Over the course of a few years people have asked me all sorts of questions about Internet marketing and website development. One question that has been asked over and over again is about the effectiveness of long sales copy.
In case you are not sure what I am referring to, take a look at this sales copy for our fitness website design service.
It’s one of those long sales pages that seem to go on forever and ever. So the question is…
Who Really Reads All That?
Here’s the thing… long sales copy has its place in the world. And yes, people do actually sit and read the entire message. But here’s the kicker… not all do and there’s a reason why.
Who Reads Your Long Sales Copy – only those that are truly interested. They want as much information about your fitness product or service as they can get. They are serious buyers and are willing to read long sales copy to get as much info as possible.
Who Does Not Read Your Long Sales Copy – those that are not that interested in your fitness product or service are more than likely NOT going to take 10 – 15 minutes of their time to read your sales pitch.
BUT… some people may be interested in what you have to offer… but they’re not really interested in reading all of your text. It’s just not how they want to digest your information.
The Solution – the solution is two-fold.
Part 1 – the first part is offering something for everyone. Try making your long sales copy as interesting as possible. Include real life case-studies and stories. Include photos. Also, make your headlines tell the story as most people will simply scan your page and read the headlines first… then if the headline interests them… they’ll read the paragraph or two for that headline. Also, include bullet points. People are more likely to read bullet points before the actual text.
But also consider adding more multimedia content like video and/or live chat. Adding video and live chat will help those people that ARE interested in your product or service but who will not read all your sales copy. Adding video or live chat enables them to get your sales pitch in another format. Adding different ways to “digest” your sales pitch means you are reaching more people before.
The idea is to get as many targeted people to digest your information. Some prefer long sales copy. Some prefer audio. Some prefer video. Some prefer to call you. Some prefer live chat.
Part 2 – The second part is all about testing. Try putting up long sales copy for one month and measure your statistics. How many people bought? Then for the next month, try putting up just a video of you talking about the product or service with a few bullet points and see if your purchases increased or decreased. Then try a combination of long sales copy + a video (place it above the fold) and see what those results look like.
The thing to keep in mind is to measure your results using as many controlled factors as possible. For an example, it wouldn’t be fair to judge the effectiveness of just video and bullet points when you decide to launch a major PPC (pay-per-click) campaign to that page. You want the organic traffic to be similar in both test methods so your results are as spot on as possible.
Does Long Sales Copy Work?
It does work and it does have its place in the online marketing world. Many people still swear by it and it has been shown to increase a product or service’s validity – after all if someone can write a 15-page sales pitch on something… it must be a great product offering a great solution, right?
What’s My Personal Opinion on Long Sales Copy?
I personally believe long sales copy has its place… and should be tested appropriately for each website niche. But I also believe long sales copy is becoming less popular. I am moving my company more into video as it captures people’s attention more than anything else.
But I will not leave long sales copy behind… my job is the same as yours… test, test, test and test some more.
