A Kikabink News reader wants to know why he has to:

read as many as 15 pages or more at times of sales page to get a damn price… and even then at the end of the long ass pages they still do not tell you the price until you click to order. Maybe I am old fashioned, but I want to know the cost now and not later…

In the last two feature articles I likened sales letters to sales people. Well, let me ask you… how many times does a top salesperson introduce himself or herself and tell you what the price of their product or service is straight away?

Now, they might do this to work out whether or not you’re a legitimate prospect who can afford their product, but if they suspect you are willing and able to buy, chances are they’ll start their sales presentation by asking you lots of questions about your circumstances, problems, goals, needs, wants, etc in order to tailor their presentation to you. Then, based on what you’ve revealed, they’ll present their product or services as the solution to your problem or the passport to the opportunity you seek. Then they’ll build more and more value into what they’re offering. And then, when they’ve sold you on the product, they’ll explain how the price is a mere fraction of the true value of their solution.

Or something along those lines.

Point is, like a sales person, a sales letter is designed to reinforce your desperate need for a solution (to solve your problem or achieve your goal), persuade you that the product on offer is the ideal solution, build up even more value, and then, when you’re convinced that the product on offer must be worth many times more than you’re capable of paying, introduce the price as being a mere fraction of what the product is worth.

The process of building up your desire and your perception of value in the product BEFORE introducing the price is integral to making the sale for the kinds of products on offer via sales letters. Sure, it may not be necessary for selling a tin of baked beans, but for items that require much more persuasion, this process is usually necessary.

And, once again, there’s a reason why the most successful direct response companies structure their sales letters in this way. It’s NOT to deceive you. It’s to sell you. And, yes, I’m sure we could all argue about the sometimes fine line between being misleading and selling. (I’ve given legal advice on that line plenty of times). But I truly believe that any company that aims to be in business for the long haul - and I’m thinking of 9-figure direct response marketing companies such as Agora Publishing and Boardroom, Inc. - just can’t afford to mislead.

So the aim is not so much to ‘hide’ the price, but to present it in the best possible way, at the best possible juncture within the structure of a sales letter.

Of course, if you want to know the price straight away, it’s generally a simple matter of using the ‘find’ button in your browser and typing in the dollar sign! And if the sales letter doesn’t reveal the price (something I DON’T agree with), just click on ‘Order’ to see what it is. You won’t have to hand over your credit card details to see the price. (If you do, just leave the site).

If you’re interested in buying a product - let’s say it’s an information product - do you read the sales letter from start to finish?

Or do you, as Kikabink News subscriber, John H. does, scroll down to the bottom to find the price and then skim the bullet points.

Or do you do something else entirely?

Well, it’s the very fact that different readers approach sales letters in different ways that they - the more effective ones, that is - are structured and written in a way to accommodate different kinds of reader.

There are readers who read every word… skimmers who catch the main points… and ‘pick and choosers’ who look for, and focus only on, the details that matter to them. And there are those who may do any of these depending on the kind of product they’re buying, whether it was preceded by a huge pre-launch campaign of videos, etc, and other factors.

For example, when I bought my first information product in the Internet marketing niche, I read every word of what was something like a 20+ page sales letter. Just recently, when I invested in another - much more expensive - program, I focused only on some of the main points.

The difference for me was that in the first case, I had no familiarity with the product, the company behind it, or what benefits it would bring. I felt that I needed to understand exactly what I was being sold. In the second case, however, I was familiar with - and trusted - the marketer, had experienced an extensive pre-launch campaign, and was really only looking for confirmation that what was on offer was right for me.

Yesterday, I mentioned my view that if you are aiming to sell a product online that would ideally be sold by a real-life salesperson, then a sales letter is probably ideal. Similarly, a sales letter - just like a top sales person - should accommodate as many buyers as possible. It should deliver both the detail… and the salient points… it should allow for people to understand all the features and benefits… as well as convey the overall benefit… it should appeal to the emotions… and also appeal to the rational mind with logic…

The end-result is often a long sales letter. Will this turn off some people who don’t like scrolling? Probably. But, if it’s good, it will capture more people than it loses.

And remember, although YOU may not like reading through reams of copy… it doesn’t mean many of your prospects won’t. Or that they won’t simply skim or pick and choose what they read. As always, your customers (or lack thereof) will tell you whether you need to change how you present your offer.

The issue of using sales letters on websites… and how long or short they should be… is one that seems to attract earnest debate.

My guess is that many newcomers to the Internet marketing niche, as well as various other niches on the web, are unfamiliar with the use sales letters on websites and wonder why many marketers use them. Especially when most brand name websites are designed and structured in an entirely different way.

I know that I was unaccustomed to long sales letters when I first learned about ‘Internet marketing’ in 2004. And this was AFTER my husband and I had previously built and sold an Internet business. I wondered why all these people selling information products used websites that often had no logos, no navigation, no ‘About’ or ‘Contact’ links, few graphics, and nothing but a long sales letter with a price hidden within the copy and an ‘Order’ button at the bottom.

And why were they all so long?

But when I bought my first Internet marketing info. product (after reading the sales letter) and then started learning about Internet/niche marketing in earnest, it all started to click.

Sales letters work.

Not in all contexts. Not for selling all products. But certainly for selling products that:

• Are intangible - can’t be touched or ’seen’ to be understood or appreciated
• People don’t know they want or don’t think they need - where considerable persuasion is needed
• Have an intangible benefit - where the result is more psychological than physical
• Carry a high price

I like to think of it this way. If you’re selling a product on the web that would ideally be sold by a real-life salesperson… i.e. someone would explain the benefits, features, etc then use a sales letter. Or, with the advent of online video, a sales letter with some video elements (we’ll discuss video in a later article).

If, on the other hand, you’re selling a product that wouldn’t need to be sold by a salesperson (and, in fact, having a salesperson would hinder the sale) then a salesletter is probably not a good idea. A simple product graphic, some copy and the price may be sufficient.

At the end of the day, marketers big and small - from big direct response marketing companies such as Agora Publishing, Boardrooms and Weiss Research to small companies like ours - use sales letter style websites because they make money.

As for whether many of these sales letters are too long… and whether anyone actually reads them… let’s discuss that tomorrow…