As the name suggests, marketing on the web is different from traditional marketing. There are no geographical boundaries, and the audience is vastly more accessible. In today’s world, a website visitor can be in the U.S, Canada or any other country. They may also be on any smartphone, tablet or laptop. All of these factors make it much easier to connect with potential customers, rather than attempting to market to a certain segment of the population located in a certain country.
While it’s always great to connect with potential customers no matter where they are – and the web makes that easy – you must ensure that your web visitors engage with your content. And if they don’t, then you’re losing out on sales. So how can you write compelling sales letter and copy for the web? Let’s discuss.
Learn From The Best
Before you start writing a sales letter for the web, it’s important to learn from the best. Oftentimes, aspiring copywriters will look up to seasoned professionals – those who’ve been in the game for years – for guidance. You can do the same and benefit from their expertise. It’s never a bad idea to ask for help when you’re struggling to come up with ideas for a sales letter.
According to HubSpot Blogs, sales letters written by beginners typically fall into one of three categories:
- Promotional
- Persuasive
- Informational
Each type of sales letter has its perks and quirks. A promotional letter should be short and sweet; use multiple examples and figures to make your point. A persuasive letter should make a long argument and use logic and evidence to reach your audience. An informational letter should contain a lot of factual data, backed up by appropriate citations. All of these factors make up a coherent piece of writing that offers the reader value and builds trust. And remember: the purpose of a sales letter is to make the reader buy what you’re selling. So don’t forget to make your language sound as enticing as possible!
Keep It Short
Even though you may have thousands of words to work with, you shouldn’t overload your sales letter. Word count is a precious commodity on the web, and it prevents you from having meaningful content. If your email marketing platform – like HubSpot – allows you to keep your emails short and sweet, you should certainly translate that to your sales letters.
According to Copyblogger, emails on average receive a 23% open rate and a 51% click-through rate. And it’s not just emails. Short and sweet articles, quotes and tips appear to perform better on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter, than longer articles or infographics do. Your writing should be concise and to the point to maintain interest and to encourage the reader to continue reading. If you find that your writing seems dull or difficult to follow, then it’s probably too long. Trim it down to the essentials and see how it sounds. You can always add more details or examples as needed.
Use Active Voice
This is probably the most important point regarding marketing on the web. Since your audience can be anywhere in the world, you must ensure that your writing is easy to understand and engaging. Instead of using passive voice, which often occurs when a writer doesn’t know the terminology to use or doesn’t feel confident enough to use it, active voice is highly recommended. The active voice allows you to directly connect with your reader. It uses verbs instead of nouns and takes the form of a question rather than a statement. For example, instead of writing “Marketing on the web is challenging,” you could write “Marketing on the web is challenging for someone who wants to succeed.”
The reason active voice is so effective is that it allows you to directly address the reader and makes the writing sound more natural. It also allows for more flexibility when editing and improving the content later on. If you find that your writing is highly professional and you want to polish it to make it shine, you can take out some of the verbs and replace them with more specific and clinical nouns. Instead of “We want to show you that marketing on the web can be challenging,” you could write “We want to show you that marketing on the web can be challenging for a boutique brand.”
When choosing your verbs, bear in mind that some verbs work better than others when it comes to engaging with an audience. For instance, “to convince” and “to alert” tend to work better than “to entertain” or “to frighten.” If you want to encourage website visitors to take action, you could write “How about convincing your audience to try our products?” If you’re writing to inform your audience about something, you might want to write “Do you know _______? It’s a great way to find out about new trends and technologies!”
As a rule of thumb, keep your verbs simple and direct. Instead of writing “Marketing on the web can be challenging,” you could write “Marketing on the web is challenging.” Keep things as simple as possible, and you’ll maintain the reader’s interest.
Make It Visually Attractive
The best way to grab readers’ attention is through the use of eye-catching visuals. If possible, you should always try to accompany text with images. The rule of thumb is simple: if it’s easier for the eye to see than to read, it’s probably best to go for images. That way, your readers can enjoy the content while still getting the important information.
However, depending on the nature of your product, you may need to adjust your approach. For example, if your product is B2C (Business-to-Consumer) then you may want to feature more images that are relevant to that particular group of people. If it’s B2B (Business-to-Business) then you may want to feature more technical or numeric images to represent your product or service.
The visuals don’t have to be complicated. Keep it simple and clean, and you’ll be able to engage your audience with ease.
Include A Call To Action
If you’re writing a sales letter, then you should always include a call to action. A call to action is an instruction that encourages the reader to take some form of action. The instruction can be as simple as “Click here to read more,” or it can be as complex as “Sell our products and receive a special discount.” You must include a call to action in every sales letter you write, and you should do so in the form of a question.
It’s never a bad idea to ask the reader to take some form of action. Sometimes, adding a call to action is all it takes to make a sales letter irresistible. Just make sure that you follow up the call to action with relevant information. If you run a business or blog, then you know that having a large number of unengaged subscribers is a major pain point. Including a call to action at the end of your letter will encourage those people to take action and hopefully lead to more sales.
You may want to take a look at some of the top-performing sales letters from around the web. By analyzing thousands of online pitches, HubSpot Blogs determined that 12% of all pitches used an “Ask” statement at the end. The blog also found that pitches using an “Ask” statement tended to perform better than those that used other closing phrases:
- “Here’s what you need to know”
- “Thanks for reading”
- “Regards”
- “I look forward to hearing back from you”
“Asking” is one of the easiest ways to close a letter, and it’s the most popular option among consumers. According to HubSpot Blogs, “asking” is the most popular way to close a letter because it “invites the reader to continue the dialogue.” So instead of simply saying “Thanks for reading!” or “I look forward to hearing back from you!,” include a question mark to create some room for the reader to engage.
Make It Easy
Last but not least, we have the form itself. The way you lay out a sales letter will have a significant impact on its effectiveness. When writing a sales letter for the web, you should keep things as simple as possible and make the layout readable and easy to scan.