The dreaded online sales letter

It actually IS better than an order page

[momsbudget]

Our conversion statistics have been steadily decreasing recently for a number of reasons. One, we were running offline advertising that brought a lot of traffic that wasn't converting. Two, we have been adding a lot more content which seems to be keeping people on the site, literally going through every page, but not getting them to actually buy.

Our main competition has literally no content whatsoever, just one main sales page, about 4000 words long. I have been struggling with my husband who keeps insisting that I need to "hit my visitors over the head" to make them make a decision right there, like the other site. (Most orders come 2-3 weeks after they first visit.) Unfortunately I have an allergic reaction to pushy sales people, I just wasn't ready to put on my poly-suit and try a combover (It's taken me 26 years to love my naturally curly hair!)

Well on Sunday I bit the bullet. I created a second order page to start a new PPC campaign to test the results. To my horror, I've had 5 sales convert out of 31 clicks! People actually want to buy from this tacky sales letter?!

I feel like I have sold out. Though I kept the sales letter focused on facts with the minimal amount of hype, I still feel like I'm taking advantage of people at their lowest moment - and I like it! Or at least my bank account does!

I have a cozy (small) bungalow (shack) with a water view (swamp)for sale.........

[engine]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

Good news that the site is now pulling. Why not experiment and hone it with alternatives to try to improve the conversion?

I assume you've read digitalghost's excellent thread here. [webmasterworld.com]

Now, don't go and kick yourself for as you hadn't done this sooner. ;-)

[momsbudget]

Engine, I'm certain I won't kick myself, might kick my husband if he says "seeee" one more time :) I just can't believe that it actually works! I absolutely hate sales letters, and sales people (last conversation with our car salesman: "I have to run these numbers by my manager", ahhhh yes, "the higher authority"), I know all the tricks and can spot them a mile away, so I've never understood why they work. I imagine there is a price advantage, ie it works better the higher the price, but not too high. As well as certain things that are not necessarily negative, but have negatives attached or things you may perceive as being too easy or unattainable by you. I think that's why you see most of the sales letters on things like informational products that instruct you (or so they say) on how to earn money in real estate, or MLM, etc, or how to repair your credit.

I'm definitely still testing!

[Jenstar]

This is really interesting - I also tend to cringe when I see those cheesy sales letters, and I usually run the other way when I see them. And I never use them because I feel that people can just see right through them.

I find that conversion rate do be quite interesting - and makes me wonder if I should break down and try one of those sales letters to see if I notice any conversion differences as well. I definitely know how you feel about selling out, lol.

And I always wondered how anyone managed to sell a thing with those tacky sales letters, lol. Maybe they really are the smart ones ;)

[trillianjedi]

The moral of the story?

You're obviously an intelligent woman. Don't falsely flatter the bulk of the internet buying public by also assuming they are!

Good luck with the site.

TJ

[CBurger]

momsbudget-

Your post is refreshing to me. I'm so tired of the holier than thou crowd: "Those letters are cheesy". Well, nooooo kidding?

That's such an easy call I often wonder why they waste the breath to make it.

That genre of letter is unto its' own, granted. The best are often the worst and the worst are often the best. What can I say? They work.

Anyway...

Welcome to the world of plaid leisure suits, white shoes and... really? You have enough hair for a comb-over? Cool.

Burger

[Julia]

Long sales letter are good to pull in your visitors. Whilst a 200 word copy with bullets and lists without any hype is what we like, it simply doesn't pull in. Yet it looks more professional and is better in terms of credibility.

Another point long sles letter a la C.Rudl have a huge bounce rate but a few people who read them are far more likely to convert at once. (Especially if you offer a money-back guarantee). You start reading with a sceptical smile on your face and then you think -- well, it might be true, why don't I try it? It goes with an m-b guarantee. So, I covert.

It happened to me in the past.

[bird]

Does anyone have an idea about whether there's an upper limit to the value of goods where the truly cheesy stuff gets less effective? Or can pull any amount of money out of peoples pockets that way?

[momsbudget]

Bird,

I would like to know the same thing. My product/service is $300. I think much higher than that and the effects would be less. I think the lowest price I've seen a good sales letter is about $50 - of course I have no clue how it was converting for them :)

(Speaking of pushy sales people, DH and I are off to a presentation here in Atlantic City for timeshares, lol. We were approached in the Taj Mahal, get a free gift certificate for attending, and the "contract" says there will be no high pressure sales tacticts, lol, I somehow don't believe that!)

[SEO practioner]

Moms budget-

This thread is as good as DH's one is...
Let us know about the timeshare hype in AC...

Thanks again
:-)

[Web Footed Newbie]

Interesting results. Just so I understand, your "cheesy" sales letter is on your 2nd order page and you did a PPC for that page?
What type of content is on your home page - is it selling features, with a clean transition to the "cheesy" page, or how did you go about it?
Thanks in advance, WFN

[momsbudget]

I had two separate order pages, the normal one I've always had which just has the price for the 3 different services with the order buttons, and then I created the sales letter as a different order page. I had a PPC campaign going to the normal order page, measured conversation rates, then switched it to the sales letter without changing ad copy or any other factors, and again measured conversion rates. Our normal conversion rate was just falling under 1%, with the sales letter we are hitting 10%. Now I have switched the normal page with the sales letter to see if normal search engine traffic is affected the same way as the more targeted PPC traffic. (I was very concerned about this because our order page was highly ranked, and I thought the new content might bring it down, but with Google acting the way it is, who cares!)

I'm also testing PPC campaigns to see if we get better conversion rates by sending traffic directly to the sales letter vs. sending them to the home page, which is informative, but not "smack them over the head" informative. I'm leaning towards the thought that all of our content is actually hurting the process somewhat because visitors tend to read through everything, with average pages views per visitor being about 15, rather than making a decision. I track our orders through the site and over 50% come from people reading less than 5 pages. But we also have a fair number that bookmark the site and come back and buy later. More testing.....

[dwilson]

Been to 2 timeshare presentations in Gatlinburg, TN. Neither was high-pressure -- very pleasantly surprised.

[Jenstar]

That is a very significant difference in your conversion rate from the regular page to the sales letter style of page. At least you have discovered it now ;) And it is so true, some customers just need to be smacked over the head with the information for them to bite the bullet and order rather then hemming and hawing over the decision.

I am sure fellow members are pondering their own site with the possible use of sales letters after reading your post ;)

Testing is always good...