Successful sales pages are not easy to find – however, they are a testimony to a lot of work and time spent n testing, analysis, and design.
The best sales pages out there represent the value of the product or service in question. For many marketers, they are the highest performing channel that works 24/7 and contains all the conversion ingredients needed for success.
In today's guide, we are helping you create your custom sales page. From writing sales pages to sales page design and testing, we will show you all the ways to create sales pages that convert and bring you revenue.
Why is a Sales Page Crucial To Your Sales?
A sales page is a web page that focuses on promoting a specific product or service. While most of the other landing pages are geared toward lead generation, sales pages are designed to convert web visitors into customers. As such, sales pages are crucial for sales – if they sell to the right target audience, selling a product or service is easy.
What's A Long-Form Sales Page?
A long-form sales page is created for the purpose of convincing someone to buy or convert. It has the typical sales page format, with the only exception that it relies on more content, written in a longer form. Long-form sales page copy is one of the ways to significantly impact conversions and is used by marketers in all industries.
However, when used incorrectly, long-form copy can ruin a sales landing page, overwhelming and frustrating prospects and making them click away. That is why it is important to know how to write long-form copy for a high-converting sales page.
In the section below, we are helping you learn how to write a sales page copy and when to use short vs. long-form content.
Short Vs. Long Form Sales Pages: Which One To Use And When?
If you are wondering whether short or long-form copy will work for your high-converting sales page, it's important to look at some key factors. Usually, short-form sales pages perform best when the:
# Prospects are highly aware of the product or brand
# Your product or service is simple to understand
# Your product or service does not cost too much
# Your product or service is low-risk
# Your product or service is low commitment
If your offer is as above-mentioned, creating sales pages with short form copy will work. For instance, if you are selling a toaster online that costs $39, you don't really need much convincing in your sales page recipe. All you need to do is carefully lay out its main features and describe the product well. At this point, people would only be interested in learning the main things about the toaster, such as its safety rating, warranty, how fast it can turn bread to toast, and the brand name.
On the other hand, long-form sales page copy works best when:
# Your product or service comes with a big price tag – In this case, your landing page needs to convince prospects of its value and why spending more justifies the price.
# Your offer is complicated – If you have an offer that comes with upsells, cross-sells, and a lot of upgrades, you need to communicate everything clearly to your target audience. The best sales pages in this case are ones that are long-form, just so your audience understands the offer better and is ready to make a final decision.
# Your audience has low awareness about your product or service – When people don't know what you are selling, you need to write a sales page that informs, educates, and engages prospects. This is often common with new products or services – in such cases, you need a sales landing page that explains how everything works and how it's going to make their lives better.
# Your product or service is high-commitment – For instance, you are selling marketing services with a contract that lasts and renews after one year. In such cases, the involvement of the buyer is high, which is why you need to know how to write a sales page that communicates the value and impresses visitors. It also needs to engage them and convince them to spend more and commit to your offer.
To sum things up, your sales page copy needs to communicate your value proposition and map out prospects in their lifecycle.
So, think about it logically – if prospects are visiting your landing page after originally seeing your website, they know about your product and you don't need a long-form landing page to convince them to buy. On the other hand, if you are selling something new and revolutionary and want to make a solid first impression, you need to write a sales page that converts and is usually long-form copy. Now, let's move on to the part where we show you how to write a sales page.
How To Write a Sales Page
If you want to write a sales page that converts, your first focus should be killer sales page copy. Your copy needs to engage with prospects right from the headline, grabbing their attention and making them think about their challenges and why they want to solve them.
In a nutshell, your copy should convince visitors that they have found a smart and trustworthy solution. Below, we are showing you some of the best ways to write a sales page that converts and some of the best sales page examples for each situation.
1. Know your audience
Writing sales pages that convert is not easy if you don't know your audience. There are plenty of sales page templates out there that people use, only to realize that most of them are actually addressing the wrong audience. This leads to poor results, or in other words, missing out on potential customers.
