Aim:
This slideshowpage
is to help you write sales letters.
On this page:
Content; language,
example letter, exercise.
Sales letters aim to stimulate the interest of prospective clients in the
product or service being promoted. A sales letter can be accompanied by a
brochure that provides more information. Most sales letters are unsolicited, so
the receiver might not be interested in reading them. To motivate the reader,
the content and language of the letter have to be well thought out.
This section focuses on what information to include in sales letters, and examines the following
techniques for planning the content of sales letters:
- Mention
the advantage or benefit early in the letter
- Provide news of
interest to the reader
- Arouse interest/curiosity
- Be relevant
- Elaborate what the product
can do
Mention the
advantage or benefit early in the letter
It is important to know what the selling points of the product/service are.
These are often made clear at the beginning of the letter to keep the receiver
reading. Example vocabulary includes convenient, user-friendly, high-quality,
value for money, economical, affordable and stylish.
Provide news of interest to
the reader
Another way to keep the reader reading is to provide news of interest to the
reader.
In general, the selling points of a product/service should be in line with human
needs and wants. For example, say that your product or service will save
customers’ time or money – two types of human needs or wants. For
instance: 'Enjoy playing mobile games on the bus? Play and learn at the same
time with our English language learning games! '
Arouse interest/curiosity
An effective way to start a sales letter is to arouse the readers’
interest/curiosity. The purpose of this is to keep them reading your letter. An
example is 'Are you paying too much for your...?'
Be relevant
The content of the letter has to be relevant to the right person at the right
time and appeal to the person’s self-interest. It does not, however, always have
to be clever. Clever attempts to make your writing funny or entertaining are
often of no interest to the reader.
Elaborate what the product can
do
Most customers care about what the product can do for them more than the
technicalities of the product. For example, most mobile phone users are more
interested in the functions of the phone than in its hardware specifications.
In this section, the following characteristics of the language of sales
letters will be examined:
- Customer-centredness
- Positive expressions
- Personal and informal tone
- Being easy to understand
- Rhetorical questions
- Interesting adjectives
- Making follow-up action sound easy
- The Imperative
Customer-centredness
It is important to write from the point of view of the customer. You can be more
successful if you understand things from your customer’s point of view.
Promotional materials aim to appeal directly to the reader. They often use
‘you/your’ and ‘we’ words rather than more distant words (e.g. ‘the user’, ‘the
ticket’).
Positive expressions
Positive expressions are often more persuasive than negative ones in sales
letters. Here are some examples:
Instead of saying “Don’t waste your hard-earned money”, you could say
“Save your hard-earned money”.
Instead of saying “We are offering a 15% discount. Don’t be late because
this promotion period will end next month”, say “This month you can enjoy a
15% discount”.
Personal and informal tone
Write in more or less the way you talk. This does not mean that the writing
should be disorganised like casual chats. A sales letter is more or less like
talking to the reader in a friendly, informal but well-organised manner.
Being easy to understand
- Write simple sentences to make reading easy.
- Say what you have to say and no more: make each word count.
- Choose simple words and expressions and avoid jargon when writing to the
general public. You could consider using a few technical terms if you are
writing only to experts; but avoid using too many.
Rhetorical questions
Rhetorical questions are questions that do not expect or require an answer. They
are often used in sales letters, especially in the first paragraph, to motivate
the reader to read on. Here are two examples of such questions:
Do you dream of owning your own home but are worried about the monthly
mortgage payments?
Are you tired of having to pay bills by post?
As an alternative, writing an answer, an assertion or even a further question
immediately after a rhetorical question can sometimes be even more motivating or
persuasive.
Here is an example of an assertion added to a question:
Have you ever despaired of finding serviced apartments which provide
personalised but affordable services? If so, we have the answer to your
quest for the perfect hotel-style apartment.
Here is an example of a further question added to an initial question:
Are you paying too much for your office furniture? Why overpay for
essential fixtures and fittings in the workplace when you wouldn’t knowingly
overpay at home?
Interesting adjectives
Another way to motivate the reader to read on is to use interesting adjectives.
Here are some examples:
A fantastic, ultra-modern meeting room with state-of-the-art equipment.
A brand new concept in professional financial advice for those who demand
personalised services and facilities of the highest standard.
A thirst-quenching, low-calorie, sparkling, new energy-giving drink
Making follow-up action sound easy
Make the prospective client feel that everything is very easy by using words
like “just” and “simply”. Here are some examples of emphasising that further
action is easy and straightforward.
Just call 98765432 and ask for Dorothy.
All you have to do is email me the form.
Simply visit our show room in Times Square.
The Imperative
This is a particularly lively language style often used in sales letters,
especially for the ending of the letter. It encourages the reader to act in the
requested way. In these two sentences there are five examples of the
imperative.
Book a weekend package today and show your wife how much
you care!
Make sure you’re on the right track to fitness – drop in
and have a FREE ‘Fitness Consultation’ today.
Business Asia Review
G.P.O. Box 123
Hong Kong
30 March 2010
Dear Executive
Business intelligence that you need
The rise of China is changing our world. If you want to be among
those
savvy
savvy
few in the business world who profit from Asia’s power, you
need a reliable, on-the-ground, round-the-clock source of intelligence.
The REVIEW delivers you all of Asia’s business investment, marketing
and sales information every week.
Let the REVIEW work for you and you’ll get:
- the advice of 100 experts with deep roots in Asia;
- an extensive business and political network that guarantees you
the valuable insights and
sound
sound
predictions you need;
-
solid
solid
tips on what works and what doesn’t – and most importantly
why;
- plus a Special on China – every week.
Act within 10 days and you will get a free gift of your choice plus
an exceptional 80% discount!
Sincerely
Jonathan Watson
Jonathan Watson
Marketing Manager
|
Definitions:
savvy = knowledgeable (informal)
sound = reliable
solid = reliable
Instructions:
- Choose parts of the letter from the Contents column to build the sales letter
in the Letter column.
- Click the 'Show Feedback' button at the bottom to see comments on your letter.
If you have any suggestions or questions, please e-mail us at
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