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Kristina Mills
It’s a highly contentious issue and some people will fight with me on this topic and swear that it can’t possibly be true.
As strange as it may sound, as far-fetched as it may sound, as logic-defying as it may sound, even in today’s busy, frenetic society I assure you this IS true.
Long copy DOES sell and in this article I’ll show you why.
Not only does it sell for internet marketers and in online sales letters, or in mail order, I’ve personally seen long copy also sell for wedding florists, for gyms, for mortgage brokers, for financial planners, car exhaust repairers, shopfitters, educational institutions, banks, insurers, funeral homes, recruitment consultants, real estate agents, weight loss centres, printers, for cosmetics … and many hundred other businesses.
The reason why I wrote this article is because, even though I’ve seen it work in many industries, I still hear comments like, “Nobody will read long copy.”
Ever heard or thought these words before?
If you have, I’d like you to consider the following very carefully. When you do that, I think you’ll recognise something interesting …
Think of what’s no.1 on your list of values? What means a lot to you?
What do you spend a lot of time and money on?
Is it your children? Your job? Your freedom? Your security? Your vintage car collection? Your Harley?
How much time and attention do you spend thinking or doing these things?
For instance, talk to me about the latest fashion trends to hit our shores
and I’m not that interested. I spend what I need to and that’s about it.
But – talk to me about self-education and the latest, cutting-edge personal development and metaphysics courses and you’ve got my attention - I’ll invest $20,000 to $50,000 a year in this area.
Fashion and beauty aren’t high on my values yet self –improvement is.
So – I’ll happily spend 15 minutes reading a 25 page sales letter for a personal development event but chances are I won’t read past the first page of a letter promoting fashion.
To cut a long story short … if it’s a topic that interests me AND it’s written well, I’ll read it no matter how long it is. If it isn’t, I won’t.
Heck, about 15 years ago I received a 25 page sales letter from marketing legend, Jay Abraham. I read every word on that page because marketing is my passion.
The same applies for everyone.
If a marketing piece is on a topic that interests a person AND it’s written in an interesting way, that piece of copy could be 20 pages long and (as long as it continues to be written in an interesting way) they’ll stay glued to the page.
I’ve tested it dozens of times over the last 15 years and over 9 times in 10 long copy wins out.
Consider this, for a moment …
Your customer has a need or a problem they want solved. This need or problem is at the forefront of their minds. They focus a lot of attention on solving that problem.
Do you think they’d be interested in reading something that could solve their problem and change their life? Of course they would.
People are NEVER too busy to learn more about something that will change their lives or solve their biggest problem.
When long copy doesn’t work …
If you’re selling a consumable kind of item such as conventional foodstuffs, batteries, nail polish remover, a disposable biro or something like that, anything BUT short copy is silly.
The magic question to then ask is this?
Based on the price of the product, the prominence of the brand, and the maturity of the market (how long have consumers been generally aware of this product), how much convincing does a person need?
On a $2 pen, hardly anything at all.
If, on the other hand, you’re selling a $1400 titanium pen that writes under water and was specially designed to be used on the space shuttle, and you want to achieve direct orders either via mail or online, you’d be mad NOT to feature a lot of copy.
Here’s some thing else to think about …
Remember going to a tradeshow, a home show or your local country fair, or maybe even at your local shopping centre, and seeing someone demonstrating a new kitchen product … may be a knife that cuts a leather boot or a wiz bang juicer that juices everything in sight?
They often get hoardes of people flocking to them.
The spruiker demonstrates the product in one situation then demonstrates it again using another situation. Then another. Then another. They’ll demonstrate the benefits over and over-and-over again in different ways. They’ll talk about the guarantee.
They’ll mention a really cool offer if you buy now. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then – after about five minutes of bonusing in almost everything but the kitchen sink, it’s time to buy.
The presentation itself might be 15 minutes in length.
The crowd watching the spruiker might be anywhere from 15 – 50 people.
The number of orders he get could be as high as 25 … 50% of the audience.
Consumers respond with their feet or their wallets. You can bet that if they weren’t interested, they wouldn’t be standing there listening to that sales pitch.
Kristina’s 5 Factors to Determine How Long Your Copy Should Be
Before I share these tips let me once again say that there is no across-the-board, perfect length for a piece of copy. Your marketing piece needs to be as long as it needs to be, to convince the reader to buy. The actual length will depend on a number of factors including:
- Complexity: If the product is loaded with features and benefits that are all important to the sales message, you’re going to need a lot of space to sell those benefits properly.
- Luxury: If you’re selling a luxury, high-end product like high-end jewellery, expensive motor vehicles, luxury cruisers, long copy is a must.
- Price: The more expensive the product, the more thoroughly you’re going to need to explain all the benefits. If you’re selling a low-priced consumable product, short copy is fine.
- Target market: Some people already know all the benefits of the product and don’t need to be re-sold and therefore the copy doesn’t need to be as long. These people include people looking in Yellow Pages ™. All they need to know is why they should choose you.
- Purpose: If you’re just looking for leads, you don’t need a full page ad overflowing with text, but if you want to sell off the page, you will.
- Unknown: If your product is the first of its kind in the market and nobody knows that this kind of solution exists, you’ll need a lot of copy to excite them about the need for this type of product as well as the benefits that the product delivers.
I hope these tips have been useful. Even though I’ve shared my insights with you I don’t expect you to take my words as gospel. All that matters is what YOUR market says so go ahead and put my words to the test.
Test long copy vs short but when you do, ensure that the copy is expertly written and make sure you only test one factor at a time. In other words, still make the same offer, have the same opening paragraph, the same guarantee and so on.
For more information on writing long copy that sells check out one of our copywriting courses at http://www.wordsthatsell.com.au/products.html
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