It was never really clear to me what would be the reason of people making their sales copy pages amazingly ugly (at least to me...) I am not talking about the quality of the wording and the style, I am talking about the visual impression they make. I mean, usually there are too many different font types and faces on a single page (from Verdana and Tahoma to Times, Georgia, Arial, Sans Serif etc..), all possible wild color combinations with unavoidable, yellow high-lighted text... Also, these pages are usually very long, forcing you to scroll down 4 or more screens. For me, it's no more than 1 second before hitting the back button. Now, I am aware of the fact that they are examples of great looking sales pages, but I guess they are pretty rare in this endless sea of hideous sales pages...
Could you show us some examples of what you mean? I'm positive that the better looking sales pages will almost always have a better conversion ratio than the crappy looking ones.
That's right, it would be impossible cite an example because about 90% are ugly and so similar in format that you don't need to read beyond the first paragraph to figure out its shared structure toward selling whatever they are promoting. From my point of view, cheap and pathetic look and feel.
Because they convert so well =) These guys are serious masters at testing how productive copy / headlines / other elements of a sales page are. (well, the best are) If it converted better to make a sales pitch all flowery, web 2.0-ish, etc. then someone would've figured it out by now & they'd all be doing that instead =)
People that get put back by copy like this aren't interested in buying anyway. People design their sites like that because it works.
Simple IS NOT ugly. Simple IS good, but what good is ugliness? Now, sometime ago I've read some interesting discussions about the co-relation of the "ugliness factor" and site CTR. The idea was to intentionally make the site ugly and non-user friendly in the way the Adsense ads serve as the escape for the unfortunate visitor. It makes adsense to some extent, but I'd never try to scare/chase away my visitors, but rather try to give them as many reasons as I can think of to extend their visit. Anyway, as we know sales pages are different thing from the Adsense pages so that "the uglier the better" approach may not work just because there is more to convert a sale than a adsense click. I've read that certain gurus recommend having long sales page claiming that they convert better. OK, it sounds reasonable enough; talk them to exhaustion and they'll surrender. But, how can ugliness help in creating the right mood for closing a sale?? It's a mystery to me...
I have to agree, sales pitch ages are always VERY ugly (that's why I'm going to change that with my new services ). I think they're trying to highlight stuff... but in general they're doing it all wrong. For one RED is not a good font color to use.. especially when large and bold because it doesn't evoke the right feelings (red: agression,stop, etc.. its mild and subconscious though). Green is what should be used. These sales pitches just look tacky and unprofessional (I wouldn't fee comfortable purchase from one of those sites..)
Simply sells? As soon as a sales pages with uniformed ugly characteristics are brought to my eyes I immediately close the window because it's more likely the same useless blah, blah and mostly fake testimonials. Do I missing something or are they aimed to a specific average surfer?
I think using words like "always" is a bit much, since there are millions of sales pages out there an no one here has seen them all--or even 10% of them. A sales page doesn't need to appeal to everyone, just a percentage of the intended target. I've seen ugly stuff pull in respectable numbers. I've seen pretty stuff pull in next to nothing. Like anything else, there are great examples and not-so-great examples. As to colors, well, that's up for interpretation. Let's stick with RED. Above, someone said it means stop. Well, yes, that could one reason for using it. That person also said it means (should say it can mean) aggression. Yes, possibly. However, colors aren't just, excuse the phrase, black and white. Red isn't just red. First, there are different shades of a color, like red. Some invoke passion, some aggression, some sophistication, and so forth. Second, colors have international significance. What a color means to an American may differ from what it means to someone in China. Let's continue with red. It may mean stop in one country, but that same color (and mix) might mean good luck or purity in another. Continuing further, it was mentioned that green should be used. Green can also mean a host of things. For instance, green can mean newness (as in lacks experience). It can mean luck. It could mean danger or have negative meanings to certain audiences. I could go on, but I'm starting to give a lecture on packaging and I'd rather not.
Quite interesting approach to a sales page. Learning through your words makes me understand a little bit more of its structure and don't worry, lectures are always good to illustrate us, thanks
I don't think sales pages are ugly, most are just plain. I'm sure the long, plain sales letters work or we wouldn't see so many of them (especially from big names). I have a fairly long page. It could use a little sprucing up, I admit. I would like a nice, custom header for the page. But I'm not good with graphics and I don't want to spend money on them right now, so the page was created in frontpage using tables. Most sales pages have bullets, which I find a lot less ugly than walls of text. And I'm thinking ugly might sell. I think myspace is the ugliest webpage in the world. I cannot use that page. I know a lot of the users are younger than me, but I'm in my 20s so I shouldn't be over-the-hill when it comes to web 2.0. As ugly as the page is, it's one of the most successful on the internet. Long sales pages written by really good copywriters are so interesting that I can get sucked in. I have a strict budget and don't buy anything unless it fits in with my plans, but I love the sales pages that are interesting.
You hit the nail on the head! For more than a decade ugliness has been a top seller and you are providing the best example of outstanding successful on the Internet: MySpace crap pages. I'm a little older than you so your comment brought to my mind the late 1980s when Julia Roberts and Andie MacDowell were claimed as "the most beautiful" actresses in Hollywood... OMG, they were soooo ugly compared with beauty standards of those years, but in the long run their faces became familiar to us and now you can see them with different eyes. Perhaps same thing occurs after finding serveral times the same format through different sales pages.
I agree on YouTube.. it is ugly but it has nothing to do with the sales pitching... "Web is like an anthill built by ants on LSD" Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox
A lot of people may not realize that online sales pages are based on print sales pages. I got a 30-pages sales letter in the mail today and even that format was reminiscent of what I've seen around the web. I'm sure the copywriter of this 30-page sales letter was well aware that there were people who'd only skim the book, some would read it in it's entirety, and some would skip around. An effective sales letter has to target all of those. You'd be surprised at the psychology that goes into a sales letter.
I've pondered this myself. I've wondered if it's done deliberately to make the pages look amateurish, so you don't think it's a slick sales operation? To make you think "this guy is no professional, yet he claims he's making millions of dollars from this e-book/pyramid scheme, so I'm bound to do the same"