ugly or not... if it converts visitors into sales, thats what a sales page is for. If you think a page is ugly go back and look at it six months from now, if it hasn't changed then its most likely working. -SS
Precisely because they look amateurish I don't understand how people take the time to read them and trust in their testimonials. At first glance an amateurish page makes me feel everything on it is fake, including benefits of any advertised product ·
It is all about the wording. The ugly colors are supposed to grab the reader's attention in the first place. And believe me they do a great deal. They are most of the times shocking and shouting at you. Once you start eyeballing the page, the next one on the move after the colors is the almighty content itself. But speaking of long and ugly looking sales letters we have to mention the latest trends in this field. With the web 2.0 revolution an all the social networks, interactive websites and applications on the web, the sales letter is trying to transform so that it fits all these changes and matches the needs of the web readers. Somehow the latest models of these letters are not like the ones we are used to read. They are relatively shorter and the new thing that good copywriters are including in such letters is an informing video clip informing the prospect about the thing that is being sold. That is how the video will help copywriters to shorten the letter and convey an easily comprehensive message to the reader. This is the new thing.
Because it's more effective. Results on my pages show (and your finding this more and more) that the null element (or nothing) is producing better, hence the shorter pages. In any event you should be testing these things to produce better conversion rates. -SS
I've always thought these where ugly too,, usually a white background and red and Yellow font :O I just turn away, but I guess it's working for them.
I don't agree that 'ugly' is a term, or judgement that is appropriately applied in this case. Ugliness, or otherwise, relates to a context; there are no universal rules of beauty. Using such general terms makes this difficult to debate, we can argue in favor of, or against, a particular sales letter but how do I know the letters I might defend are same as the ones you criticise unless we have a specific example to refer to? But I will say this: good sales letters are functional, the 'beauty' comes from its performance of a task or its being an instance of a well functioning tool. Many people find engines ugly to look at yet those engineers and mechanics who use and understand them will post photos of their favorites on their walls and call them 'beautiful. Context is everything. Having come from a design background myself I am well aware that my approach will differ depending upon the context; I would design a book with one aesthetic approach and I would design a flyer with another. Each function differently, each might be called ugly or beautiful depending upon the viewer and their understanding. My final point is a more obvious one: if, when you arrive at the 'ugly' sales page, you hit your back button, then you are either not the target audience or else it really is a bad sales letter. If you are the target audience and it is a well formed sales letter then you will read it. Phil