If you use direct mail to promote your company, writing a powerful sales letter is absolutely vital. So how do you write a sales letter that really gets the phone ringing?

Pitch to the right audience

Your product or service needs to match the needs of the recipient. It’s no good trying to sell your bespoke aluminium system to an installer who only deals in PVC-u.

Likewise, don’t send technical material to the sales manager, or fluffy sales material to an operations manager.   Target precisely and make it relevant to the reader.

Using a headline introduction

Use a powerful introduction headline to capture the reader’s attention so they read the first paragraph.  (Which has more impact: “A sales letter Richard Branson would be proud off” or “Writing a good sales letter”).

Use short paragraphs and be precise

Less is more. Get to the point and be clear and concise throughout, or you risk losing their interest.  Short, snappy paragraphs are always best.  And make it personal – Dear Mr Smith will always elicit a better response than “Dear Sir or Madam”.

Use simple words

You are not trying to impress the reader with your vocabulary.  Short, easily digestible words are better than long, impressive words.  This isn’t a technical datasheet, it’s a sales letter.

Focus on benefits

You may want to shout from the rooftops how good your new product is, but all the reader cares about is what it will do for them.  Talk about the benefits – will it make life easier for the customer, is it faster, better, cheaper? Will it improve sales or profit margins?  “This new window will reduce your heating bill by £325 per year” is better than “Our windows are fitted with the latest Low-E glass”.

Include a call to action

Every direct mail letter should include an all-important call to action, ideally with a deadline. Call before 4pm Monday. The call-to-action should direct people to your website, or to phone or email you for a specific reason – more information, book an appointment, request a brochure.   Let people know what to do, and some of them will do it. Don’t let them know, and nobody will do it!

Use testimonials

The best recommendation for your product or service comes from satisfied customers, so try to include a testimonial. If you delivered 20 composite doors at short notice to one of your trade customers, quoting your customer as “delighted with your service” can be very compelling.

Use the You word

I can talk all day about how great I am and how great my company and my products are, after all, we are the number one in our industry.  Alternatively, I can talk about you and your business and how you could increase your sales and increase your profit if you simply contacted me. ‘You’ is the most powerful sales word in the English language.  Since M&S (Marks & Spencer) became Your M&S the business has seen spectacular success.  Are you sold yet?

So there you have it.  By following these tips you should be well on your way to writing powerful sales letters that might even impress Richard Branson.  But if you don’t have the time or resources to do your own direct mail, Insight Data has a dedicated direct mail division, including highly experienced copywriters.  Call 01934 808293, follow us on Twitter or send us an online message.

Posted by Insight Data’s marketing team. 

Insight Data is the UK’s leading provider of prospect data for the window, conservatory and building industry, with an in-house direct mail and email marketing division for customers who don’t have the time or resources to carry out database marketing themselves.

Our thanks to Purplex Marketing for supplying this article.