KISS - Keep It Short Scholar

We've all heard the normal KISS principle (Keep It Simple
Scholar). When we talk about sales copy, it is important
to keep it simple. It is also important to keep it short.

Let's briefly take a different view of sales copy.
Perhaps you take the view that sales copy is meant to talk
people into purchasing your product/service. For a moment,
let's take a different view that it is actually there
to talk people OUT of purchasing your product/service. In
many ways, this latter view is more accurate.

Think about the prospect as she reads your ad copy. They
read a sentence and like what it says. They feel good;
they feel hope that this will be the answer to one of their
problems. They read another sentence. It affirms the first
and they feel more excited. They are ready to buy, but there
is more ad copy. They read on. The third sentence doesn't
really apply to their specific problem. Perhaps they start
to lose a bit of that excitement. Then the fourth sentence
completely alienates them. They aren't part of THAT group
of people (perhaps you were selling a fitness product and the
fourth sentence was related to weight-loss). They turn the
page or click the BACK button or close the browser. You've
lost them.

If your ad copy stopped after the first two lines, you would
have made the sale. Start reading your ad copy in this way.
Normally, each sentence is viewed as the sentence the
potentially "sells" them. In reality, usually your prospect
is reading each sentence looking for a reason NOT to buy.
Start editing your ad copy to eliminate all of those potential
reasons. In general, strive to make your ad copy as short as
possible.

Not a believer yet? Let me give you some real-life examples
that lead me to this conclusion. In the early days, I would
test click-thru rates using a variety of sales copy. I
would try a paragraph against another paragraph. This is
where I fist noticed that shorter is better. The shorter
paragraphs almost always outperformed the longer paragraphs.
This is true for both the click-thru rate and the overall
amount of revenue generated over a period of time.

I finally tested this conclusion all the way to it's logical
extreme... Yep; a single word outperforms two words almost
every time. I now use this concept to build traffic for
others. I draw in the largest potential group of customers
by using a single word. I then show them a full paragraph
describing my customer's exact product/service to narrow that
group down to the perfectly targeted visitors to send along
to my customer. The others are given other choices so that
I can make some other use of them.

Need more proof? Try it yourself. Create a link on your
site that says something like: "For the least expensive
high quality widgets, click here". Obviously, change
the "widgets" to something you want to actually sell. Also
make sure you use some method to track click-thru rates and
sales. Expose that link to a test group of visitors and
record your results. Now repeat with the following
progressively shorter phrases:

Least Expensive/high quality widgets
Least Expensive Widgets
Cheap Widgets
Widgets

In almost all cases, you will find that your click-thru rate
will increase as the phrase becomes shorter. In most cases,
you'll also notice that the total revenue will increase as
well. Your revenue per click will level off at some point.
This is the point of most efficiency.

Try the same exercise with your one-page sales letter. Start
off with 10 paragraphs and slowly start to eliminate the
least useful paragraphs. You should notice the same effect.
Eventually, your revenue per visitor will level off and tell
you that the remaining paragraphs all say essential things
to sell your product. Then you can start trimming out
sentences. finally individual phrases and words.

The goal is to tell your prospects enough about your
product/service that they are ready to buy and NOTHING MORE.
Anything more than these essentials is just going to convince
them that your product/service isn't right for them.

Of course, you must be sure to tell them the essentials so
that they make an informed decision. This isn't a call to
be dishonest by leaving out essential information. It is
actually a call to be more honest by leaving out extraneous
information that would confuse and drive away potential
customers.

About the Author

James D. Brausch, is the Vice President of
Marketing for Target Blaster, Inc., an Internet Marketing
firm specializing in targeted traffic.
http://www.TargetBlaster.com