Basic sales letter "talking points" for you and your staff. (DM Notebook).

Obviously there is no single or "magic" formula for writing effective newsletter sales letters. But there is a short outline of points that I like and have often used. The "titles" of the seven points to be considered originally came from copywriter George Duncan, but the rest of the copy and ideas are probably at least as much mine as his, so perhaps he and I can share "credit" for this--along with the innumerable copywriters whose shoulders we stand on.

1. The lead-in or hook. It gets attention. With the headline, it's the most widely read part of the letter. It should follow logically from your envelope teaser copy and headline and should deal with a major concern of or benefit to the reader.

2.The "segue" or product introduction. Here we switch the reader from the attention-grabbing initial statement or intriguing anecdote to the product. How will reading this newsletter increase the prospect's investment income or breakfast business? This can be one of the trickiest points in the letter to handle. This is the point where, having gained the reader's interest, you have to hold it as you make the transition to the selling message.

Duncan suggests that this is an excellent point to introduce a soft offer, relieving the prospect of the worry that what he or she is reading might cost money. But opinion differs on this point: some believe the offer "has to be on page one," while others want to hold it until the end after you've had the maximum opportunity to break down resistance with reader benefits.

3. Product sell. Sell, Sell, Sell, with Benefits, Benefits, Benefits (your beautiful lawn--not my great grass seed). Leave nothing unsaid. Back reader benefit claims with product features. Anticipate questions and answer them. Use testimonials. Support promises with proofs. A strong temptation for established newsletters is to use this opportunity to highlight the track record of the newsletter, the editor's qualifications, examples of outstanding coverage. Some say this sort of thing interrupts the flow of the selling copy and belongs in a separate "Editorial Features" part of the package. In my view, to paraphrase Scrooge McDuck, "If you are Warren Communications' Television Digest with more than a half-century as the 'bible of the industry,' why not make a big noise about it?"

4. The Offer. Lay out the offer in detail. Make it easy for the prospect to say yes. Emphasize, "Send no money now" if you accept bill-me orders. If it's a hard offer common to consumer titles, emphasize, "You risk nothing (protected by our 100 percent guarantee of satisfaction)," which leads to--

5. The Guarantee. It should definitely be in the letter, strongly and clearly stated as well as on the order card and possibly on a separate Guarantee Certificate.

6. The Call to Action. What Duncan likes to call "the surprising dynamic of direct mail" is that people will not do anything more than they are told. They will not draw conclusions or infer anything. Direct their attention to the response device. Tell them how to fill it out, detach the guarantee stub, and return it with their check, credit card instructions or purchase order in the enclosed postage free envelope which you provide. Lay it out for them stepby-step.

7. The P.S. Use it. Always. It's the second most read part of the letter. Reprise the initial promise. Or add a special bonus to your offer, especially when the bonus is further described on a premium flyer. Or underscore your guarantee. Or establish your deadline. But use the P.S.

To the extent that there are studies on how people read direct mail, they scan the headline and perhaps the lead sentence, and then they turn to the last page to see who it is sending them this letter and, in the process, read the P.S.--which is why it's a good place to restate the offer.

RELATED ARTICLE: Tell a story

"Everybody loves a good story, be it about Peter Rabbit or King Lear. And the direct mail letter, with its unique person-to-person format, is the perfect vehicle for a story. Stories get read. The letter I wrote to launch the Cousteau Society 20-some years ago has survived hundreds of tests against it. When I last heard, it was still being mailed in some form or another. The original of this direct mail Methuselah started out with this lead: 'A friend once told me a curious story I would like to share with you....'"

--Harry B. Walsh, quoted in 2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success, by Denny Hatch and Don Johnson.