So, the more you know about your audience, the stronger your sales pages will be. Defining your target market and target customer details helps you put yourself in their shoes, do online research based on their needs, and write copy that will entice visitors and prospective buyers. Your prospects will feel like you are inside their head, and with the right language and all the tools to design your sales page nicely, they will certainly want your product.
2. Use Your Audiences’ Language (explain they can check YouTUbe comments/Reddit)
Second on our list of proven sales page ingredients is research on the specific language that your audience is using. This is vital to great sales page performance, and one of the things that can significantly improve your landing page performance.
And while you may be thinking "how can I know the exact language my audience is using," in reality, it's simple. All you need to do is make them feel like part of the family and show that you empathize.
You can check YouTube comments related to your industry, browse through different threads on Reddit, explore forums, and see where your target audience tends to hang out online. Once you read enough and master their verbiage, you will know how to write a sales page that speaks their language and adapts the offer to their needs.
3. Create a Value Proposition
Your value proposition speaks directly to the user and is reflective of their pain points and how your offer solves them. Good salespeople know who their target audience is, and how their offer solves their problems.
The answers to these questions directly help you create a value proposition right from the start of your sales page (heading and subheading). For instance, if you are selling smartphone cases, you can use a value proposition communicating the value of protection and how expensive a new phone screen is, to create urgency, and sell to your prospects. Then, you can move on with listing the key features of your product. Remember, the pages that convert best are the ones that directly speak to the audience, which is why you need to master writing headlines that communicate your value proposition.
4. Hook the audience in the intro
We mentioned this in the point above, but it's absolutely worth mentioning it again. When writing high-converting pages, your main goal is to hook people in the intro and engage them to keep on reading and see the great stuff about your offer.
Consider using a clear headline that includes a short intro paragraph communicating your value proposition and the ideal scenario where your product or service would be used. For instance, if you are promoting online loans, stress the urgency of how important it is to get money quickly versus having to wait for a loan to be approved before seeing the money in your bank account.
5. Format for Scanners
If you want to learn how to write a sales page with long form copy, you also need to think about how many people will actually read your copy until the end. Let's face it – this number will likely be small, which is why you need to format your sales pages for people who scan through them instead of reading every sentence word-by-word.
Making your sales letter scannable is essential if you want to lure prospective customers who don't have enough time or are not used to reading full content. Some of the best strategies for landing pages that are easy to scan include the following:
- Mixing between short and long paragraphs
- Structuring your sales page with lots of paragraphs
- Using bullet points when listing items or the key benefits of the offer
- Using a lot of subheadings
- Featuring quotes
- Readable and web-safe fonts
- CTA buttons for easy conversion
Doing all of this will also help you rank higher in organic search, and people will have a greater visual interest when your sales page loads on their screen.
6. Consider a Captivating Story
Storytelling is one of the best content marketing strategies to get the prospect's attention. It is commonly used on blogs, websites, and even product pages. A good story is the backbone of an excellent article, and the main reason for that is simple.
People love resonating with stories, and using a story on your landing page will make them more memorable for users. A good story can also make people laugh or learn something new, bringing some personality to your offer.
7. (What’s) The Benefit of the Benefit
Some of the best landing pages out there use a formula called "the benefit of the benefit," where they state an obvious primary benefit for the product or service they are selling, and then reinforce it with side benefits. If you ever read a great sales letter, you know that benefits are a great way to eliminate distractions and let the audience focus on what's important in that sales pitch.
At the end of the day, benefits describe the results that your offer delivers, and sharing more of these in separate bulleted lists or combining them together can help you get more sales.
8. Target Emotions
Emotion is a major force seen across sales pages, and there is a reason for that. Everyone thinks and makes choices based on emotion – without guidance from our emotions, decision-making would be impossible. The best practices are to:
- Know your audience's emotional needs
- Use more images of people for a more visually appealing landing page
- Use colors that cause the right emotion
- Focus on benefits (to provide gratification)
- Use emotionally loaded words
We hope these great tips help you target emotions with your readers.
