The Long Sales Letter
Last time I summarised the history of marketing pre-Internet. In this and the next few posts, I shall briefly introduce some major themes in the history of online marketing.
A florist launched the first ever website and for some time the online world consisted of static websites. At that time, people online had dial-up connections and went online to view sites for information.
The long sales letter could easily be transferred from paper to website or email at this time. It seems when this first happened it was rather successful. But then it became less effective. Why?
Well, people became more sceptical. Think of your own approach to online marketing. You see something that is attempting a sale and you click away.
The thing about long sales letters is they work when people read them, although not everyone who reads will buy. They’re designed to make a sale. If you go to buy a used car, you get the spiel from the salesperson. The letter substitutes for the spiel. You can learn to write a good sales letter, just as a salesperson learns how to make a sale.
Long Sales Letters Online
People do read them and they are influenced by them. Or at least they were. The problem is online, people are less patient. Maybe it is because reading from the screen is less easy than reading from paper. People began to scroll down to view the price without reading the letter. If they decided it was too much they would click away.
The aim of the long sales letter is to build desire for the product or service. If the prospect doesn’t read it, they will click away if they don’t like the price even if the product or service is something they want.
So, what was to be done? The answer came in something called the sideways sales letter, a topic for next time.
Please note I am describing methods used by online marketers. This does not mean I necessarily approve of them! I am taking a few weeks to describe a few approaches and then I will evaluate them.