Writing Sales Letters: Using AIDA

Writing a sales letter that really moves the product you’re promoting isn’t something everyone can do, but there are those who might as well make great marketing copywriters but have yet to learn the basics of direct mail writing, whether it’s for the web. gold to print

One of the most successful formulas for any copywriter is what is commonly known as AIDA, an acronym for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

If you’ve had any prior interest in copywriting, you’ve probably heard of AIDA by now, but knowing what it means is not the same as knowing how to put it to use. How to grab the reader’s attention? What does it take to get them interested in the product? How do you stimulate the desire to own the product? And finally, what action is needed and how do you get the reader to do what you ask?

Attention

The average website visitor will spend just seven seconds scanning a page before deciding whether or not it contains the information they are looking for. Unless he feels your page is the right place for him, he’ll be out of there faster than the proverbial bat in a hot place!

Since sales letters are notoriously long (there’s a lot of information to give, after all), it’s important that you use:

• bullet points
• headers
• colored text
• tables
• graphics

All of the above will call attention to important points within the letter. Use them to lead the reader to points you think they need to notice during their initial exploration, as well as points you think should be highlighted as you read; after all, few people read everything in a sales letter.

interest

Now that you have the reader’s attention, you need to keep them interested.

The first paragraph of your sales letter is very important here, as it should arouse curiosity. The best way to do this is usually through a question.

• Do you know how many people are paying too much for electricity?
• Isn’t it time for the government to improve our schools?
• What do you think is the best way to make money online?
• How many times have you been made a promise that was not kept?

A question will immediately engage the reader and arouse their interest.

However, it is important that the question is relevant to the product you are selling. There is no point in asking for the price of electricity if you are selling a shaker!

Questions also need an answer. Make your answer interesting.

• According to a recent survey by “Surveys Inc,” 36 percent of Americans are paying well above the odds for their electricity supply, and most don’t even know there is a cheaper alternative!
• 36 percent of Americans pay too much for electricity and have no idea they could get it cheaper.

Which do you think works best? I’d say the first example because it tells you where the data is coming from, uses conversational language, and has a slight “clash” element to it.

Use humor where appropriate and keep the tone light. Provide the reader with facts, but don’t draw them in with dry statistics and lists of numbers. Ask yourself whether or not you would find what you have written interesting.

longed for

Hopefully, you will have hooked your reader and have them interested enough to want to know the benefits of the product you are offering. Now it’s up to you to convince him that he MUST have this product.

All possible benefits should be mentioned. Let’s say you’re selling a one-year subscription to a men’s fitness magazine. What benefits could the book have? There are obvious benefits, like learning how to improve your overall health and fitness, reading up on celebrities and how they exercise, and reading up on the latest trends, but they’re not really enough to base the sale of a one-year subscription on. You have to give the customer something that they won’t get by going to the store and buying the magazine in individual issues.

• 12 issues for the price of 10 – let him know how much a subscription will save you
• A free pulse meter with a subscription – let you know how much this is worth and what it can do to help you improve your fitness levels.
• The magazine is delivered right to your doorstep 3 days before it hits the stores. Make clear how easy it is to NOT have to go out in the rain and wind to buy the magazine, only to find out it’s out of stock!
• Receive special freebies available only to subscribers: Give examples of the type of freebies subscribers can expect and what their likely value is.

The above are all incentives that are designed to create desire in the customer. People like to get the most for their money and very often they buy the subscription to save money and receive free gifts, even though they had no intention of buying the magazine to begin with!

Give them reasons to want what you’re offering!

Stock

Now comes the crucial part: you have to get the reader to do what you ask.

• ask for the product
• Donate money
• Sign up for your service

Whatever you need it to do, it’s vital that you don’t lose it at this point.

Provide clear links to your payment/donation/registration page and reiterate not only what you will get if you act now, but also the possible consequences of not ordering/donating etc.

“Order the ‘thingamyjig’ now to save yourself from the back-breaking task of digging out the vegetable beds”

“Click the link to be one of the first 100 lucky customers who will no longer have to worry about frozen pipes in the winter”

The two examples above point out the benefits of acting now, but they also make it abundantly clear that failure to do so will have consequences. Who wants to dig up the vegetable bed if you don’t have to? And would you like to deal with unnecessarily frozen pipes?

Conclusion

Hopefully, you are now better equipped to use the AIDA method when writing your sales letters.

There’s absolutely no question that when used correctly, AIDA can greatly improve the number of sales your copy will generate, so it’s worth investing some time to get it right.

Although not everyone has the ability to write marketing copy, there are many who can, but because they haven’t understood how it should be done, their copy just hasn’t given them the results they need. By using AIDA, that will change dramatically!

Good luck.