Good and bad sales letters

You guys provide some good information. Could help me with this problem?

I've tried writing sales letters, but I dont know if they are good. Sometimes I think they are good, then I look at what I wrote again and change my mind. Is there an easy way to tell if it will work before I send it out? Thanks.

Max -

> You guys provide some good information.
> Could help me with this problem?

> I've tried writing sales letters, but I dont
> know if they are good. Sometimes I think
> they are good, then I look at what I wrote
> again and change my mind. Is there an easy
> way to tell if it will work before I send it
> out? Thanks.

Do yourself a huge favor. Look for a book called "The Ultimate Sales Letter." The author is a gentleman by the name of Dan Kennedy. I think it's available on Amazon. There are tons of books available on writing good sales letters but this one will give you a great start.

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"

Hi Max,

That's a great question! It's not always an easy one to answer.... Maybe the only way to really know is to test it out....

Here's one method I recently read about, which is apparently used by the well-known copywriter and marketer Gary Halbert. (Gordon linked to Gary Halbert's famous full-page personal ad in one of his recent posts http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl?read=4697 .)

This technique goes as follows....

Get some strangers to read your sales letter. For example, you could try people in a pub or restaurant. Make sure that the people you ask to read your sales letter seem similar to the type of people you are targeting (as best as you can).... Then ask them if they think it's a good sales letter.

If they answer, "Yes, it's a great sales letter," then guess what? Your sales letter is a failure! But ...

If they say, "Where can I get one of these?" -- then your sales letter is a success! Send it out!

I haven't tried this myself yet as I only learned about this technique recently, but it sounds like a great technique to try....

Dien Rice

....won't sell very well if it's sent to the wrong market and if you really have want your targets want, then a very ordinary sales letter will do the job.

The trusty old AIDA formula is the best way to write copy, there are many variants of it, but AIDA's all you need.

The best book I've ever seen about copy writing, direct mail and general product development is Bill Myer's '301 Direct Mail Tips, Techniques & Secrets'

It covers everything and it's snipet format is very user friendly.

Jeff

Dien -

> Get some strangers to read your sales
> letter. For example, you could try people in
> a pub or restaurant. Make sure that the
> people you ask to read your sales letter
> seem similar to the type of people you are
> targeting (as best as you can).... Then ask
> them if they think it's a good sales letter.

> If they answer, "Yes, it's a great
> sales letter," then guess what? Your
> sales letter is a failure! But ...

> If they say, "Where can I get one of
> these?" -- then your sales letter is a
> success! Send it out!

FWIW, I think Dan discusses this method in the book I mentioned.

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"


The Guerrilla Product Developer's Forum

Thanks for helping me with my question.