14th Nov 2007
The long and short of it
I’ve just read a post by James Brausch in which he says ‘long copy sucks and other heresies’ and quotes tests and experiments he’s carried out. All of which are web-based.
He points out that he fully expects copywriters to jump on him and say long letters do work. And he’s right. Including me - but let me qualify that a bit further…
Do you remember the Opera Singer turned copywriter I mentioned in a post last week? (read If an Opera Singer can do it… so can you)
One of the first questions Kirsty asked me was:
“What’s your view of long versus short letters? Do you get people arguing about it when they ask you to do the copywriting?”
When I said “I’ve proven long letters work and yes, I do get sceptics!” her face was wreathed in a smile. “What do you say to them?” she asked.
So I told her… Want to know what I said?
“When you’re writing a letter you have to bear in mind that there are two types of people who are likely to read it; the detail people - like engineers. They want to be absolutely sure they understand every detail there is to know about whatever is on offer. Then you have the skimmers; the people who are too busy to read everything in your letter.
Now - think about it; what’s the real purpose of your letter?
It isn’t to be read. Its sole purpose is to get the recipient to take the action you want!
So you’ve got to satisfy both types of audience with one letter. And that’s where the formatting of your letter - as well as the wording - comes into play. (I’m going to assume you are writing an interesting, benefits-crammed, focused-on-your-reader type of letter).
For the detail people you must give the answers to all the questions they are asking themselves;
- ‘How will it help me?’
- ‘Why should I buy this?’
- ‘Will I regret spending the money afterwards?’ (known as buyer’s remorse)
- ‘Who else has got results from this?’ (genuine testimonials are needed here)
- ‘Will I get the same or similar result?’
- ‘What’s the risk I take by buying?’ (your guarantee gets around this concern)
You have to provide all the detail to back up their emotional decision to purchase. You can only do this in a long letter.For the skimmers, your sub-headlines give an overview of what your offer is.
If you get it right, as they scan your letter they will pounce on the sub-headline that is answering their burning question or catches their attention with a promise they like.
This is why it is imperative to make sure at least one of your subheads also clearly identifies how they can take up your offer; your call-to-action. Your skim-reader does not want to waste time searching for how to get whatever you are selling.
Something along the lines of ‘3 Easy Steps to Get Your…‘ or ‘How To Get Your…‘ or ‘What To Do Now…‘ is OK.”
I have had people contact me saying “I got your letter. I didn’t read it, it was too long..”
Do you think I care? Not a jot - they’ve got in touch haven’t they?
So my letter has done exactly what I wanted, it’s compelled them to take action.
Read your letter. Does it answer all the questions your prospect is asking (some people call it sales objections, but that seems a bit harsh to me. After all he just wants to know enough to be sure he’s making the right decision for him). Check your sub-headlines; do they give the gist of what the letter is about? Do they draw the reader in to your letter? Are they succinct and supportive or just cute and clever without any substance?
Try this: Give your letter to other people to read. Then ask them did they read the whole thing or just skim? If they skimmed, did they get a feel of what it was about? If they read the whole thing, did they find it interesting or boring? Use their feedback to fine-tune your content, but don’t let the skimmers persuade you to shorten your letter just for the sake of doing so ;-).
How Long is Long?
Again there are different views; some people say anything longer than 1 page is a long letter; others say 17, 20 or more pages have proved to be their best sellers. It’s a matter of testing.
For one client I upped their standard sales letter length from 1 uninteresting page to 4 reader-focused pages and it almost doubled the response for them.
For another client, who always sent out very long letters, we tested a 1-page ‘announcement type’ letter that got a great result. It may be because it was a contrast to what his prospects normally got from him.
There is no definitive answer.
Web Copy Length
So does the same apply to web based copy - should they be long letters?
Perhaps not according to James’ tests. But at the seminar where I met Kirsty, which was hosted by a multi-million $ turnover internet marketing company, they said their best selling letter was 55 ‘printed pages’ long!
As with any advice given by experts the only answer is to check what works for you… test both short and long copy in any marketing campaign regardless of whether it is online or offline.
~ Carol Bentley
Leave a Reply