English sales letters can be very useful marketing tools.
However, because there are so many offers sent to people on a daily basis, many people will not even bother to read what they think is just another way to get money from them.
For this reason, there are a few things that a great Sales Letter will always try to incorporate.
1. Always try to address the person by their name.
Junk mail offers are more common than legitimate mail these days, however, to get your letter into the hands of a customer then try to use their complete name if you know it.
Directing your letter by name to someone can also avoid spam filters, especially if it is sent by email.
2. Use a simple professional looking envelopes and paper or graphics and font for electronic mail.
Unless graphics are essential to your brand or product/s, try to avoid a letter or email that could be confused with just another piece of advertising.
The more professional looking and sounding the sale letter is, the more effective it is likely to be.
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3. Use a heading to grab the attention of the possible customer.
Headers can be questions, statements or even a smart play on words.
4. Make the offer.
Give them details about the product and tell them its benefits.
5. Motivate them to act.
Provide them with proof that your product is of value and others would recommend it. Testimonials are a frequent inclusion in many sales letters.
6. Finish up with the details and a final call to action.
A typical example of this is a cut-off date for the offer. It is a sales technique used worldwide to motivate customers to act quickly.
Look for these six points in our example letter below.
Please note, this sample letter is entirely fictional and is not meant to represent any actual company past, present or future.
Are you a VIP? Get Exclusive Membership Benefits today!
15 December 2017
Don Trum
55 White Street
Washington DC
Dear Mr. Trum.
Here at the World Wealthy Bank, we think you are a Very Important Person(VIP), and we want you to enjoy the benefits that come from being one of our exclusive members. Why? Because your business with us over the past 12 years has not gone unappreciated and we would like to return the favor.
As a VIP member, you will be eligible for exclusive offers and further discounts across our product range of up to 25%!
We guarantee that no other bank will be able to offer you such competitive rates. To become one of our VIP Exclusive Members a one-time entry fee of $10,000 is required. That is a mere fragment of the tens of thousands we estimate you will save in just two years based on your current account activity with us.
Bank employees are not even allowed to receive these savings, only our exclusive clientele, who are specially selected by our VIP team of Financial Advisors. Each VIP member is allocated one of our expert Financial Advisors to provide any needed service at any given time.
If you would like to become a part of the club, please call the number below and provide your Unique Invitation number located at the bottom of this letter. You can advise which of your accounts you would like us to debit the entry fee of $10,000 from and from that moment on you will be an Exclusive Member of the World Wealthy Bank.
Past and present VIP members of the club have included world-famous celebrities and politicians like John Smith. He has publicly attested to the benefits of this Exclusive Club during his time with us, and you can read his testimonial in the Forbes Magazine of May 2015.
We have 499 other exclusive members who receive these benefits as we cap our membership offers to 500 at any given time. That means, once this offer expires on the 31st of January, you may not be invited to become a member again since availability to our exclusive membership deal is extremely rare and by invitation only!
There are no penalties should you decide to vacate your membership in the future, but given the savings you will benefit from, we highly doubt you will ever want to leave the World Wealthy Bank Exclusive VIP Members Club.
Call our VIP team now: 1800 123 1234
Your Unique Invitation number: sjdnfpv9ehv3bvo87n9w
Sincerely
Bob Marley
World Bank CEO
Wall Street, New York
New York
7. Sales Letter Length
Another question that arises when it comes to Sales Letters is their length. The reality is that the length will often depend on the product or offer.
Too short and you may miss out on specific details that a potential customer would like to know. Too long and they may get bored, putting the letter aside or worse – throwing it out. Use discernment and even ask for the opinions of others before sending it out.
To be honest, there are many opinions regarding the length of a Sales Letter, but one thing that does tend to influence its overall length for a fact, is the response from those who receive it.
8. Delivery Method
Today, many companies choose to use email as their delivery method for Sales Letters, as this technology allows them to track who opened the letter, read it and even visited the company’s website.
With such information, they can change, adjust and fine-tune the letter/email before sending it out again.
If sending an electronic Sales Letter or email, make sure you post one to yourself as a test. Make sure that everything is in order and that there are no errors or surprises.
Letters sent by traditional Postal services should be posted promptly, above all if your message contains a deadline for the offer. There is nothing worse than receiving a great offer only to see the deadline has passed because the letter arrived too late!
The potential customer will most likely associate your company with this failure and not the Post Office, making any following offers less appealing.
Summary
The eight points we have mentioned are not comprehensive, but they will get you off to the right start.
Do your research about the customers and use wording that is polite and understandable. Keep your message clear, to the point and use everyday language to tell them how they can accept the offer.
Last but not least, try to test it out before sending it out!
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