A quick request before we dig into writing online sales copy. If you’ve purchased my book, Heart Centered Business, it would be a huge help if you’re willing to write an online review.
We’ve sold hundreds of copies so far, and on Amazon, as an example, we have 12 reviews. I’d love to get to 50!
If you can, please go to the website you purchased it from, give it all the stars, and write a short review, from the heart.
Okay, on with the show.
Nine thoughts from 20 years of writing sales pages
Writing a sales page can be really hard. For more than twenty years I’ve not only written sales pages for our own business, I’ve taught, mentored, edited countless sales pages from clients. And it can still take me a week or two to write a solid sales page.
Many of our clients have some struggle and pain in writing sales pages for their offers, because there are so many bad ones out there. I don’t just mean ineffective, but I also mean the ones that are too effective, because they are gross and manipulative.
I want your sales pages to be effective, so the right people can step into your offers. I also don’t want any of us to be putting grossness out there.
I’ve collected nine thoughts about writing effective, heart-centered sales pages. A single article is not enough to really teach heart-centered sales copy, but I hope these will be really helpful in writing, or editing, any sales page you have.
From the past, to the present, into the future.
In general, start with expressing empathy for the past and the present of your reader, meaning how things have been for them, and how they are now. However, you are giving empathy for the challenges while also seeing them as whole and perfect. This is a bit of an art, but helps your audience feel witnessed and cared-for, without being jabbed at or manipulated.
Once you’ve given that empathy enough for them to really feel seen and cared-for, don’t go back there later on the page. I’ve seen that empathy come back in further down in the sales page, when someone is already into the details of your offer, and the energetic reaction is usually, “Ugh… already talked about that…”
Don’t go backwards.
Similarly, from the general to the specific.
Early in the page you describe what your highest intentions and hopes for them as a participant/client are. Then, later, you might get into the general principles, and topics.
Finally, further down, you dig into the specifics, the logistical nuts and bolts. Don’t go backwards.
Mention what you’re talking about right at the top.
All of that notwithstanding, right at the top of the page, present the name of the program and the format.
“Introducing: Tiptoeing to Enlightenment, a six week course on sneaking into the depths of your heart.”
So often I see sales pages that go on for… awhile… without mentioning what the offer actually is. I get bored and leave, because I don’t know why I’m there. Your readers will most likely do the same.
Don’t tell them what they are feeling or thinking.
For one, you don’t know for sure what someone is thinking or feeling, unless they personally tell you. For two, people will feel manipulated. Instead, “You might be feeling x…” “If you’re like many of my clients, you might be … y”
This gives them the choice to decide if that’s true for them, without feeling like you’re trying to be the boss of their reality. It’s just being polite.
Tell friends and colleagues the title, and get them to ask you questions about it.
Literally, tell them nothing except the title and format. “Tiptoeing to Enlightenment, a six week course on sneaking into the depths of your heart.” And then ask them, “What are all the questions that come up for you about this?”
The questions they ask will be questions you’ll want to answer on the sales page, some of which may be quite surprising.
I once had a client who was running retreats in the desert. We did this exercise in a small group and someone asked, “Are there dangerous animals in the desert? Will I be safe?” Because he was so familiar with the environment, he never imagined that someone would think that it might be dangerous.
So ask people to generate questions, that you can then answer on the sales page.
Describe aspects of your offer in detail.
You know what you’re talking about, but your reader doesn’t. If you are holding live calls, describe them. What happens, what are they like, what is expected, what will happen? Are they recorded? Are they confidential?
If you’re teaching topic X, what is that? Don’t assume everyone knows what it is. And even if they do, you will want to explain why it’s relevant to this offer.
The same with any element. Which leads me to…
Pages are long because transcribed conversations are long.
A sales page is intended to be a conversation between you and someone who is potentially interested in the offer. If you got on a call with someone, and told them all about what the offer was, and answered all their questions, you might be on with them for 20 minutes? Thirty?
If you’ve ever had 30 minutes of conversation transcribed, you know it’s a LOT of pages. Think about a play in a theatre. It takes two hours for the play to run, and the script might be 50 or 70 pages long.
Your sales page, if it runs 10-14 printed pages, is SHORT compared to that. Let yourself describe what needs to be described.
Which leads me to…
A sales page is an intimate experience.
As the business owner, we have the reality that we’re wanting the sales page to be in front of many people.
But, for the reader, they are in a one-on-one conversation with you, and only you. There isn’t anyone else in the room. Maybe it’s 2 a.m. and they are reading your page in the dark.
Write the page as if you are speaking to someone who needs help, who feels vulnerable, who needs safety and care and love. Who needs to trust you before they can maybe say yes.
Put an inquiry form at the end.
People will have questions, question you might not have imagined. Also, questions you might have already answered but they didn’t read closely.
It’s okay. People read differently, and they want to feel safe.
Instead of putting your email or asking them to go to another page, if you can, just add an inquiry form at the end, so they can ask their questions right then, and just click “send.”
It may be an interesting enough question that you may want to add it to the sales page.
This was not a complete copywriting course.
There are quite a few elements you’ll want to include to make the page effective, but there’s a limit to what will fit in an article like this.
But, hopefully, it brings in some care, some thoughtfulness, and some insight into how you write your sales pages.
We all need love, and a sales page can be a vehicle for love and care the same as anything else.
Do you have a favorite heart-centered sales page, either yours or someone else’s? Let’s see ’em!
with love and care,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
