Copywriting Tips – Brevity

Let me start out by saying that the thread that inspired this article actually had nothing to do with copywriting and everything to do with marketing. However, when I thought about the topic, I realized that it could easily apply to copywriting as well. Let me start off by telling you a little something about the thread itself and then tell you how it applies to copywriting. I think you will get a lot out of this article.

I am sure you are familiar with Hemingway’s short story, “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” He said it was his best work and you can understand why. Those six little words tell a story that really hits home. You get the entire picture just from that.

Anyway, the thread asked the question, “If you had to sell somebody in just six words how to effectively market online, what would they be?” Some of the answers were brilliant. By the time I got to the thread, there was really nothing for me to add. But then it got me thinking about all these long sales letters. Do we really need to be so long winded all the time?

Personally, I’ve written sales letters that were less than a page and sold tons of product. Why? Why is it that I can be so brief and yet be so effective? Well, to be honest, in my case, there are two reasons. The main one is trust. When I promote to my list, they trust me. So I could pretty much send them a buy now button and a headline and they’d purchase. The second reason is because my products are not expensive, so they don’t need a lot of selling.

Even so, I have to believe it is possible to cut out some of the excess verbiage that I see is so many of the sales letters that I have read online. Who really cares that you discovered this amazing technique or secret while exploring the Swiss Alps? I sure as heck don’t. Can’t you just get to the point a little bit quicker without all the fluff that I am so sick of reading in salescopy?

Ultimately, it will come down to testing. When you create a sales letter, split test a shorter copy against a longer copy and see which one converts better. You may be surprised at the results. It’s not always going to be the long copy that wins.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim.