"Who Else Is Sick To Death Of Shocking Headlines The Gurus Think You Will Read?"

Someone ought to write a parody ebook of the BS headlines and sales page copy just flooding the net - it's really getting ridiculous. It sounds so phony and contrived any more, i can't believe these guys actually sell anything. I just switch off immediately any more... Like, can we BAN all of these:

Shocking
Automatically
Revealed
Like clockwork
"It's like having your own yada yada team of experts/writers/bores yada yada..."
For a VERY limited time...
Until midnight on [insert today's date here] after which no more copies will be sold! [yeah check the site tomorrow...]
Just Look At These Stats/Results/PayPal screens/BankStatements/Whatever Piece Of Paper I cut and pasted here...(one guy has eight of them - why not 10? 20?)
Explode Your Traffic With This Even More Explosive Information
"Hungry" niches (I picture a Pac Man..)
Oh yeah, and the ever popular don't-you-want-to-know-these-secrets-before-EVERYBODY-ELSE-who-already-knows-them-uses-them-against-you?????

OMG yeah where do I pay my $197/$97/$77/$47/$27/ and now $7 (what happened to $17?)


(MAKE IT STOP!!#@#$#%@)

So, not only do i not buy much any more, I don't even bother to click on the links to take me to these... I can tell right up front it's going to be a waste of time. But I guess, paraphrasing PT Barnum, there's another Internet IM'er born every minute... <sigh>

I can't believe there wouldn't be a huge market for something REAL... that doesn't go this tired, exhausted old route. Makes me think the product too is going to be tired, reworked, rewritten, as bad as the sales page.

 

There is one fact, most of those sites exhibit the same layout so as soon as I see them I don't need to go through the text to find it's just the same old story rewritten on and on and on thinking of 7 as lucky number... perhaps.

 

I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately, playing on naivity still works, so it won't stop anytime soon. As a marketer, all I can do is refuse to go that route with my clients and my own work, and show that other methods work just as well, and sometimes even better. As a customer, I wouldn't touch any product sold through a sales page with a ten foot pole, just because they really rub me the wrong way.

 

Maybe it works. It seems even on this message board threads with those kinds of titles have the highest views and responses.

 

Yes correct, some joker already have longest thread in b/s/t section. 20 or even more people signed up and payed $300. That's $6000. And he just dissapeared. It's so sad that there are so many naive people on DP.

Yes, sure DP free to join, have lots of good info, but directly advertise good quality services (that bring results actually) impossible there it seems. That bad part of things cause it open possibility to morons come to active forum with 60k+ members and promote their crap.

People there go to quick, cheap, easy solution. Most time it fails of course (or they just don't know if it fails cause they see some results but don't know which results need to be exactly, so can't measure... and worst part - results that bad servicers bring to them in 99% of cases just don't cost even that dirty little price that "providers" asked for) and after that they begin to complain.

 

I am equally fed up with all the hype in sales letters - my eyes just roll back in my head and I become positively catatonic after about two paragraphs, I've read WAY too many of them.

Here's a website that is a hilarious parody of just about every super hyped up sales letter you've ever read. Maybe it's just my sense of humor, but this really made me laugh: http://www.buymystupidebook.com/

 

unfortunately, these sales letters actually work. people actually buy them. by people, i don't include seasoned internet-ers. same reason why a crap MFA site can sell for $2000 on ebay.

there're enough gullible people on the net to be able to make a profit from these sales letters. it's a little like adsense. none of us will even dream of clicking on one, yet lots of others do.

 

If your product is for real and quality... and using that sort of copywriting is what converts better, what is the harm with that?

Don't take that to mean I support people slanging garbage products... I mean someone selling a product worth while to solve a need/problem etc.

-SS

 

I look at it this way...

Just because something "works" doesn't mean something else wouldn't work more effectively. Most people are just too lazy to try, and sales letters all start to look the same, so they assume they're easy. Frankly, your marketing tactics need to support the kind of business image that you want to build. Scammy looking sales letters don't convey trust, at least imo, and I'm huge on blunt honesty and letting my clients and customers know they can trust me. So I'd never even dream of using one. If you're selling something more temporary, image might not be as much of a concern. Frankly, I'm selling my reputation in everything I do and write, and sales letters don't do it justice.

The best bet is to try a few different methods, and see what converts better for you without interfering with the kind of image and reputation you're trying to build with clients or customers.

 

They do work, and they will keep working. I myself think its more of a subliminal thing........

 

Yup.....Its really working sometimes for sure, and u dnt hv to go far, just go and check the DP buy sell section and you will see Wot headlines work and wots not

 

There was an article somewhere explaining why worse is better. And there are so many examples

- Crappy web sites with bad content + lots of AdSense ads get good click ratio because when people get there THEY WANT TO GET OUT so they click. A good site with good content has more returning visitors however people naturally skip the ads and focus on the good content.

- Sales letter attract a crowd that most of us here barely understand. When we build sites we think of what WE would like to use. These sites are not build for smart people. A lot of people pay because it is a "secret" and it's affordable. They want in on the secret. So the curiosity gets them. Even people that could write a 10 times better book sometimes pay just to "verify" what they know.

Good products require the mass to be smart and appreciate it. The mass however is always in a hurry. Bottom line is unless someone decides to educate the mass, we will always have crappy products, junk mail and what not

Cheers!

 

For those of you annoyed not only at the usual sales banter, but the bollox thrown at prospective publishers (of affiliate programs), you'll probably relate to the article Highest Payouts My @ss on ppcreference.com (one of my sites).

It describes the same pain in the ass tactics we all see every day. But the crazy thing is - they even throw it at other marketers/publishers. Could there be a better way for affiliate programs to shoot themselves in the foot ?

 

I totally concur. Consistent Quality + Split Testing + Subtle Social Marketing = Long Range Customers.

You'll never win, in the long-run, and not usually in the short-run, either just chasing the quick buck; only in cultivating the trust of your subscribers and purchasers.

 

I noticed the beginning of a change in the structure:

Annoying headlines-Impossibly long sales' letters

The new trend is video and the structure is:

• Short but catchy title
• basic problems "solved" by the product in an ordered or unordered list and
• a video with the rest of the message.

It is very easy to do video via screen capture and even easier to stream it right now. Some big dogs in IM are moving to video and I think that the bulk is going to follow very soon.

Sandra.

 

Keep in mind that we know all the tricks of the trade, and we wade through dozens of salesletters every day - so by now we've been "immunised" against a whole bunch of copywriting tricks.

These days I read salesletters like sports play books - "Yeah, that's a Dan Kennedy style headline, which uses a John Carlton hook to draw people into this bit of social proof..." etc and then I start picking faults in their pitch

People say that they're sick of hype in salesletters - but the figures say that the so-called "hype" out-sells other salesletters.

That's because...

1. "Hype" headlines are designed for one purpose:

To drag the reader in. Simple.

If you don't, then there's no way they're going to get in the the "nitty gritty" of your salesletter - and that means you've lost the sale.

That's why they use words like "Shocking" etc and tabloid-style headlines like "Boy Eats Own Head"

2. These salesletters aren't written for *you*:

In most cases, you're probably not the target audience.

So of course you don't respond well to the pitch - it's not relevant to you.

In fact, all the evidence I've seen to date is that often a high-converting salesletter will offend a whole stack of people - turning some of them into snarling devil-maniac anti-profit lunatics who would rather rip your head off with a rusty bottle-opener than buy your product...

...But that same salesletter will speak directly to the wants and desires of a smaller percentage of truly interested people - and a large number of them will buy.

3. All of the tools mentioned are designed for a purpose...:

... to improve sales (each in a different way)

Just Look At These Stats/Results/PayPal screens/BankStatements/Whatever Piece Of Paper I cut and pasted here...(one guy has eight of them - why not 10? 20?)
​

This is simple - just providing supporting evidence.
The more specific and detailed the evidence, the more effective it is at convincing people that the offer (although extremely generous), and the product (purporting to be extremely effective) is in fact genuine.

don't-you-want-to-know-these-secrets-before-EVERYBODY-ELSE-who-already-knows-them-uses-them-against-you?????​

This is a great one. It's scarcity.
Time limited offers, limited stock, someone else might have the information (and not you) - these all pull at a human desire for freedom.

Grab a copy of Robert Cialdini's book "Influence" He writes:

• Things difficult to attain are typically more valuable. And the availability of an item or experience can serve as a shortcut clue or cue to its quality.
• When something becomes less accessible, the freedom to have it may be lost.

​

For a conversion-driven copywriter, knowing this is pure spun gold!

When I was working as an event manager for a seminar company, we occasionally had people cancel their tickets to our events - and one of my jobs was to fill these spots.
I would usually keep a waiting list (of people who wanted to buy tickets) - everyone would always say they were desperate to get tickets, but when offered a ticket that just opened up, they would generally turn it down.
However, if I "sold" the scarcity of the ticket, people would snap at the opportunity to buy it.

Only genuine scarcity works though - if you tell someone that your eBook won't be available tomorrow, and they visit your site and it is available, they'll never buy from you again.
However, if they visit your site and the eBook is no longer available, then you're conditioning them that next time they should act immediately - or the freedom which they had to buy from you will be taken away. And next time, if you present them with a compelling offer, they WILL buy - and quickly!


I think I'll leave this post here. I could talk about copywriting psychology all day long - but I don't want to give you too many of my little secrets at once

Brent

 

Sales Letters work because they answer the question that image ads usually don't:

"What's In It For Me?"

Yes, there are many, many, many p*** poor sales letters out there on the net.

But as long as they answer that question, they will continue to work.

Not to mention the fact, that we all have got to start somewhere. I mean, Da Vinci didn't paint the Mona Lisa the first time a paint brush touched his hands...

I say, instead of complaining about these letters, learn how to write your own, so that way you can tell people -- persuasively -- how they could do better.

By the way, JHmattern, I must say that although I didn't really care for your PR site, your blog is pretty cool. I have a site that you should check out, because I noticed that you site did not have this free item, and with it, you could probably get a higher response from your readers...

hxxp://www.conversiondoctor.com/conversion-blog/2007/the-ultimate-submit-button-revealed-putting-all-the-pieces-together/

The site is run by a guy named Eric Graham. He is a protege student of Michael Fortin, and this site is 100% awesome IMHO.

Love, Peace, and Afro Grease!

 

Yeah and most of those sites also contain "Testimonials".......Give me a break....

Oh and don't forget "30 day money back guarantee"..... Yeah, right

 

Is anyone pointing a gun to your head compelling you to buy from them? No.

Don't forget that you still have the final say whether to buy or not. Don't buy
it if you think it won't do what you expect it to do.

Some of you can complain about it all you want. But they'll be there to stay.

OTOH, those that don't work tend to not remain any longer.

 

actually, the money back guarantee is true. i tested two sites before, i asked for money back. they refunded me. i guess all they wanted was for me to be on their list, which i didn't mind.