1. Write Your Objective - Before you write your sales letter,
write down your marketing objective. Is it to generate inquiries
about your products? Is it attract subscribers to your ezine? Is
it to find a joint venture partner? Having an objective will
help you focus your copy.
2. Make A List Of Your Product's Benefits - How will it improve
your prospect's life? How will it save them money or time? How
will it make them more productive? Use the top three or four
benefits in your email. Be specific and tone down the hype.
3. Spend Time Creating Effective Subject Lines - Don't rush
through this task. A subject line is the equivalent of a print
headline. If it doesn't catch their attention right away, a
reader won't bother opening the message. Avoid writing cute
punsor play-on-words.
Make your subjectline sound valuable to your prospect. For
example, "5 Ways To Increase Your Web Traffic." Using this "How
To" approach is one of the most powerful tactics in advertising.
People are always hungry for info on how to increase sales, save
time or increase productivity.
Another effective technique is to ask a question: e.g. "Need
More Web Traffic?"
4. Select Your Words Carefully - With the increasing use of
anti-spam software, even legitimate "opt-in" emails often get
blocked. You need to choose words that prevent your email from
being filtered out. Never use the word "free" in a subject line.
For a list of words to avoid, visit this site:
http://spamassassin.org ests.html
5. Use A Casual Tone - Nothing turns off a reader faster than
stiff, formal language. You're not writing a college essay.
Write your email as if your were writing to a friend.
6. Use Short Sentences - They're easier to read and sound more
conversational than long sentences. Keep your sentences crisp
and snappy. And use short words rather than long.
7. Use Bullets To Highlight Benefits - People tend to scan email
rather than read every word. Bullet points makes it easy for a
reader to quickly catch key information on your product or
service.
8. Use Testimonials - Nothing builds confidence in your product
quicker than comments from satisfied customers. Collect
testimonials whenever you can. Include the customer's first and
last name. Comments that use initials, like "J. Smith," are not
credible.
9. Hyperlinks Should Be Specific When you insert a link into
your email, make sure it takes the prospect to the specific info
you referred to in your letter. Don't just link to your homepage
and expect the prospect to search for your offer. Your response
will drop significantly.
10. Offer An Incentive To Get The Prospect To Take Action Now -
It's not enough to publicize your product, you want the prospect
to take action. At the end of your email, tell the prospect what
they should do next. Sign up for your newsletter? Visit your
website? Download an ebook?
You'll get a better response if you offer an incentive for them
to take action. Offer a limited time discount. Give them lots of
bonuses. Enter them into a contest. They're tons of incentives
you can come up with.
About the author:
Dave Coyne is a copywriter, marketing consultant and president
of DC Infobiz - http://www.dc-infobiz.com FREE Report for
entrepreneurs. How to use information marketing to increase your
sales profits. Send a blank e-mail to dcinfobiz@GetResponse.com
