B-to-B Insights: How to Succeed in Sales Letters

Follow in the footsteps of direct mail’s “grand masters”

December 2007 By Russell Kern

multipage

In case you’re wondering, that last example was lifted from a solicitation to subscribe to Science magazine. I have no idea how many subscriptions it sold, but I doubt many recipients stopped reading after that first sentence!

Throckmorton and Decker would agree that great letter writers have a flair for dramatic effect, along with a sense of rhythm, timing and, where necessary, even humor.

How Much Is Enough?
I’m often asked at the office and at seminars, “How long should letters be?” And, “Do people still read long copy in our digital age?” The answer is deceptively simple. A letter should go on for exactly as long as it takes to tell the story effectively and persuade the reader to take action. No more. No less. This, of course, is easy to talk about but very hard to write.

David Ogilvy used a simple technique to gauge the readability of a letter. He’d give it to a stranger, ask her to read it and then carefully watch her eyes. If they stopped moving in the middle of his letter, he knew he had a copy problem—right there—that demanded fixing before anything went off to the printer.

For help in fixing his letter, Ogilvy, were he alive today, might sit down at his computer, go to www.sigsmarket ingsecrets.com and happily shell out $39 for “Sig Rosenblum’s Marketing Success Secrets,” Robert Bly’s terrific new e-book detailing the wisdom of a real direct marketing genius. The first chapter of this treasure trove reveals “10 Secrets of Better Sales Letters.” I’d love to let you in on 10 of ’em right here in this column, but then I’d be in hot water with Bly, Rosenblum and their publisher.

So, with permission, here’s a brief sampling of Rosenblum’s insights:

“Hop the fence. … Your letter should be built around the needs, fears, desires, profit and happiness of readers … They are interested in themselves, their problems, their opportunities, their comfort. They are not interested primarily in you and your product. The only reason customers buy anything is to help themselves. Be on their side.”

“Don’t waste words. This doesn’t mean terse, clipped, stingy writing without the transitions that give grace and style. But use your blue pencil on sentences filled with fat and bloated with bombast. ... lean writing moves people to action.”

“Be specific. If your new screwdriver works faster, tell the folks how much faster. Tell them the number of additional screws they can drive. What will they save in dollars and cents? Or time? If you use flabby, fuzzy claims such as ‘very fast’ and ‘improved performance,’ a snicker of skepticism will cross the reader’s mind.”

“Be believable. It is not enough for your sales letter to be true. It must sound true, too. … There are many ways to do it. Use testimonials that ring true. Develop solid facts and figures that build your case point by point.”

“Watch your windups. Most sales letters are improved by deleting the first sentence. We call this sentence a windup because it lets the writer ‘get into’ his subject. But if you don’t immediately arrest a reader’s interest, she will not get into the subject, and into the wastebasket will go you and your message.”

I Get the Last Word. (Hey, I’m the Columnist)
The sales letter, whether it’s tucked inside a direct mail package or called up on a computer screen, constitutes the core element of successful direct response. The words it contains frequently are the first ones a prospect will see from your company or client. Its success or failure could determine your own. Considering what’s at stake, I’d want all the help I could get.

Wouldn’t you?

Russell Kern is president of The Kern Organization, a fully integrated offline and online direct marketing agency in Woodland Hills, Calif., and is the author of “S.U.R.E.-Fire Direct Response Marketing” (McGraw-Hill, 2001). He can be reached at (818) 703-8775 or via e-mail at russell@thekernorg.com.

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