Feature Your Benefits to Increase Your Sales: ?Creating an Effective Sales Letter

In the first part of this 2-part series, we discussed the difference between features and benefits, gave some specific examples, and got you started brainstorming about the features and benefits of your product or business in order to target one of your marketing personas effectively. In this article we want to review the work you’ve accomplished so far and then turn it into an effective sales letter.

Reviewing Your Work

Once you have created your list of features for the item you wish to sell, or for your business as a whole, and have done your best to describe the benefits, of that feature, review what you have written and try to fill in any blanks you might have left. Using the example of leather seats in a car again, they are stylish, attractive, comfortable, easy to clean, durable and sturdy. Write down as many as you can think of without editing yourself at this point.

Then, go back and review what you have written with an eye to the persona you are writing this sales letter for. Depending on who they are, you would choose either the first three words, or the last three, but not all of them. For example, a soccer mom will be much more interested in the second group than the first.

What Are Your Best Features and Benefits?

Review your list again. Which features and benefits jump out at you as ones that the ideal customer in your niche would be most interested in? Mark them with a star if they seem like a key feature and benefit would never want to leave out of your sales letter.

At the end of the process, see how many you have starred. We are hoping it will be at least 10 or 12. Now start typing them up or dictating them into a wordprocessing document. Don’t worry about getting them perfect at the moment. We will be polishing them into a final draft later. now, just type them up as is. We will be fine-tuning them in a moment.

When you have typed up all of the top ones on your list, be sure to save your work in a safe place. No break up the list into 4 or 5 sections depending on how many items you have on your list. Aim to have 3 top items in each group. These will be clusters of features and benefits that will trigger excitement. Make a note to yourself at the end of each cluster BUY NOW link or button.

Next, look at the remaining features on your list that you have written benefits for. Add those to your type list, inserting them where it makes sense. For example, if your first exciting item is related to the exterior of the car, cluster the other features and benefits of the exterior in that group. If it is about the interior, do likewise.

Work your way through all the features with benefits that you have listed thus far until you have added them all into the correct cluster, or have formed a new cluster which makes sense. Pay attention to the first and last items listed in each grouping to make sure they are interesting.

Finally, look back over the list to brainstorm the benefits that you have left blank or struggled with. We say this because often it is not a case of giving too much information, but too little, that can break a deal. Any unanswered questions in the mind of your target audience can mean losing a sale. If it really sounds silly, by all means leave it out. Otherwise, answer the same question, what is in it for them, and then add the best ones to your list in one of the groupings you have created.

Edit Your Work

Now review what you have done, which can be part of a rough draft of your sales letter. Check to see that all of the elements are in the right order, related to one another, and that each cluster starts with two very interesting benefits, and ends with at least one. Make sure the BUY Buttons or links are going to be placed correctly as well, anywhere there is an emotional ‘high’ in relation to the benefit.

Add Power Words

Once you have organized and edited your work, it is time to polish and refine it. Add power words and action verbs that are more dramatic and emotionally evocative. Instead of saying "increase your profits," say "explode your profits." Instead of saying "stop being afraid," say "get rid of fear once and for all!"

Write Your Introduction and Conclusion

Round out your sales letter with an introduction and conclusion, and end on an emotional high note with a clear call to action to buy now/download now and transform their life in X way.

Write Your Headline and Sub-heading

Create an attention-grabbing headline and sub-heading. Appeal to the emotions, especially through a particular benefit you know will be a powerful incentive for your target audience.

Add Images to the Sales Letter

Add images strategically to support the sales letter. Show images of the product, and also happy-looking people using the product, if possible. If you have any testimonials available with headshots of the customers, use those too.

Tracking and Testing

Once your sales letter is written, create a sales funnel for it and then track the performance of your new sales letter. Once you get the baseline performance level, start to A/B split test in a structured way to see if you can improve the response rate, until you have tested all the elements, headline, subhead, and position of the buy now bullets to ensure maximum conversions. Use Google Analytics or Crazy Egg to see exactly what customers are doing on your page in order to identify any trouble spots, change, and track and test again.

Moving Forward

Continue creating new sales letters for each new product or service you launch. Or look at an old sales letter that is underperforming even though you think it is a great product in its class, and give it a facelift with the help of your new focus on benefits rather than just features. Split-test the old with the new letter and see which emerges the winner. Chances are it will be the one with the exciting benefits that emotionally resonate with your target audience. Let the winner become your control sales letter that you then track and test to try to improve upon it.

Features AND Benefits Will Boost Your Conversions

By all means make sure you include factual features in your sales copy, but always remember to be specific about the benefits that feature offers the customer. Make the connections for them so they do not need to struggle to do it themselves. Make those connections and they will soon be able to picture a better life thanks to your product. As soon as they are able to picture that, they will start to see your product or business as the solution they’ve been looking for.

Focus on the benefits of your features, not just the features themselves, and see what a difference it ca make to your conversion rates. And this works not just for sales letters, but every aspect of lead generation in which you are trying to get your prospective customer to take a particular action.

Benefit statements create more emotional impact, improve customer motivation and make the overall process of interacting with your products and services more persuasive and exciting for the ideal customer in your niche.

About the Author: Joan Mullally is the author of more than 60 small business and marketing guides designed to help readers gain the skills they need to succeed online.