9. Provide an FAQ section
Adding a box with some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) is a great way to reinforce the information provided on your sales page and provide more clarity on your offer.
It is also a section people can visit to quickly get a specific answer, whether it's clarification on the duration of a time-limited discount or a specific feature or additional purpose of the product.
10. Use competitors' reviews to your advantage
Competitors' reviews' can be used to your advantage. For instance, you can visit a great post of your competitor and see what's missing – once you get to it, you can use that to your advantage.
If that is difficult for you, you can always check out actual user reviews for your competitors, locating the potential disadvantages of their offers and using them to your advantage. For instance, if someone said that a competitor's product is just losing money because it is not valuable, see whether your offer has that value and communicate it on your sales page.
11. Insert Social Proof
Social proof is a great way to demonstrate that your offer is popular among people, and they love it. Whether it's logos of your partners, video testimonials of happy customers or Google reviews embedded in your sales page, social proof is the main lesson when learning how to write a sales page that converts.
12. Insert Images
You can't create sales pages without using images. Make sure to use a combination of them (graphics, videos, illustrations) and not overuse them. Videos, in particular, can help convert customers, but may also lead them to a different page. That is why you need to be careful and only select the best combination of images. Look for illustrations that educate them, photos that target their pain points, etc.
13. Add a call-to-action (CTA)
No sales page is complete without a decent call-to-action (CTA), which may be a "Buy It Now" button if you are selling a product, a "Book A Call" if you are selling consulting services, "Hire Us Now" if you are promoting a marketing agency, and so on. CTA buttons are commonly used across sales pages.
The point is clear – a solid CTA convinces people, and you will likely need to add multiple CTAs throughout your sales letter. Make sure to differentiate each CTA and A/B test different variations or placements to see their performance.
14. Consider a Guarantee
A money-back guarantee is one of the best ways to boost sales and a tactic of many marketers creating pages that convert. Guaranteeing something alleviates all the worries, fears, and doubts that a potential customer might have about your products and services. It also makes your offer "risk-free".
15. Consider an Upsell
Upselling is a strategy that you can use across different pages. It involves selling a superior, and more expensive version of a product or service than the one your customer already purchased.
The probability of selling to existing customers is a lot higher than to new ones. That is why upselling is a proven sales technique that can give you an additional stream of revenue.
High Converting Sales Pages Examples
If you are struggling to write a sales page and you desperately need some inspiration, you can always check out some of the best sales page examples – or at least know the anatomy of a good sales page.
Many times, there are a few elements that influence the conversion rate of a sales page, such as:
- Writing great headlines that grab attention
- An easy-to-use order form
- Good trust indicators (for instance, social proof)
- Compelling sales copy
- A strong call to action (CTA)
As we mentioned before, great sales pages are designed to boost sales and convert visitors into customers by convincing them to purchase a product or service. Now, on most of them, you will find a detailed product description, benefits, and value proposition (how that offer will help you solve your problems).
If you are looking to explore some of the top sales page examples including short form sales pages and long ones, visit this blog. In that amazing blog post published on our site, we feature the top elements of a great sales page plus some of the best examples from leading brand names in many industries.
Final Thoughts - Sell Your Services and Courses on Legiit
If you know how to create a great sales page that converts, your skill is needed! At Legiit, there are so many entrepreneurs, brands, and businesses looking to hire someone to help with their next sales page.
On the flip side, if you are a brand looking for the right sales page ingredients and top talent to help you create a sales page that converts, Legiit lets you browse through different professionals and help you choose one for your specific needs.
Our platform is a place for professionals. You can sell your services and courses, but also hire professionals for everything, from creating a sales page that converts to SEO services, graphics and design, internet marketing, video animation, one on one coaching, audio services, online store (e-commerce) optimization, and so on.
We hope that this amazing article answered your questions and provided you with more in-depth knowledge on sales pages!
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