I always had a difficult time believing that long copy usually out performs short copy because personally, long sales copy infuriates me and I will NEVER read it all. Junk mail that goes on for pages always ends up in my trashcan. However, I know I am not typical and long usually sells better when it comes to snail mail offers.

My personal theory for that is that nobody actually reads it all, they just skim, and bulk convinces many people that it MUST be truly cuz surly they couldn’t just make up all that stuff.

Well, of course they could but that’s beside the point.

If you compare video to plain copy, video will probably always perform better.

When you translate the discussion of length to video, brief is almost always better and that has been proven over and over.

So go figure.

Video editing doesn’t have to be difficult, expensive and time consuming Nathan. (Is this where I plug my free video editing tutorials on video production tips dot com?)

Lorraine Grula

Lorraine Grulas last blog post..What Style of Video Works Best?

In response to the above…

“The price, the industry and particularly the target market play a significant role.”

I have a product that I use both a short copy, and long copy to sell.

The short copy I use on eBay…

eBay Buyers are generally stingy and have shorter attention spans, and tend to purchase more impulsively. So I use about 20% of the copy I use on my main landing page at my website, where I have the long copy for people who are literally seeking to buy online, doing searches and research before they buy etc.

Interestingly, I’m in the process of revamping all of my marketing. And the irony I’m experiencing from this article, is I’m going to test a new version of my long copy sales letter, by combining everything I learned from these two supposedly distinct, short vs. long sales copy approaches.

The conversion for my eBay sales is way higher than my website sales, but I’m not getting the same price for my product.

That’s a very important point to pay close attention to.

I recommend that because every niche needs to be approached with scientist like scrutiny, that copy writers test both approaches and then merge the best of both worlds to balance the outcome.

The fact is, that more and more people are limited on time and money, and very few people take the time to read long copy.

That’s why audio and video presentations on your landing page can help boost conversions so much, because your buyers want to be informed, yet are sometimes too lazy to read your long copy before they buy.

Make it as easy for your customers as you can when applying long copy.

Long copy is essential to provide the facts, the benefits, and most copy writers know that you want to answer as many questions a buyer has on their mind, so they get all the facts to make an informed buying decision.

So in essence, we don’t want to cut any corners as copy writers. At the same time, long copy requires a great deal of skill to hold the prospect’s attention.

Kind regards,
Ilias Glenis
http://www.MyMonkBuddy.com

I’m launching a new product to a group of people that are -extremely- busy on a day-to-day basis. I mean, far more busy than most people. There was a big debate about the long copy, because I have a 23pg sales letter that reads well… but it’s long. Just looking at a sales letter like that when you don’t see them every day, because this is a very non-techie market, is daunting and seems likely to reduce potential sales (test that headline, sure).

Now I’m thinking about taking the basis of the salesletter and producing a video instead. And I really think the next step isn’t to debate short vs long copy, but traditional methods vs multimedia. The obvious concern with a video is that, once produced, it’s difficult, time consuming and expensive to edit.

Thanks again

Nathan

Nathan Gilders last blog post..Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene