Using AIDA
20 tips for the perfect sales letter
You’ve heard the classic formula, AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
But how do you grab attention, turn interest into desire and prompt an action that’s sure to get the phones ringing? Here’s 20 tips to ease you through the trauma of getting strangers excited:
Grabbing the reader's attention...
Short of saying "Hey, you!" at the top of the page, how can you get more than a passing glance from a busy reader?
1. Avoid using "Dear Sir or Madam". Tie a householder to your product with "Dear Holidaymaker" or "Dear Shopper". For a business, try "Dear Manager" or "Dear Sales Director". (It's true, important people can be just as vain as the rest of us!)
2. Don’t be too clever with headlines. Just get your point across so your reader will keep going. Avoid wordplay at all costs - most people hate puns, and your reader might need to know your product before they’ll get the joke. Wordplay also slows down the reader's inference, which is the last thing you want to do.
3. Don't fall for gimmicks. Headlines in clever fonts and wobbly lines of text can look pretty naff and a little amateur. And whatever you do, steer clear of WordArt – especially the blue wavy font, it’s been done to death!
4. Tantalise. If your prospects have been suitably profiled, you already know what they long for. So write a headline that puts it within their grasp. They'll read on to find out if they really can have it.
5. Use impressive facts or case studies. It's a great way to grab the reader’s attention, and it gives you something to refer back to when you're rounding off the letter.