Generally speaking, you will be more successful closing sales if you can get your reader to visit your web site because people see that you are a "real" person or company, and not just some scam artist hiding behind an e-mail address. They also get more "involved" this way; they can surf your web site and read other pages that interest them, they can see pictures of the product or service, they can even see pictures of you… all of this gives you that much more credibility. Once you've established credibility, your offer appears much more legitimate.

Whatever method you choose though, there are some key steps that you need to adhere to if you want to be successful:

1. E-mail a "targeted" list of people who will be interested in your offer. You'll be wasting your time and energy if you don't. Remember that your job is NOT to sell your product to everyone. Everyone doesn't want your product. Focus your energies on the people who do! These people include those who have opted-in to your mailing list, your customers and leads, and individuals who request information from your autoresponder.



2. Personalize each and every e-mail! The best way to do this is to e-mail each person separately. Unfortunately, this would take hundreds of hours of tedious work and the profits would never pay for your time. However, it is critical that you personalize each e-mail by using their personal e-mail addresses in the TO: field and addressing the reader personally with their name. That way, it doesn't come across as spam.
   
   There are a few programs available that will take your customer database and e-mail each address individually, personalizing each letter so that you get a much higher response to your e-mail. One such program, which I highly recommend, is Mailloop. The term I use to describe what this program does is "guerrilla marketing" because it will literally give you an unfair advantage over your competition! Click here to learn more about Mailloop.



3. Your headlines are key! Good headlines make the difference between e-mail that automatically hits the trash bin and e-mail that is opened and read. The key here is to write your headlines from your customer's point of view, emphasizing how the customer will benefit from taking a moment to read your letter.
   
   Consider your product or service from your customer's point of view. What are the benefits that will be of interest to them? Is your product/service going to save them time? Is it going to save them money? Or is it going to improve their lives in some way? Write headlines that emphasize these benefits.
   
   Some examples of good headlines might be:
   
   
   • "Learn how you can safely lose 30 pounds in 4 weeks"
   • "Get a better rate on your mortgage using this secret trick!"
   • "Learn how you can spend two weeks on the beach for the price of one!"
   • "Ten steps you can use to cut the time you spend doing your taxes by 25%!"
4. Given them ownership! A key secret that every successful marketer knows is that it is very important that you give the reader ownership by using the word "You".
   
   For example, take another look at the headlines I just showed you:
   
   
   • "Learn how you can safely lose 30 pounds in 4 weeks"
   • "Get a better rate on your mortgage using this secret trick!"
   • "Learn how you can spend two weeks on the beach for the price one!"
   • "Ten steps you can use to cut the time you spend on your taxes by 25%!"
   Notice that in each example, I have strategically used the word "You". This technique works extremely well because you are examining the benefits of your product or service directly from the customer's viewpoint.



5. Your entire sales pitch should be summarized within the first paragraph. The first paragraph should make reference to your headline, building further excitement, and motivating the customer to continue reading. Just because you've convinced them to open the e-mail with a compelling headline doesn't mean your home free... You need to build more excitement and make them curious about what's to come! Again, the key here is to focus on benefits!



6. Paint a picture that includes them! While there is a time and a place for stories about how your product or service has benefited YOU, you need to spend the majority of your time illustrating how your product or service is going to benefit them. This means providing examples which describe how they would benefit if they were to use your product or service. For example, you might say:
   
   "One way this product might benefit you is by doing this. If you did this, you would see fantastic results! Just imagine how great this would be! Wouldn't you like this product to help you in this way?"
   
   Essentially, you are giving the reader ownership of the example. This makes it easy for them to visualize the benefits of owning your product or using your service.



7. Creative copy is key! Examine your product or service from all angles. What makes your product special? What differentiates you from your competitors? If you don't know, then you need to take some time and research your competition. How are they selling their products? What features and benefits are they emphasizing? Once you've figured this out, you can use this information to develop your own unique selling proposition. Try to approach your product from an angle that is both new and of interest to your target market. You don't want to present your market with the same offer that they've turned down a hundred times before.



8. Harness the power of the almighty testimonial! I rant and rave about the power of testimonials on a regular basis. And here I go again… Testimonials are a key component of any successful sales letter because they dramatically increase your credibility. They let your visitors know that other people have risked doing business with you and have been pleased with the results. Did you know that this one simple trick can actually increase your sales by a phenomenal 250%? It's true!



9. Offer a strong guarantee! I think you will be surprised to learn that the longer your guarantee is for, the less returns you will have. Don't believe me? Well, it's true! You will actually receive less returns if you offer a one-year guarantee rather than a 30 day guarantee.
   
