6 Essential Elements of an Effective Sales Page

You’ve spent months developing your product. You’re proud of the results, and now you want people to buy it. You want to create a sales page that will catch your prospective clients’ attention and persuade them to make a purchase. Here is how to build an effective sales page in six easy steps! But first, learn some simple general rules about attracting customers.

Universal rules

The first thing you need to remember is to make buying your product easy and intuitive. Help your customers get to know the product in a fun, effortless way. Make it interesting. Make it appealing.

For that, you’ll need a sales page which will load fast – if it doesn’t, your clients may leave the page even before they see it, because waiting longer than a few seconds will frustrate them. Next, you’ll need an attractive layout – something beautiful but practical, which will make scrolling down easy and rewarding. Finally, you have to interest your customers and make them trust you. Here are some specific tips on how to achieve that.

 

1. Create a headline which will make them want to read on

One of the most famous advertising icons, David Ogilvy, has said that the headline is the critical part of your copy. It is so important, in fact, that you should spend 90% of your writing time creating the perfect headline. The percentage may be an exaggeration, but it is undeniable that if your headline fails, your whole sales letter will fail. You need to grab your readers’ attention. Otherwise, no one will read your copy.

There are some tested ways to create high-conversion headlines. Look at the headline of this article. Did you like it? Obviously, you did, as you are still here. The headline has promised you something: valuable knowledge in six easy steps. It has promised to teach you something you need in a short time.

Make a promise with your headline. Make it into an offer. And be sure to follow through on that promise. Otherwise, it will be considered a clickbait, and you will lose your readers’ trust. Do not make bold, scandalous promises or claims in your headline. They used to generate many clicks, but nowadays the Internet users have become much savvier. They often forego content which promises too much or isn’t instantly believable.

Make your headline easy to understand – if you must err, it is better to err on the side of simplicity. Of course, you can try with a witty, humorous, sarcastic headline, but it may be too obscure for some of your readers, losing you prospective customers.

2. Promise and persuade in the opening paragraphs

You have caught your readers’ attention with the headline. Great, now you need to hold on to their attention. Many writers tend to write very general, winded openings. This is a mistake. You need to jump straight into it. If you need a writing warm-up – then write it, but be sure to delete it before you publish.

You have promised your readers something. Show them in the opening paragraphs, that they will get what you promised. Be specific. Be persuasive.

One of the biggest mistakes in the copywriting business is to put the most compelling content of your sales letter at the end. What precedes it, is a sort of introduction, which is often general and doesn’t answer your clients’ needs in any way. When you write it that way, many of your readers will not stay until the end, and you will lose the opportunity to amaze them with your punchline.

Put the juiciest content at the beginning. You can do it in writing – but you can also use a video! Remember the general rule about making things easy for your customers? Here is one way how you can do this: make them click the play button and watch an interesting short video explaining your product. It demands less effort than scrolling and reading. It is also more attractive. There is a reason why video marketing is steadily becoming more popular.

3. Answer your clients’ needs and wants

Your customers need something from you. That is why they have come to you in the first place. Now you need to show them, how your product will answer their needs. First, identify those needs. If you want this section to be credible and persuasive, you need to determine your target customer. Who is likely to buy your product? Why do they need it? Next, show them their problems clearly. Make them feel, that you understand them to the letter.

If you can make them exclaim “Yes, I have this problem!”, you have won.

4. Call them to Action! Then show them, how your product solves their needs

A Call to Action, also known as CTA, is a powerful tool for converting readers into clients. You have shown your clients their needs: now tell them, what they should do to answer them! A CTA should be short and engaging. It needs to persuade. It also has to create an impression of urgency. Tell your clients to do it now.

Next, show them, how your product answers their needs. Don’t talk about the features of the product. Talk about the benefits. Here is an example: if you’re selling lipstick, don’t tell your customers it has a great texture – tell them it is easy to apply and gives their lips a fuller, sexier look. And if you’re building websites, don’t say just that they are intuitive and responsive – clarify that they are easy to set up and customize. Tell your clients that investing in your product will help them save much time. Speak benefits, not features.

5. Give them proof that it works

People don’t trust easily. Even if you have already convinced them that they need your product, they still may have misgivings about you. Will this website really be that easy to customize? Is the support truly as excellent as they claim?

One way to alleviate those doubts is to offer social proof. You can do it easily by providing testimonials from your previous clients. Ask them to write a few lines of recommendation after they have used your product. Put those testimonials on your sales page. By doing this, you achieve three benefits.

Firstly, your customers will become more trusting. They will feel more inclined to buy your product if they see proof that no one has been scammed, that you really will provide what you have offered.

Secondly, people usually feel more secure following in others’ footsteps. It is safer to go where many people before us have gone.
Thirdly, common sense suggests that a product which many people have bought must be a good one. Imagine two ice-cream shops, one next to another. There is a long line in front of one of them. There is no queue in front of the other. Which shop sells better ice-cream? Testimonials and recommendations give you prestige. If there is high demand for your products, it means, they must be excellent.

6. Give them an exclusive offer they cannot refuse

Your customers need to be convinced, that you’re offering a real bargain. If all the benefits they will get are worth more than your asking price, they will be more likely to buy your product. Remember: you’re offering much more than just the product. You’re offering to save them time, to make their lives easier. You’re offering to help them sell more products and attract more customers. You’re offering to make their lives less stressful and busy.

You can also make the offer more exclusive. Put a timer on it. If your clients have only a day to buy your product at a lower price, they will be more likely to make the purchase at once. And it is essential to convince them to DO IT NOW – otherwise, they might not get back to your offer.

All the screenshots in this article are from Girly Child Theme. The pre-designed Sales Page Layout will guide you naturally through all these steps to help you create an effective and attractive sales page for your offer.

What are your tips for creating the perfect sales page? What is the most important element?