Revolves

Long vs Short Salesletter – Both Of Them Are WRONG

If you have been to any copywriting forum, one of the hot topics that keeps popping up is, Whether to have a long or short salesletter?.

Ever heard of the $7 script? I believe this product stirred up the idea of short copies among common people (not specifically copywriters). The general argument is, if your product is small, package is small, market is small, then your salesletter should be small aswell.

It does save you a lot of work. And it can easily convince someone lazy enough to not write a large salesletter. Why bug the end-user with a long read, and fill him with boredom?

“Visitors stay away from long pages”, the supporters of “short copy” say. But, we have another contender…

Whoa! That’s a nice statement. But personally, I’ve seen more great copywriters swearing by long sales copies than the short one. And I do agree with it to some extent.

Imagine, if you’re planning on buying something. You research the hell out of the internet. You spend days researching, when you know that you only need “1 hour” to actually check if the product is right by purchasing it, and returning it if it’s not. Most of the products online come with a guarantee.

So, we end put spending hours into research. We spend so much energy, so much time, turning over all rocks, small or big, just to find that tiny extra bit of information about that product. But, if your sales letter already includes considerable detail, the end user will surely read them. For he wants all information he can get. Only the source changes a bit.

But I’m sure you will get my point. My long introduction did have a reason. I mentioned some important points about how people scrape the internet to find what they want.

So, what is it that I’m holding back? What is the secret this whole post is all about? Nervous, excited, or even angry?

Well, whatever your feeling, BEHOLD………………

Now that’s a great statement, heh? In a salesletter, your job is to give people as much information as they want. People do occasionally research other’s opinion about a product. But more than that, they have other major questions. And they are like, “What is the course exactly about?”, “How much material is in there?”, “What am I expected to do, keeping aside all the hype?”. All good salesletter tackle the prospect’s natural objections. And your salesletter too should answer any unanswered question the prospect has in mind.

And before the copywriter realizes, his copy is all very long. He has all the required information down. Now, his job is to make it more concise. Can you explain something in one line instead of a paragraph? And stuffs like that. That’s how a copy takes shape.

Provided your information is complete, useful from the buyer’s point of view and concise, then whatever may be your salesletter’s word count, it is neither short, nor large. It is only as long as it needs to be.

And I leave you now own your own to think about this. Give it a thought. Either agree, or don’t agree. If you do agree, then you’ll no longer find those “Long vs Short Copy” posts annoying. Rather, you’ll take a back seat and give a smile whenever any side makes an argument.

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