If I had a dollar for every time I've had an affiliate network say ‘the page is too long' or ‘the video is too long' or ‘the button should appear earlier,' I'd have several million dollars more than I do now.
That’s a copy and paste from an email I sent to someone yesterday morning.
And it’s entirely true.
It’s something I’ve been dealing with as a copywriter for nearly a decade now…
And it’s hilarious.
Because it doesn’t matter how many times the evidence points to the contrary…
There’s still always going to be someone, somewhere, who is wildly confident that “if we just cut the sales copy in half, conversions would skyrocket!”
They’re almost always wrong, of course…
And typically whenever someone brings this to me…
It means they don’t understand direct response marketing very well.
If I’m being honest, usually it’s affiliates…
Though it’s offer owners sometimes as well.
Maybe I’m preaching to the choir on this…
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But here’s the explicit reason why longer copy and fewer CTAs isn’t the problem (especially when it comes to cold traffic):
When a cold prospect lands on your sales page, they’re like a deer in headlights.
Just a few moments ago…
They were checking their emails will sipping their morning coffee…
Or looking at the weather forecast for the weekend…
Or spying on their best frenemy on Facebook…
When out of the heavens, an ad creative for your promo caught their attention…
And it was interesting enough that they even decided to click on the ad and see where it goes!
Now they’ve landed on your sales page…
A page which is either for an offer you own, or where you wrote the copy…
And they’re feeling immediately ambivalent and even a little nervous.
The first things they’re asking themselves are:
“What’s in this for me?”
And…
“Is this a good use of my time?”
The prospect is in a SELFISH mindset as they reach your page…
And who can blame them? Here they were, just going about their day when your offer disrupted everything like a coke can falling from the sky and landing at the feet of some uncontacted tribe.
They’re guarded…
Which is why the only purpose of your headline is to get them to start reading/watching your sales letter…
And why the only purpose of the first sentence of your sales letter…
Is to get them to read the second one.
You’ve got to ease them in…
Make them feel comfortable…
Help them forget that they’ve got a million other things they need to do today.
You want them entranced…
That’s your lead in a nutshell…
And if you’ve done a good enough job with your lead…
Then by the time you get to the background/discovery story…
They’ll permit you to share a little more information about yourself…
Especially if what you’re sharing is a reflection of their experiences too.
Perfect!
Now we’re about 30% of the way to selling them!
See, we’ve still got some work to do…
They’re engaged now… they’re emotionally connected… they’re feeling understood…
But now you’ve got to help them understand the REAL cause behind the problem they’ve been dealing with (the same problem that got them to click on your ad in the first place)…
And after that…
You’ve got to get them to understand the REAL solution to that problem.
There’s a logical connection between these two things…
First you’re sharing the missing 1%…
The single thing that’s prevented them from succeeding in the past (and it should be surprising, maybe even counterintuitive)…
Then you’re sharing a simple way to incorporate that missing 1% into their daily routine…
And do it in a fast, pain-free way.
What we’ve just described is the Unique Mechanism…
Which is broken up into two parts…
The Unique Mechanism Behind the Problem (UMP)…
And the Unique Mechanism Behind the Solution (UMS).
Now we’re 60% of the way to making the sale!
You see…
Just because you’ve convinced the prospect that the solution you’ve shared is legit…
Doesn’t mean they’re convinced your product/service will actually deliver that solution.
So now you’ve got to start sharing how you toiled to create the ultimate solution…
How it’s been tested by others…
How there were trials and tribulations…
And how, through sheer, glorious obsession…
You DID manage to create a product or service that matches the Unique Mechanism of the Solution.
Once the product has been revealed to them, we’re 70% of the way to asking for the sale!
But of course, your prospect has questions.
Where’s it made?
What are the main features and benefits?
Have others used it, and what were their results?
Is it fairly priced?
Can they trust you?
Can they think about it and come back later?
So, it’s back to work for you…
You’ve got to answer all of those questions…
While creating a sense of urgency…
And you should be using emotional language and future-pacing the whole time too…
Until they are convinced that if they buy YOUR product or service…
Not only will it solve their pain point…
It will make them a damned HERO to everyone they know.
Have you accomplished all of that?
Perfect, now we’re getting somewhere…
We’re 90% of the way to asking for the sale!
We just need to also make sure that the prospect’s ONLY choice is to buy today…
Which has to do with the aforementioned scarcity…
But also with the price reveal.
We want the prospect to understand that your product or service should cost 10x as much as it’s going to cost…
And that’s not just some B.S. – it’s an irrefutable fact.
Show your prospect the alternative options and how they are inferior but cost more…
Show how much money this will save/make your prospect over the next year…
Even if the prospect paid 10x for your product or service…
It would still be one of the smartest financial decisions they’ve ever made in their life.
Fortunately though, they’re in luck…
It’s not going to cost that “10x Price”…
Instead, and for a very legitimate reason that you present to them…
If they take action for a limited period of time…
It won’t be 10x… or 5x… or even 3x…
Rather, they’ll just need to invest .03x the normal price.
And NOW we can include that beautiful, glorious call to action…
And tell them to click the button and buy.
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Of course, the sales letter doesn’t end there either. Then we go into the guarantee, more urgency, etc…
Plus, you should also include an FAQ at the end of every sales letter too as this increases conversions by 10-15% on average.
The point is, though…
What I just described is why:
1) I’m never worried about the length of my copy. It’ll be however long it takes to go through the entire process listed above…
And…
2) Putting calls to action “early and often” almost ALWAYS kills conversions.
I’ve seen this countless times…
And when you think about this critically, it’s super obvious why this happens:
You need to capture attention, connect emotionally, educate intelligently (paradigm shift), prove your solution, create a frenzy…
And THEN you ask for the sale…
Otherwise it's like rushed sex without any foreplay at all…
Sure, every now and then it may work out…
But most of the time it's going to lead to a whole lot of dissatisfaction on both ends.
And to be fair, there are lots of affiliates, clients, and offer owners who do get this…
But the fact that there are still some who don’t understand this concept is shocking to me.
Anyways, hope this makes sense…
And also in case you missed it…
I basically laid out my entire Sales Letter Outline throughout this email…
So hopefully you picked up on that too 😉
– SPG
P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.
