Sell more with a long form sales page

I just wrote a book.

pauses for applause

Thank you.

In order to sell the book, my boss, Irma, asked that I write what’s called a long form sales page.

A long form sales page is a lot of copy focused on one thing: selling customers on the benefits of a product or service.

When to use the long form sales page

In a post titled “The Key to Effective Long Copy,” the excellent site Copyblogger lists five instances in which long copy sales pages are appropriate:

1. Expensive – When your offer carries a high price tag and you want the purchase to happen online (as opposed to another sales channel), you’ll sell more with long copy.

2. Information – When selling online education or some other form of information product, the more beneficial copy you deliver, the more you sell.

3. Feature-rich – When what you’re selling has a ton of features, you’ll need a lot of copy to explain them all, plus the express benefit of each feature.

4. Innovative – If your product does something new, or satisfies a desire in a brand new way, you’ll need to provide people with a lot of benefit-oriented information.

5. Online – This may seem redundant since we’re talking about selling online in general. But because people can’t physically experience what you’re offering, long copy may be worth testing when selling just about anything online.

List features vs benefits

The first thing I did before sitting down to write my sales page was list the features of my book. Then I wrote down the benefits.

What’s the difference between features and benefits? Basically, features describe elements of the book, and benefits tell one how her life is improved by reading the book.

My features list included things like number of pages, chapter breakdown, the inclusion of relevant graphs and data, etc. My benefits list detailed ways in which the book provides solutions to a problem I know my readers have.

Solve a problem

While features are important, what you really want to sell in your sales page are the benefits.

A really bad sales page will rely on aggressive fonts, out-of-control exclamation points and vague or unrealistic promises. A great sales page will answer the question, How will my life be better after buying this product?

My book is titled “8 Proven Ways to Drive Quality Traffic to Your Website,” and it’s filled with solutions to one problem: how to attract online traffic that converts.

In my sales page, I make sure to tell folks over and over that this book solves their biggest website challenge: driving traffic. I say it in different ways (“Discover tips for startups with a super small budget,” “Increase your traffic by up to 726%”), but the message is always the same: this is what you’ll gain from buying this book.

Use action words

Notice in the above examples that I lead with an action word. Learn, discover, improve, increase, reduce, get. These are words that indicate a result or, again, a benefit.

Address the buyer's resistance

Acknowledging your buyer’s resistance is a great way to overcome their objections. You’ve already thought of all the reasons one might not want what you’re selling, and now you can talk her through it.

Too expensive? Well, this is how much you’ll spend in the long run if you don’t buy my product. Information is already out there, for free? Well, this ebook saves you precious time spent hunting for answers.

Include testimonials

Testimonials from past or current clients are a great way to talk up your product without having to do it yourself. It means more when Sally from Seattle says your company rocks than when you say it yourself. So include a couple of these in your sales page.

Stick to one clear call to action

A sales page has a single focus: to sell. Don’t confuse this message by trying to drive people to your website, or by having them call you for more information. Everything they need to know to buy your product is on the sales page, so keep them on it.

A good call to action button will inspire them to act now; for example, “Download my copy now” or “Start my trial today.” Make sure the call to action button stands out from the rest of the page, and that it takes the customer to a sign-up form or shopping cart.

How long should a "long" form page be?

There’s really no great answer to this. The point of the long form sales page is to make sure your customer has all the information necessary to persuade her to buy. Whether that takes 2,000 words or 10,000 depends on the product you’re selling.

Further reading

Mastering the art of writing a good long copy page takes some time, but there are resources around to help.

If you want to know more about how to write an effective sales page, check out this post by Conversion XL titled “How to Design Kickass Long Form Sales Pages.”

And if you’re really serious, purchase “How to Write a Long Form Sales Page” from the reputable Copy Hackers. It’s $48.99, but you can’t put a price on knowledge.

Just kidding! Of course you can, and that’s what the long form is all about.