The More You Tell, The More You Sell
The debate on using long copy versus short copy never seems to
end. Usually it is a newcomer to copywriting who seems to think that
long copy is boring and, well…long. “I would never read that much
copy,” they say.
The fact of the matter is that all things being equal, long copy will
outperform short copy every time. And when I say long copy, I don’t
mean long and boring, or long and untargeted.
The person who says he would never read all that copy is making a
big mistaking in copywriting: he is going with his gut reaction instead
of relying on test results. He is thinking that he himself is the
prospect. He’s not. We’re never our own prospects.
There have been many studies and split tests conducted on the long
copy versus short copy debate. And the clear winner is always long
copy. But that’s targeted relevant long copy as opposed to
untargeted boring long copy.
Some significant research has found that readership tends to fall off
dramatically at around 300 words, but does not drop off again until
around 3,000 words.
If I’m selling an expensive set of golf clubs and send my long copy to
a person who’s plays golf occasionally, or always wanted to try golf, I
am sending my sales pitch to the wrong prospect. It is not targeted
effectively. And so if a person who receives my long copy doesn’t
read past the 300th word, they weren’t qualified for my offer in the
first place.
It wouldn’t have mattered whether they read up to the 100th word or
10,000th word. They still wouldn’t have made a purchase.
However, if I sent my long copy to an avid die-hard golfer, who just
recently purchased other expensive golf products through the mail,

painting an irresistible offer, telling him how my clubs will knock 10
strokes off his game, he’ll likely read every word. And if I’ve targeted
my message correctly, he will buy.
Remember, if your prospect is 3000 miles away, it’s not easy for him
to ask you a question. You must anticipate and answer all of his
questions and overcome all objections in your copy if you are to be
successful.
And make sure you don’t throw everything you can think of under
the sun in there. You only need to include as much information as
you need to make the sale…and not one word more.
If it takes a 10-page sales letter, so be it. If it takes a 16-page
magalog, fine. But if the 10-page sales letter tests better than the
16-page magalog, then by all means go with the winner.
Does that mean every prospect must read every word of your copy
before he will order your product? Of course not.
Some will read every word and then go back and reread it again.
Some will read the headline and lead, then skim much of the body
and land on the close. Some will scan the entire body, then go back
and read it. All of those prospects may end up purchasing the offer,
but they also all may have different styles of reading and skimming.
Which brings us to the next tip…
Write To Be Scanned
Your layout is very important in a sales letter, because you want your
letter to look inviting, refreshing to the eyes. In short, you want your
prospect to stop what he’s doing and read your letter.
If he sees a letter with tiny margins, no indentations, no breaks in
the text, no white space, and no subheads…if he sees a page of

nothing but densely-packed words, do you think he’ll be tempted to
read it?
Not likely.
If you do have ample white space and generous margins, short
sentences, short paragraphs, subheads, and an italicized or
underlined word here and there for emphasis, it will certainly look
more inviting to read.
When reading your letter, some prospects will start at the beginning
and read word for word. Some will read the headline and maybe the
lead, then read the “P.S.” at the end of the letter and see who the
letter is from, then start from the beginning.
And some folks will scan through your letter, noticing the various
subheads strategically positioned by you throughout your letter, then
decide if it’s worth their time to read the entire thing. Some may
never read the entire letter, but order anyways.
You must write for all of them. Interesting and compelling long copy
for the studious reader, and short paragraphs and sentences, white
space, and subheads for the skimmer.
Subheads are the smaller headlines sprinkled throughout your copy.
Like this.
When coming up with your headline, some of the headlines that
didn’t make the cut can make great subheads. A good subhead
forces your prospect to keep reading, threading him along from start
to finish throughout your copy, while also providing the glue
necessary to keep skimmers skimming.

The Structure of AIDAS
There’s a well-known structure in successful sales letters, described
by the acronym AIDA.
AIDA stands for:
• Attention
• Interest
• Desire
• Action
First, you capture your prospect’s attention. This is done with your
headline and lead. If your ad fails to capture your prospect’s
attention, it fails completely. Your prospect doesn’t read your stellar
copy, and doesn’t order your product or service.
Then you want to build a strong interest in your prospect. You want
him to keep reading, because if he reads, he just might buy.
Next, you channel a desire. Having a targeted market for this is key,
because you’re not trying to create a desire where one did not
already exist. You want to capitalize on an existing desire, which your
prospect may or may not know he already has. And you want your
prospect to experience that desire for your product or service.
Finally, you present a call to action. You want him to pick up the
telephone, return the reply card, attend the sales presentation, order
your product, whatever. You need to ask for the sale (or response, if
that’s the goal). You don’t want to beat around the bush at this point.
If your letter and AIDA structure is sound and persuasive, here’s
where you present the terms of your offer and urge the prospect to
act now.

