This is a bit outside my normal domain but still related. For nearly two years I’ve been reading about and learning marketing. In particular I’ve focused on Internet Marketing (IM here on). This coming weekend I’m even going to a 3 day workshop to see if I can move from passively learning to actively putting what I’ve learned in to action.
One of the things that has held me back is the marketing/advertising process for a business. One of the main tools that get talked about in IM is the sales page. If you click around enough you’ll run in to plenty of them. For me I know I’m on a sales page before it even finishes loading. Here is an example: http://www.musthavemarketing.com/traffic/
To be very clear, I’m not judging this page’s quality or the product it is selling. I’m just pointing out that it is a sales page and has all the standard features of a sales page:
· Bold headline fitting the usually copy writer’s formula for writing a head line (Reason-Why Headline)
· Short 3 – 5 sentence paragraphs with short (less than 20 word) sentences.
· Lots of white space
· Charts, graphics and other stuff you don’t really have to read
· Bolded section that draw you in
· Pictures of the product you’ll receive when you buy
The only thing missing is testimonials. You’ll usually find them on sales pages with a picture of the person. Sometimes for added authenticity they’ll make the testimonials appear to be hand written.
Set aside the veracity of the sales page. For the moment assume everything stated is true, and that you’ll receive all the benefits of the product when you buy it. The question I have is: will this page, or any sales page, all on its own be enough to cause you to buy a product?
Most of my friends are very technical like me and they believe they have the same ability to spot a sales pitch from a mile away. Like me, they are able to hit the back button before a sales page loads. We’re smart guys and can’t be suckered in by a sales pitch. Are you sure: http://www.red-gate.com/products/Exchange/index.htm . Picked purely at random. Has all the features of the above minus the copy writing skill. It even has a testimonial! Bold text! Actually, these guys are better at it. This page doesn’t cause the allergic reaction the other page causes. They’re a lot better: plenty of supporting video, case studies, you can even give them a call to ask questions. Good luck getting somebody to answer the phone at the other place.
I can find plenty of sale page examples to show. You can to. The key bit has to do with the skill invested in the sales page and the understanding of your audience. If you are selling to technical people you would do well to copy redgate’s pages. I’m not sure who the audience is for the other page, I can make some assumptions, but I think if you try to sell developer tools with a page like that you’ll not be well received.
Then again – that brings up another topic: split testing! But I’m out of time now.