Why won’t long copy die?

Everyone claims to hate long scrolling pages. Do a survey and you’ll find that’s how they respond.

In fact, survey yourself and I’ll bet you don’t read “all that” stuff. And you’d be accurate. Very few people read it all. They skim instead.

And the skimming is enough to give the highlights and make the sale.

Why won’t long copy die? It won’t die because it works.

It is just slowly changing form.

Have you watched any of the Powerpoint videos now that have replaced written text (or at least a portion of the text)?

They’re still long copy.  The sales script is stil lin the video.  It’s just being read to you instead of you having to read it.  And this wins often enough that it’s a worth a test in your market if you haven’t done so already.

But why can’t they make the sale in only one page?

To answer this question, let’s go to our local sales person.  If you buy a new car, is the sales person given a quota of how many words they can use?  If they go over, they can’t answer any more questions or give any responses. 

This wouldn’t be too effective.  And no matter what happens online, advertising is still salesmanship in print.  Any time you’re curious about a question, you can go back to that one-on-one sales person and what works for them.

Should they rattle on and on?  No.  That’s just as bad….and a lot of long copy does this.  If you haven’t done your research, then you don’t know what’s most important to your prospect….and you’re likely to talk about a bunch of irrelevant information.

But we never want to limit our sales person.

Here’s the bottom line answer of how long ads should be.  They should be long enough to make the sale.

And this depends on what you’re selling and who your visitor is. 

If your visitor KNOWS you and your company well,  you don’t need to include as much info on your story and proof of who you are.  For example, this would apply if you’ve built a strong relationship with them over months on your email list. 

If your visitor ALREADY knows the product and all its benefits well, then you won’t need to include as much info here.  This would be true such as when you do a product launch process with multiple touchpoints and information before the sale.  The sales page could pretty much be the core benefits, a shopping cart link , and a guarantee.

If you’re selling a physical product they have already researched at multiple websites and now they’re simply preparing to buy it, all you have to prove to them is WHY they should buy it from you (since they already know the benefits of the product).

So the length of the copy (no matter what form it comes in – written, audio, video, webinar, etc.) is determined by how close your visitors are to the sale already before they land on the final sales page. 

The last thing you want to do is LIMIT your sales person’s ability to answer their visitor’s questions.  If they have someone who ALREADY wants to buy the car, it would be a waste of time to go through the test drive again and list all the core benefits.  They want the car.  Now it’s just about the price.   For that customer they need to cut to the chase.

But what about the customer who is trying to decide what they want.  They might need to be shown several models and told all about the advantages and disadvantages of each.

The approach and length needs to be modified based on the desires and current knowledge of the customer already about the subject.

Where are your prospects in the overall sales funnel?  How well do they already know all the benefits of what you offer?  What is their relationship to you and your company? 

All of these determine what you need to close the sale.

If you want to see the five core elements you always need to convince visitors to buy, and discover how to use them effectively on any website (both long and short), join the Monthly Mentor Club today. 

The current issue which you still have a chance to download in PDF form covers the required elements to making the sale…along with a step-by-step review guide to improve the conversion at any website.   

http://www.MonthlyMentorClub.com


Terry Dean
Terry Dean

Terry Dean has been in full-time internet business since 1996 and has helped thousands of entrepreneurs get started online through his articles and products. He lives in Ocala, Florida with his wife and 2 dogs. Find out more about how his step-by-step courses can help you today.