In direct mail sales pieces, the way you ask for the sale is with a “call to action.” Your offer is a critical part of your sales piece (along with lists and copy). The call to action comes right out of the offer, telling prospects how to take advantage of it. The whole sales piece is designed to lead readers to the point where they’re eager for your product or service, and now your call to action tells them exactly what they have to do to get it. Rules for a Great Call to Action Creating a great call to action requires following some of these basic rules: Don’t confuse readers with too many options: Keep your call to action simple and easy to follow up on. Do you want them to call? Say Call NOW! Do you want them to call? Different Kinds of Calls to Action Depending on the specific call to action for your offer, your sales piece should be designed to build to that. You don’t want to say anything in the sales piece that will make people hesitate to call. If your call to action is to get people to buy immediately, the whole sales piece should prepare people to respond positively to that call to action by leading up to the price and making it clear what a bargain it is.
Right from the outset, new salespeople are taught a very important lesson: Ask for the sale!
Prospects won’t be that quick to part with their money or their personal information. If you don’t ask for the sale, they will easily slip away.
In direct mail sales pieces, the way you ask for the sale is with a “call to action.” Your offer is a critical part of your sales piece (along with lists and copy). The call to action comes right out of the offer, telling prospects how to take advantage of it. The whole sales piece is designed to lead readers to the point where they’re eager for your product or service, and now your call to action tells them exactly what they have to do to get it. The clearer and stronger your call to action, the better your response will be.
Remember, your prospects can’t read your mind, and they won’t rack their brains to figure out what you’re trying to tell them. Plus, you have a limited amount to time to get and keep your prospects’ attention. If you’ve been fortunate enough to keep your readers interested up to the end of the piece, you need to capitalize on that by clinching the deal with a powerful, motivating call to action.
Rules for a Great Call to Action
Creating a great call to action requires following some of these basic rules:
Don’t confuse readers with too many options: Keep your call to action simple and easy to follow up on. You don’t want prospects to have to think too hard at this point. You want them to act. If you provide too many options, you give readers anxiety about which is the best choice. They don’t want to make the wrong choice, so they may put the whole thing aside for a while. And the next thing you know, the whole piece is in the trash. Make it easy for readers to respond while the impulse is still hot.
Tell them exactly what to do: You may think it’s obvious what you want readers to do, but remember, it’s only obvious to you because it’s YOUR offer. Try reading the piece from the perspective of an outsider and see how clear the instructions actually are. Do you want them to call? Say Call NOW! Do you want them to respond by mail? Say, Mail in the Attached Card Today! Do you want them to visit your website? Say, Go to www.yoursite.com Right Away!
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