The Long and the Short of It
How long should your copy be? In answer, as long as it needs to be.
Before making a major purchase people want as much information as possible to make an informed buying decision.
Generally the more expensive a product the longer the sales copy required to convince. They have no prior knowledge of you; they don’t know you from a bar of soap so you need longer to earn their trust. The positive is that the longer they stay on your webpage and read through your long sales copy, the more likely they will be to buy.
Another reason for long sales copy is to plug products that are brand new on the market. Especially products no one has prior knowledge of.
The long copy is to educate your prospect on why the product is needed. Just like cell phones. What was the point of having a cell phone to keep in touch with your family when nobody even had them yet?
There was no one to phone; you would have had a more effective system of communication if you used 2 cups and a piece of string.
But there you have it. People were educated on how they could be useful that everyone bought them just to say they had one. Nowadays people can’t live without their cell phones. How’s that for 180 degree turnaround?
For products over $297 I would go for a (10 plus page salesletter)
Products $97 – $296 (5 pages – 10 pages)
Products under $96 (around 5 pages)
These aren’t rock solid, set in stone rules, and just like Captain Barbossa from the Pirates of the Caribbean – Curse of the Black Pearl says “They’re not rules they’re more guidelines”.
Treat it as such. The only way to know for sure is to do some testing. Use different sales copy length to see what converts best for you and your offers.
One Response to “The Long and the Short of It”
By Eric Lee on Jun 9, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for posting the article, was certainly a great read!