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The new SEO Book sales letter has been live for a little while now. (I’d love to know how it’s doing so far!) Although I think pretty much all Internet marketing sales letters are eerily remniscent of Kevin Trudeau infomercials, this is a definite improvement.
Brian Clark at Copyblogger, who rewrote the page for Aaron, unveiled the letter with an explanation on why the copy is so long (emphasis added):
- This is not a John Grisham paperback. It is specialized and continually-updated SEO knowledge with a $79 price tag. Most people desire and require a lot of information before they will make this type of purchase.
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- Cold prospects from search engines and affiliate links need more information about Aaron and his credibility, and even about the topic of SEO itself. It may be hard for some to believe, but there are plenty of people who are not clear on what “search engine optimization†actually means. Assuming your visitors know more than they actually do is a conceit that kills conversion.
So, can long copy work for you? That depends on what you’re selling.
Low involvement products, on one other hand, require virtually no marketing to sell. You need bread? You grab the brand you grew up on, or the cheapest one on the shelf. There’s not much more persuasion involved. These are usually impulse buys, routine buys or inexpensive items.
Long copy sales letters and landing pages are best for high involvement products. These are products which are often more expensive and require a lot of research before purchasing. With a long copy sales letter, you can try to provide all the information your visitors need to make a purchase.
