It's a sales letter with a twist. You think it's negative, but it's actually positive. A different approach.
I am not saying that it's negative, I am just asking the question. I haven't studied copywriting really, but I find it very interesting. And I realize that it's hard to understand what sells, because that's really all that matters. My problem, is that it's kind of hard for me to use headlines or words that are misleading (or false) in order to get attention and to sell. For instance, I received an e-mail yesterday with the headline; You Just Earned $123 In Commissions When I opened the e-mail (I did know that I hadn't earned the commissions, but I was curious about the sales message) the first sentence was; No… actually not quite. And the rest of the e-mail was about how easy it would be to earn the $123 in commission. This might be great copywriting, but I just can't do stuff like that Jens
Different approaches work differently. Copywriting isn't a one way street, there are many approaches and they all work to varying degrees. You can tell people exactly what they get and still make great sales, it depends on various factors.
He is knocking his own product via a fictional writer who said that he lost money using this product. Did I read that right? If so, how is that positive? If I read it wrong, it's yet another reason why it is "eh" copy. You NEVER make a reader try to figure it out, or to read it twice. But, hey, different strokes for different folks.
Rewrite on what the coyp is saying: Subject: Eric Rockefeller made me rich Hey gullible, Eric made my dreams come true. I have a job I love, my eyes on a brand new car and a much happier relationship with my wife and son. It has changed my whole life... all thanks to Eric Rockefeller and his "The Affiliate Conspiracy"... I quit my old boring job to take this one - I truly have the confidence to work from home and make a good living applying the techniques of the 'Clickbank Cash Cows' I am making so much money I will be able to upgrade my current car to a brand new shiny one in about 3 months time (at the rate I'm going!) I made a lot of sales with this product and look forward to checking my Clickbank account to see the thick blue bars - I'll never get tired of seeing those. My relationship with my wife and young son has improved a lot because I am able to spend much more quality time with them. Thank you ___ (Note: This was a quick rewrite and kinda tongue-in-cheek)
I was trying to find an article explaining something similar to the exposed copywriting sample but I cannot find it yet. It's a dissertation on how reverse psychology is used to grab readers' attention and make them want to read until the end of a story. Questions such as who, why and how comes to your mind instantly when someone tell you "Eric absolutely destroyed me" followed by the subconscious need to read on.
heh, thanks, guys. They may very well read it to the end, MAYBE, but will it really achieve anything??? I don't know. Ganceann, and you had to twist the words around a bit for it to make more sense, instead of it sounding like this guy is bashing his own product by using a fictional person. But I'm no Forest Gump out fishing for shrimp with Bubba, so if you had to take that extra step to make it more clear, to put your meaning behind it, can it really be considered great, or even good copywriting? Eh, *shrugs shoulders* I guess it's ok. It's just not my cup of tea. ... And I don't even like tea! I can smell KFC cooking across the street. Lunch tiiiiiime! See ya!
I personally think capital letters imply shouting, which is not, as many used-car salesmen and the like believe, an effective selling technique. A better copywriting technique would be to change the capital letters in the text to italicized or bolded instead. The text seems kind of cheap, too.