Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Learn and Earn: The perfect sales letter

Alan Sharpe is a copywriter who specializes in direct mail. I have learned a lot through his e-mail newsletter, Sharpe and Direct.

How good is he? No one else has ever written a clearer formula than the following for writing the perfect direct-mail sales letter:

1. Grab the prospect's attention
2. Stimulate interest by identifying the prospect's problem
3. Describe how your product, service or company solves your prospect's problem
4. Offer proof to back up your claim
5. Present your offer early on, and at the end
6. Ask the reader to take action now
7. Address your letter to a person by name (plus a job title if writing to a business)
8. Craft a fresh, original opening sentence
9. Aim for authenticity (no fake handwriting in the margins)
10. Strive for readability (short sentences and paragraphs, subheads for scanning, strong topic sentences)
11. Keep the reader reading–use transitions that keep your prospect hanging
12. Strive for credibility–use facts
13. Re-state your offer in a new way in your PS

Pass this on to your marketing people. You'll be glad you did.

You'll find lots more great stuff from Alan at his website, http://www.sharpecopy.com/

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Check out My Copywriter (www.outsource2documaker.com/mycopywriter.htm). It writes click-bank style sales letters automatically.