

Ask HN: Sales Letters - mediaman

At the recommendation of a fellow HN reader, I've been reading the book "The Ultimate Sales Letter" by Dan Kennedy.<p>In short, the book is a good guide on writing the sales letters most often seen in direct mail, but now frequently seen on some landing pages as well, particularly for products such as ebooks.<p>Based on other comments people have made here, I have no doubt that letters written like this -- long, 4-6 pages, written in a folksy, kitschy way -- are effective for many target customers out there.<p>My question is as follows: has anyone used this format for something besides a kitschy mass consumer product? In other words, does such a writing style work for more sophisticated buyers, such as execs or tech savvy people? The book suggests sending such letters to executives but I cannot imagine responding well to such a letter were I to receive it at my office.<p>What are your experiences with sales letters? Who does it work well for, and who doesn't it work well for? What changes have you made to the basic method to increase efficacy?
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ErrantX
I've personally never been a fan full stop - we get quite a few sales letters
a week and most go straight in the bin (we will find you). All that gets noted
is the product and the name.

Anything over 2 pages is just ignored entirely here. A single page with a
simple bullet list of what your trying to sell will be the most likely to get
read.

But I dont promise that is what everyone, everywhere does (obviously).

~~~
pedalpete
I somewhat agree with ErrantX, but I think it depends on what stage of the
sale you are at. I received an intro e-mail sales letter months ago which was
more than a screen long and went on into too much detail for an intro. If you
are trying to get a client, i don't think this works. You have to get them
interested with a catch, and give them a bit of info, and let them come to you
to get more, or follow-up with more.

Overload at the beginning is a big no no i believe.

