Guide to Writing an Effective Business Sales Letter

A business sales letter is a form of direct mailing where a business sends emails to potential customers directly. Sales letters are effective for many reasons. However, the top five reasons are:

• Sales letters are personal.
• Sales letters are persuasive.
• They are convenient.
• Sales letters are affordable.

This is why even with all the new digital marketing tools, direct sales letters remain a marketer’s staple.

The Importance of a Business Sales Letter

Business sales letters are important because they are ideal for reaching out to prospects. They are among the oldest forms of advertising, which in turn, means most people are familiar with them.

Companies use sales letters to sell their products and services to potential customers by giving the interaction a personal touch. Sales letters are efficient because they give prospects important information and persuade them using the same medium.

The personal touch of sales letters helps nurture customer loyalty. This is because a personal touch shows customers that the company recognizes their needs and works on fulfilling them through its products.

Sales writing requires the human touch before it can inform and persuade a prospect. This means that a letter must first establish trust. This makes sales writing no less than a form of art. While there isn’t a fast and easy way to perfect this craft, there are a few tips that can help you get there.

Tips for Writing a Business Sales Letter

The following section outlines a few tips that can help you establish fundamental habits for writing sales letters. Make sure to heed and practice them regularly.

Start With a Compelling Header

A letter’s header is the first thing a recipient sees. It influences whether a reader wants to read your email and sets the tone for the rest of the content.

A header must be compelling enough to get a reader to invest his time and attention in your message. The best way to do this is by focusing on your reader’s needs and by creating a sense of urgency. Headers like “Don’t miss out on this rare chance.” and “It’s time to solve your x problems.” are effective examples.

Add a Clear Value Proposition

As mentioned earlier, your sales letter must focus on how your product can solve a prospect’s problem or improve his work. A value proposition focuses on the features of your product and its utility. It’s less about enumerating features and more about showing readers how these features can impact their lives. Make sure to answer these questions clearly.

Take the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4, for instance. At first glance, you wouldn’t find many uses for a folding phone other than to turn heads. Samsung’s commercials focus on how the phone’s features can make things easier for users, whether it’s the portability, the water resistance, or S-pen support. 

Remember, outline the product’s benefits, not its features. Focus on how these features can solve a prospect’s problems or improve their quality of life. Be specific and realistic with your use cases.

Include Proof

The modern customer is inherently resistant to any marketing stint. Companies are expected to speak highly of the products they want to sell. They have no other choice.

However, you can circumvent this resistance by adding customer reviews and testimonials to your sales letter. You can also offer a money-back guarantee to ease the doubts of a prospect.

Use Calls to Action

Once you’ve gained the trust of your target audience, you’ll need to guide them to the final step. A call to action is a subtle prompt encouraging your audience to take the next step. There are many forms of CTAs. For sales letters, CTAs guide readers toward making a purchase.

Calls to action must be clear and powerful. Some good examples are “Buy here.” or “Click here to buy!”

End With an Incentive

A potential client may not yet be ready to click on your CTA even after reading it. Most times, your CTA gets them thinking about your offer. You can encourage them to make a purchase when you provide them with incentives.

You can introduce a sense of urgency or scarcity with postscripts like:

P.S. We are offering a 15% discount to first-time buyers until the end of this month.

This is especially effective when introducing a new product to a new market.

In Summary

A business sales letter is a form of letter used to introduce a new product or service directly to a prospect. It’s also a way to introduce a company. Sales letters outline the benefits of a product, and their ultimate function is to get a reader to buy a product or service.

Learning how to write a good sales letter is among the fundamental skills that every aspiring copywriter must master. Everything, from the clever use of words, to how they relate to readers through text, is an art. These take years to hone and perfect.

However, certain aspects of sales letter writing are a matter of habit. You can still leave a powerful impression on those you come into contact with. Building solid habits by looking at and learning from templates and letter samples is a good way to build your own letter template. 

Practice during your free time, and try to master the proper format.