doubt, one of the most important aspect of a great sales copy. Buyers want support for anything they aren’t clear about when analyzing or using the product. Give it to them. Including an email or phone contact, or a help desk, go a long long way in helping to clarify doubts and these can also be a great credibility booster.

If you provide great support, you might even get a potential loyal customer who will buyer more products from you in future for life. In 2 words - support MATTERS!

Hope you have enjoyed and learnt something from this ‘ characteristics of great sales copy’ series.

Have a great day!

Excellent follow-up.

You can easily bang up a special report on this and make money from it. :D

Hi Ruby,

Thanks! Yeah I think I should do that and sell it for 7 bucks!

Anyway copywriting is really essential for the selling of any products. It is all about mostly appealing to people’s emotion.

Cheers,
YongSing Jag

Great stuff here!!

Very informative peek into what copy writing is all about.
Save me lots of time going through other article.

Keep us in the loop when you decide to indulge us with more of copy writing special report.

:>

Yo Tim,

Thanks dude!

I’m sure there will be some points I missed out, but what I highlighted should already give some major copywriting ammunition.

As for report? Gotta think about it. =)

Cheers!

Very good article! I’ll have to save that one for the day when I have some product to sell though! I bookmarked it for later. It looks like you’re a fairly new site, well done with what you’ve written so far!

Hi Court,

Thanks! You can actually download this copywriting report here
–> http://emoneymarketing.com/internet-marketing/free-copywriting-tips-report-for-giveaway/

There is definitely more room for improvement as far as this article is concerned.

Yep, this site is fairly new, and I really have to thank you for dropping by and saying your piece. Appreciate it!

Cheers,
YongSing Jag

[...] honest, I have never heard of this blog and Court, until one fine day, when he left a comment on my copywriting article. Being the curious kid that I am, I went to his site, and well well, this is a good blog [...]