A lot has been written about the AIDA copywriting formula. I’d like to
add one more letter to the acronym: S for Satisfy.
In the end, after the sale is made, you want to satisfy your prospect,
who is now a customer. You want to deliver exactly what you
promised (or even more), by the date you promised, in the manner
you promised. In short, you want to give him every reason in the
world to trust you the next time you sell him a back-end offer. And of
course you’d rather he doesn’t return the product (although if he
does, you also execute your return policy as promised).
Either way, you want your customers to be satisfied. It will make you
a lot more money in the long run.
Use Takeaway Selling to Increase the Urgency
When you limit the supply of a product or service in some way (i.e.
takeaway selling), basic economics dictates that the demand will rise.
In other words, people will generally respond better to an offer if
they believe the offer is about to become unavailable or restricted in
some way.
And of course, the opposite is also true. If a prospect knows your
product will be around whenever he needs it, there’s no need for him
to act now. And when your ad is put aside by the prospect, the
chance of closing the sale diminishes greatly.
It’s your job, therefore, to get your prospect to buy, and buy now.
Using scarcity to sell is a great way to accomplish that.
There are basically three types of takeaways:
1) Limiting the quantity
2) Limiting the time
3) Limiting the offer

In the first method, limiting the quantity, you are presenting a fixed
number of widgets available for sale. After they’re gone, that’s it.
Some good ways to limit the quantity include:
• only so many units made or obtained
• selling off old stock to make room for new
• limited number of cosmetically-defected items, or a fire sale
• only a limited number being sold so as not to saturate the
market
• etc.
In the second method, limiting the time, a deadline is added to the
offer. It should be a realistic deadline, not one that changes all the
time (especially on a website, where the deadline date always seems
to be that very day at midnight…when you return the next day, the
deadline date has mysteriously changed again to the new day).
Deadlines that change decrease your credibility.
This approach works well when the offer or the price will change, or
the product/service will become unavailable, after the deadline.
The third method, limiting the offer, is accomplished by limiting other
parts of the offer, such as the guarantee, bonuses or premiums, the
price, and so on.
When using takeaway selling, you must be sure to follow-through
with your restrictions. If you say you only have 500 widgets to sell,
then don’t sell 501. If you say your offer will expire at the end of the
month, make sure it does. Otherwise your credibility will take a hit.
Prospects will remember the next time another offer from you makes
its way into their hands.
Another important thing you should do is explain the reason why the
offer is being restricted. Don’t just say the price will be going up in
three weeks, but decline to tell them why.

Here are some examples of good takeaway selling:
“Unfortunately, I can only handle so many clients. Once my plate is
full, I will be unable to accept any new business. So if you’re serious
about strengthening your investment strategies and creating more
wealth than ever before, you should contact me ASAP.”
“Remember…you must act by [date] at midnight in order to get my 2
bonuses. These bonuses have been provided by [third-party
company], and we have no control over their availability after that
time.”
“We’ve obtained only 750 of these premiums from our vendor. Once
they are gone, we won’t be able to get any more until next year. And
even then we can’t guarantee the price will remain the same. In fact,
because of the increasing demand, it’s very likely the price could
double or triple by then!”
Remember when I said earlier that people buy based on emotions,
then back up their decision to buy with logic? Well, by using
takeaway selling, that restriction becomes part of that logic to buy
and buy now.
Conclusion
Great copy is made, not born. It is derived from proven test results
designed to do one thing and do it well: sell.
Effective advertising doesn't always use "grammatically correct"
English. It uses short sentences, fragments. Like this.
It convinces you to buy, and buy now. Period.
It talks about benefits, not features. It sells on emotion and
reinforces the decision to buy with logic.

It paints a compelling picture and irresistible offer that forces your
prospect to act and act now! And if it doesn't, then you drop that ad
like a hot potato and go with one that does.
Effective persuasion is like your top salesperson--the one who
continues to break all your sales records year after year--on the job
24 x 7, multiplied by thousands or millions! Just imagine if that
salesperson, the one with proven results, could be multiplied as much
as you wanted.
Now that would be effective (and cost-efficient) marketing!
And that's the kind of proven marketing you need to employ.