To be able to comment on how a sales text should be written, we should first define what it means. Sales text is the one which is used to persuade your readers to take a specific action. For that to be skillfully done, you need to have some marketing skills and a lot of creativity. And that should be thoroughly thought of and organized, as the American advertising executive Leo Burnett says: “Advertising should say, ‘Here’s what we’ve got. Here’s what it will do for you. Here’s how to get it.’”. Writing a persuasive sales text therefore should be engaging, clear and concise, and here are some tips on
How to write a influential sales text – Tips from a website copywriter
“Here is what we’ve got”. If it is a sales text, you’ve got readers to attract. You have to sell it with words, so you need copywriting skills, techniques and formulas that make the text irresistible for its readers.
“Here’s what it will do for you”. Well, if it is good enough to be attentively read, it is good enough to sell. Knowing how to use words in a sales text will not only connect you to your readers, but it will make their experience of reading and taking action afterwards unforgettable.
“Here’s how to get it”. Now we get to the practical part. Try to use hypnotic words like “you” and “because”. Emphasizing the persona of your reader and giving reasons “why” will surely attract more reader and make them feel important. Focus on benefits, not on features. It’s simple, features are important but what would be the purpose of them all if you don’t use them in context? Make your readers dream and imagine. Make it interesting for them, take them on a journey, make their experience of reading your sales text memorable.
For example, Innocent describes their smoothie with a sunshine in such a way that it is almost impossible for you not to start running and get one: “(…) this drink tastes of sunshine. Not that watery stuff that you get in the UK for five or six days of the year, but the great, clear, life-affirming rays that you’ll only find where these fruits are grown”. Promote your idea with short, broken sentences, and why not use rhyme too? IPhone Mini uses a simple repetitive rhyme, easy to remember: “A display that’s not just smaller. It’s smarter”. Forget grammatical accuracy and focus on being simple, that is much easier to read, and if it is rhymed, it will be not only longer remembered, but also appreciated. Persuade with problems. Show your readers problems can be easily solved, convince them of the productivity of your big idea. As for example, this one from IPhone: “New noise-canceling technology reduces background noise. So when you hold iPhone up to your ear in a loud room, you hear what matters most: the voice on the other end.”
As again Leo Burnett says, “Marketing and creativity does not just circulate information. It penetrates the public mind with desires and belief”. What helps people, helps the business. Respect your ideas, flourish them into a sales text with the right words, and you will get a continues advertising success.
