SEO Hosting Blog

Writing a great sales letter isn’t rocket science. It’s a simple process that can be accomplished by following these 6 steps.

Step #1: Identify your target audience

Before you even think about writing your sales letter, you need to figure out who your target audience is. Write down their general characteristics (age, sex, income level, etc.), and then move toward getting as specific as possible (what are their wants/needs?, what do they like?, how do they talk?, where do they hang out? And so on.) The point is this: you need to have a clear image of exactly who you are communicating with so you can come up with the best approach to connecting with them.

Here are a few ways you can learn your target audience’s language:

• Follow them on Twitter
• Read the magazines they read
• Look at the ad copy of the products they buy

Step #2: Create a benefit-driven subject line

Your first challenge with e-mail marketing is getting your readers to actually open your e-mail. Creating a powerful subject line can be a challenge because you want it to be compelling enough to open but believable enough to not reek of spam. The key to your subject line is to pick a single benefit to focus on. In a recent post, I used an example of someone promoting an SAT e-book. Let’s continue with that example.

First let’s choose a benefit. We’ll choose “Increasing your SAT score by 200 points.”

Now, let’s create a powerful subject line that delivers that benefit. You have many different choices here.

• The Question Headline: Do You Know the Secret to IncreasingYour SAT Score by 200 Points?
• The Straight-Forward Headline: Increase Your SAT Score by 200 Points Today
• The Numbers Headline: 5 Easy Steps to Increasing Your SAT Score by 200 Points
• The Personalized Headline: Chad, Would You Like to Increase Your SAT Score by 200 Points?

There are several other subject-line formats you can use, but the main goal is to intrigue the reader by including an irresistible benefit.

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