I fall for the same tricks you do. That’s my first confession.
Just because I write sales pages doesn’t mean I’m above it all.
In fact, my theory is this actually makes me more vulnerable.
When I’m reading one of those really long sales pages, I start to feel enormously proud of myself for seeing through the tactics. It’s impossible to silence my inner English professor:
“Oh, I see what you’re doing there.”
“Original—what slush pile did you dig that out of?”
“Using the ol’ social proof persuasion tactic combined with a number and a random adjective, eh?”
Feeling suave, I tell myself, “I’d never write like that.”
But just as an addict is most likely to relapse when she loudly proclaims she’s quit, I think this actually makes me more vulnerable to sales pages than others.
My thoughts of superiority distract me from how I’m really feeling.
Even as I’m thinking, “I see what you’re doing there,” I’m also thinking, “Well, despite the cheesy copy, that is a compelling benefit, and I do want this.”
And: “Wow, this person has a testimonial from a former president! They must know something I don’t know. I must know what I don’t know so I, too, can get a testimonial from a former president! What do the top 1% successful entrepreneurs know?” (Sonia Simone revealed exactly what they know in this excellent post.)
So what if this person turns out to be a total cheeseball? He does sound like he knows his stuff, and I can deal with cheeseball. Cheeseball isn’t so bad.
Even though the sales copy is way over the top, I’m sophisticated enough to recognize that. My professional training enables me to find the hidden treasure. There just might be something to this proven, five-step system after all.
And I really do want to know the three ways businesses fail and how to fix my broken business model.
I begin to feel a sense of urgency. I need this! I need this now!
This pattern has caused me to click “Buy” more times than I can say.
The force of curiosity is strong. It makes me do ridiculous things. And I can’t stand the thought I might be passing up a chance to grow my business.
I kick myself sometimes, when I discover this isn’t anything I didn’t already know; or it’s not relevant to my business; or they’re asking me to do something I’m not ready to do, or never would do.
But I keep doing it. I keep clicking “Buy.”
I’d like to think my Buy-dar is getting stronger. Or maybe I’m buying less stuff?
The truth is, I’ve bought plenty of things that turned out to be phenomenal. I’d never have discovered them if I hadn’t also bought the duds.
Here is my current running list of products that were just as phenomenal as their sales pages:
[Not affiliate links---just spreading the love.]
- The Destuckification Station (Havi Brooks)
- Book Yourself Solid and Beyond Booked Solid (Michael Port)
- The InfoGuru Manual (Robert Middleton)
- How to Launch the **** Out of Your Ebook (Naomi Dunford and Dave Navarro)
- 8 ½ Steps for Writing Faster, Better (Daphne Gray-Grant)
- The Brain Audit (Sean D’Souza)
- The Copywriting Grab Bag (Ben Settle)
- How to Charge What You’re Worth and Get It (Kendall Summerhawk)
So, these are my confessions. I’m still figuring it out as I go. Falling for bad-boy sales pages every once in a while.
But also really glad I keep taking chances on things that feel exciting. Because some of those things have pretty much changed everything.
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9 Comments
I loved this post, Kelly! Love the honesty and the insights, and even though I ain’t no professional copywriter (although I obsess like one) I click “buy” while feeling a little superior way too often.
Thanks too for the great list on good-buys.
As an obsessive re-writer of all of my web copy, I am going for simple these days because it just feels overwhelming to over-promise, esp. in my work helping women “break the spell of overeating”.
In some ways I think I just like to be seduced by those web pages. hmmm…
Loved our “wilderness” session last week- it’s still rippling through and helping me feel super clear and “real”.
xox
Lisa
http://www.IntuitiveBody.com
Breaking The Spell of Overeating
Results You Can Fall In Love With
Lisa Claudia Briggs´s last blog ..The Myth of Waiting For The Right Time (to end overeating)
Hi Lisa, I get what you mean about liking to be seduced by web pages. I just like watching how certain lines make me react. It’s kind of fascinating–when I don’t fall for it despite myself.
Yes! I write my own copy and have been studying a lot of copywriting resources… and yet I still buy stuff from sales pages. Like a lot. 0_0
I love the programs you recommended and have quite a few of them too!
I agree with your summary. Sometimes you have to buy the duds to end up with the good stuff too, ya know? Thanks for writing this. It’s good to know that other people, especially copywriters, are in the same boat!
Nathalie Lussier´s last blog ..Behind The Scenes of The Magick Menu Launch
I so know what you mean. This is how I ended up with an “Ultimate Chopper” and an entire set of Tae-Bo videos…
Gina Loree Marks´s last blog ..Posture as a Path to Personal Enlightenment
Ooh, how frustrating!
I tell myself they’re embellishing a lot of it, and this keeps me from buying most things I’m tempted to get…
Can you recommend any excellent sources of information for learning how to write sales letters and the like?
Natalia´s last blog ..The limitations of the written word
Hey, so now that I know there are more of us out there with sales page addictions, I think we should just send each other a DM when we’re about to buy something. “Hey, look at this sales page! Is this cheesy, or is it just me?”
Natalia, the book linked above by Sean D’Souza is what I’d start with.
That and buying Marketing Sherpa’s landing page handbook.
And then just forget it all and do what feels good.
Somewhere in there you’ll find your own magical non-formula formula.
I do this tooooo!
The underlying feeling is if I don’t read *this* or buys *this* or know *this* very thing right now, I will fail. Someone else knows the secret and if I don’t get it now, it will be lost forever.
(That’s some drama for a Friday morning!)
Thanks for sharing… it helps to know that you go through your version of this too.
xo
michelle marlahan´s last blog ..A schedule. Like in Kindergarten.
Ha. I do this too. That being said, I am quite fond of my Ultimate Chopper. It was the one thing that was worth it in the end.
The really sad thing is that some of that shit is actually stuff that I not only want, but really is good. But the persuasiveness of the all of that copy makes it difficult to know. I have a kneejerk aversive reaction to long copy but I know it works. I’m going to go live in a kennel with Pavlov’s dogs.