Looking Forward

There’s a well-known structure in successful sales letters, described by the acronym AIDA.

AIDA stands for:

• Attention

• Interest

• Desire

• Action

First, you capture your prospect’s attention. This is done with your headline and lead. If your ad fails to capture your prospect’s attention, it fails completely. Your prospect doesn’t read your stellar copy, and doesn’t order your product or service.

Then you want to build a strong interest in your prospect. You want him to keep reading, because if he reads, he just might buy.

Next, you channel a desire. Having a targeted market for this is key, because you’re not trying to create a desire where one did not already exist. You want to capitalize on an existing desire, which your prospect may or may not know he already has. And you want your prospect to experience that desire for your product or service.

Finally, you present a call to action. You want him to pick up the telephone, return the reply card, attend the sales presentation, order your product, whatever. You need to ask for the sale (or response, if that’s the goal). You don’t want to beat around the bush at this point. If your letter and AIDA structure is sound and persuasive, here’s where you present the terms of your offer and urge the prospect to act now.

A lot has been written about the AIDA copywriting formula. I’d like to add one more letter to the acronym: S for Satisfy.

In the end, after the sale is made, you want to satisfy your prospect, who is now a customer. You want to deliver exactly what you promised (or even more), by the date you promised, in the manner you promised. In short, you want to give him every reason in the world to trust you the next time you sell him a back-end offer. And of course you’d rather he doesn’t return the product (although if he does, you also execute your return policy as promised).

Either way, you want your customers to be satisfied. It will make you a lot more money in the long run.

As you begin to write your ad, try to get into the mind of your visitor or prospect. What exactly are they looking for and how would they benefit from your product or service? And, how would they benefit by buying from you rather than a competitor. Before you jump in make sure you budget for your campaign and split test different ad formats, as long as you check your stats you will know what is working and what isn’t. If you don’t have a proven split test campaign then give the FlexSqueeze theme for WordPress a go, it does a whole lot more….. Ok here’s your check list…..

1. Headline (the “Attention” part)

This is by far the most important element, it has to be a big bold promise of some kind. Give them a reason to read the next line.

2. Sub-Headline.
Just as the purpose of the headline is to get you to read this line, the purpose of this line is to get them to read the next line. Plus, backing up the promise is really important.

3. Benefits (Interest)
Use the benefits of your product (as opposed to features) to put your prospects mind in the middle of the picture. How should your customers feel when they’re using your product or service? How would they feel if they missed out? How would you feel?

4. More Benefits.
Skepticism is always high these days; it takes a lot to convince people, build trust and show your prospect more reasons to buy.

5. Proof.
Testimonials work. Amazing facts are always good. Easy-to-understand statistics help, too. Prove that your product does what you say it will do.

6. Risk Reversal.
Offer a money-back guarantee? Put you visitor at ease, there can be no risk whatsoever.

7. Photo.
This isn’t required, but it will definitely increase your response rate. Show someone enjoying the product and illustrate the benefits. A photo of you, which personalizes the piece and makes it seem more real, can help a lot.

8. Offer. (Just one)
You have to offer something. It’s amazing how many ads are produced without an offer. It’s important to get your name out there, – without an offer, your ad is dead. Nothing happens.

9. Call to Action.
You must ask your prospect to do something. Really! If the rest of the ad is reasonably well-structured, people will act – they’ll take advantage of your offer and do exactly what you ask them to do. This is where your ad can become your best salesperson.

10. Reducing the Resistance to Accepting Your Offer. Pile on the sweet talk
It’s that guarantee again, and it’s OK to mention it more than once, reducing your customer’s risk to zero is really important.

For sales copy or Squeeze Pages

11. Create a Sense of Urgency.
Use language like: “Just five days left” “Only 12 lucky golfers will” “Take advantage today and you’ll also get.”

Try writing a couple different versions and split up your mailing or post two different web pages to see which one draws responses.