   You see, this accomplishes two very important things. First, it makes the customer feel more comfortable buying your product because they know that YOU must have confidence in it to offer such a strong guarantee. Second, the customer does not feel pressured to make a quick decision about whether they like it or not. With a one year guarantee (or longer), they feel that they'll have ample time to test and evaluate what you're offering… and then return it if they're not satisfied. Also be sure to use ‘glamour’ words in your guarantee such as "no risk", "no hassle", "100% unconditional", etc… It makes your guarantee seem that much more powerful!



10. You must NOT be mistaken! Edit your copy as though your business depended on it… because it does! Nothing destroys credibility faster than copy that is full of spelling and grammatical errors. Always have a second pair of eyes check over your work. And never rely solely on your spell checker! It won't catch those oddities of the English language such as a misplaced "ewe" instead of "you"… or "your" instead of "you're".



11. Free bonuses make it easy to say yes! Nothing seems to grab people's attention faster than the word "Free". Even better though, free bonuses can dramatically increase the perceived value of your offer. The trick is to ensure that your bonuses will benefit your customers in some way, shape, or form… Again, emphasize benefits!



12. Test your e-mail on a small percentage of your opt-in list. This is one of the most important techniques that I teach, yet so few people actually do it. And these days it's so easy that there is no excuse for you NOT to be testing.
    
    When trying to increase the response to your offer, you want to test the headline or opening paragraph, your offer, and your pricing (Too cheap can be just as bad as too expensive!). And be sure you do these three things one at a time so you can measure the results.
    
    Testing your offer and your sales copy is the cheapest and most efficient way to maximize your sales profits! In fact, this should be an ongoing part of your business. Instead of sending out your latest promotional letter to your entire customer base, try sending it out to a small test group. Doing a trial run will allow you the opportunity to iron out any kinks, saving you time, money, and hassle!



13. Make it easy to read! The formatting you choose can make or break your sales campaign. If the e-mail is difficult to read, then people aren't going to waste their time trying. Some tips for effective formatting include:
    
    
    • Avoid columns, fancy fonts, boldface, italics or color. Sure HTML e-mail may look great on your system, but until it becomes standard you'd be smart to stay away from it! Remember, you have no control over what e-mail program a person is using or how they configure it.
    • Keep your e-mail messages simple, and neat. Use lots of white space.
    • Avoid technical jargon that the recipient won't understand.
    • Never compose an entire message using ALL CAPS! It looks like you're yelling, it's hard to read, and it's rude!
    • Some older e-mail programs don't have "word wrap" so turn the "word wrap" feature off on your machine and manually hit "enter" at the end of each line of your message. In this case, a line should be no more than 65 characters.
14. Be sure that your e-mail is easy to reply to. When an URL is mentioned in an e-mail, it should have the "http://" before it. If there is an e-mail address listed in your message, make sure you have the "mailto:" prefix before it as well (i.e. mailto:bob@bob.com). The reason for this is that most new e-mail programs have a hot-link feature that will allow users to just double click on the URL or e-mail address. It will then automatically load the web browser and go to that site… or start a new e-mail to that particular address.

Important Notice:

On July 18, 2000 a law was passed in the United States that limits the use of unsolicited e-mail, otherwise known as spam. Basically, the law states that you cannot use spam unless you include a return e-mail address that the recipients can use to opt-out of your e-mail database and includes provisions that allow consumers who continue to receive spam after opting-out to take their complaint to the Federal Trade Commission… or to sue the offending company in state or federal court.

As many of you are already aware, I am neither for or against spam. Generally speaking, I am neutral on the subject… However, the reality is that you will consistently get better results by directing your sales campaigns at people who have opted-in to your e-mail database. I just felt that it was important for you to be aware of the "spam" laws because, unfortunately, ignorance can get you into a LOT of hot water!

Here are the general rules that you should be following when doing bulk mailing of any kind:

• Identify yourself with your full name, address, and phone number.
• Provide a valid e-mail address in the "from" field for people to reply to -- do NOT use stealth technology to hide the origin of the e-mail!
• Remove anyone who requests to be removed from the list immediately.
• Do not relay the e-mail from other's servers or resources that you do not have authorization to use.

Basically, the moral of this story is to always be sure that you provide the chance to "opt-out" of your e-mail database… And be sure that you keep your database up to date! (A program such as Mailloop can be setup to automatically update your database. To learn more, click here.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Corey Rudl is the owner of four highly successful online businesses that attract more than 1.8 million visitors per month and generate over $6.6 million each year. He is also the author of the #1 best-selling Internet Marketing course online. To check out his site that's JAM-PACKED WITH THE EXACT INFORMATION YOU NEED to start, build, and grow your very own profitable Internet business, I highly recommend visiting http://www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr.html This guy really knows what he's talking about!