How to Convey Trustworthiness in Direct Mail Marketing Sales Letters

October 11, 2009 by admin
Filed under: web copywriting 

A person or business that might buy from you is called a
prospect. But they might just as accurately be called a skeptic.
We live in the age of the spam filter. And call-display. We live
in what fellow-copywriter Herschell Gordon Lewis calls, “The Age
of Skepticism.”

Your sales letters must overcome your reader’s built-in baloney
detector. Your prospective customers are on their guard. Here,
in no particular order, are some tips on how to prove your
trustworthiness on paper.

1. Third-party endorsements
If your
product has won an industry award for innovation, say so. If
your service was ranked among the top 10 in your industry by a
trade publication or other impartial group, mention that.
Leverage the positive press you’ve received.

2. Testimonials
If your clients have said
kind things about your company, your products or your customer
service, cite these accolades in your sales letters, with the
client’s permission, of course. Solicit these testimonials
often, and file them. Wherever possible, use the testimonials
that speak to the concerns and challenges facing each particular
prospect that you write to. To increase believability, cite the
full name, job title and company (and website if the testimonial
appears online) of each person who gives a testimonial.

3. Industry accreditation
If your company
is ISO 9000 certified, and if that is of value to your
prospects, say so. If you are members of your industry
association, or the Better Business Bureau, and if saying so
will increase your believability, mention that as well.

4. Longevity
The longer you have been in
business, the easier you are to trust. So mention your years in
business or the year you were founded, whichever sounds the most
impressive and plausible.

5. Industry leadership
Are you the leader
in your industry? That’s worth a mention. You can demonstrate
leadership in terms of annual sales, breadth of product line,
market share, number of employees, number of customers, and
number of countries where you have a presence.

Special challenges
If your company is
brand new, unknown, or cannot say any of the above things, there
are still ways to communicate trustworthiness. Incorporate your
business, since having Inc. after your name makes you look
established. Get a toll-free number. It says “big business” and
“customer service.” Offer a money-back guarantee. Offer “no
money up front, pay later” terms. Add the years that your
partners have been in business and present that figure as your
combined years of experience. Locate your office at a
prestigious address in the same neighbourhood where your
competitors are known to do business (Madison Avenue, New York,
for advertising, Saville Row, London, for men’s suits, and so
on).

© 2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and
in print provided the links remain live and the content remains
unaltered (including the “About the author” message)

Alan Sharpe
http://www.articlesbase.com/direct-mail-articles/how-to-convey-trustworthiness-in-direct-mail-marketing-sales-letters-872.html

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Comments

2 Comments on How to Convey Trustworthiness in Direct Mail Marketing Sales Letters

  1. gry planszowe on Sun, 2nd May 2010 5:50 am

    2. I see you are experinced webmaster, what is the best method to monetize my first blog ?

  2. admin on Mon, 3rd May 2010 11:26 pm

    3. The easiest way to monetize your blog is by using adsense (you can add kontera as well). Depend on your blog topics, adsense will displays relevant ads on your blogs.

    Next is the affiliate marketing (clickbank, commision junction etc.), this is huge but different ball game.

    Regardless of what you choose, you have to bring traffic to your blog/site, For generating free traffic, I do recommend Google Sniper by Gerge Brown , it really work

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