Irresistible Web Copy: Is The Editorial Style More Effective Than Those Ugly Salesletters?

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Have you had this experience before? –> You receive an e-mail from an Internet marketing “guru” endorsing a new product. You then click through to the website which displays the sales copy — and you buy (or don’t buy) the product based on the strength of the endorsement — not necessarily on how well the copy is written.

Sound familiar?

This model of doing business has been used successfully, both online and offline. Endorsements by “big name” personalities — or people we at least admire or respect — influence our frame of mind so much that we tend to look favorably on whatever it is they’re endorsing. And sometimes this “star struck” response makes us perceive the sales copy favorably as well, no matter how cheesy it might be.

This got me thinking about how well a piece of sales copy would perform if it were to stand alone — without someone’s endorsement preceding the website visit. Could this be the reason why Internet marketing “gurus” boast off-the-charts sales figures — because they have an army of joint venture partners endorsing their product — something most of us “average Joes” will never have? More importantly, has this “old boy” network given rise to the proliferation of sub-standard web copywriting because of the complacency that the copy is given the “halo” of credibility by endorsements?

Indeed, when you look closely at the caliber of web copywriting that many of the top marketers utilise, it insults the intelligence of people and often elicits the reaction, “Do people really buy this crap? Whom do they think they’re fooling?”

Between 2005 to 2008, I believe there’s been a progressive decline in the effectiveness of the salesletter. So much so that in late 2007, Michel Fortin published a 51-page report titled “The Death of the Salesletter” which talks about the downhill weakening in the effectiveness of the typical “Dear Friend” web copy as far as selling on the Internet is concerned.

In the report, the author admits that most of the other top Internet marketers like John Reese predict the eventual demise of “ugly websites” (long-scrolling formulaic sales copy with the usual glaring fonts, the laundry list of overvalued bonuses, the endless P.S.’s, etc.). These are sites that Armand Morin calls “cartoonish” websites. Many other Internet marketing leaders like Mike Filsaime also agree that the cookie-cutter website copy is falling out of favor.

Michel calls for a move toward writing more editorial-like sales copy that gives more content; turning the sales process into an experience; eliminating overused copywriting tactics that no longer work — and ultimately producing copy that’s stronger, pithier and more to the point.

Recently, I found a website that features compelling web copy that I think ought to be the new standard for writing copy for the Internet population. It’s written in the editorial style and it’s a refreshing departure from the hackneyed, “snake oil salesman,” Slick Willie kind of sales pitching. It gives a lot of compelling information before “going for the kill” and it made me feel like I was reading an informative article about a topic of interest to me, instead of being sold to.

It employs an elegant, soft sell approach that, nevertheless, packs a powerful punch — and best of all, it respects, not insults, the intelligence of the reader. In my opinion, this is compelling web copy that we should all emulate. The copy still utilised a long-scrolling webpage, but I found it a highly intriguing and entertaining read. I didn’t read every word on the webpage, of course (who does nowadays?) but I found myself buying the $39.95 eBook on my very first visit — something I rarely do.

Considering that I was a cold prospect who arrived at the website after clicking on a Google search result, and I didn’t arrive there via the endorsement of a colleague or “guru” — and on top of all that, I’m definitely not one who’s easily “sold” — this speaks volumes about the power of this piece of sales copy.

Granted, I happen to be the exact target audience of the eBook being sold on the website (titled “The One-Minute Cure: The Secret to Healing Virtually All Diseases”), I still think there’s a lot of magic going on in this editorial style of web copywriting.

It would be immensely valuable for marketers to deconstruct the sales copy to discover the elements that make people want to buy. Better still, if we can find out who wrote this brilliant sales copy, we can pick his or her brain to see if we can learn the hidden psychology behind this kind of copy.

If we, marketers, learn the inner workings of this editorial style of web copywriting, we could all make a bloody killing in them thar Internet hills!

If this trend towards editorial style copywriting were to become the norm, I can’t help but wonder what will become of those fill-in-the-blanks template-based copywriting programs that produce cookie-cutter pieces of sales copy that look like everyone else’s.