How to write a sales page that makes readers open their wallets

A sales page is the closest thing you’ll find to a money tree. 

They suck readers in, present a compelling offer, and handle all doubts associated to make the reader open their wallet.

In this article, I’m going to review what a sales page is, what makes them successful, how to write a sales page, and provide some examples for you to reference moving forward. 

What is a sales page?

A sales page refers to a type of landing page that persuades visitors to take immediate action. This could be making a purchase, signing up for a trial, or entering an email address. You can expect to see direct response copywriting, reduced prices, one-time offers, FAQs, and video sales letters (VSL). Everything on a sales page is specifically designed to convert a visitor into a customer. 

What makes a sales page convert like crazy?

For a sales page to be successful it needs to follow a proven recipe. This usually includes three components.

1. The Offer

You might think the offer is simply the product or service for sale. This is not true, an offer is much more holistic. It includes all the direct and indirect benefits a user will receive from the product or service. All good sales pages start with an irresistible offer. You can expect to see bonuses and add-ons to make the offer even harder to decline. 

2. The Copy

The copywriting is just as important as the offer. Even though you might have a strong offer, your audience has no idea unless you communicate it to them effectively. To write effective copy you must nail the research and follow proven copywriting formulas (more on this below). 

3. The reduction of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD)

Marketers often forget how important this is. With every single product or service, there is some fear in the customer's mind that they’re making the wrong decision.

Your readers are likely asking themselves these questions:

• Is this for me?
• Will I benefit from this?
• Can I afford to pay for it?
• How much effort is required?
• Is this an expense or an investment?
• What happens if it doesn’t work?
• What happens if I don’t like it?

Great sales pages handle all of these objections through copy, video content, guarantees, reviews, or FAQs. 

How to write a sales page in six easy steps

Step 1: Do the research

Have you ever heard of the 1 in 60 rule?

It’s a rule of thumb in air navigation that states if a plane is off course by 1 degree it will end up one mile away from the target for every 60 miles traveled. 

The moral of the story is if your research doesn’t point you in the right direction your sales page won’t convert any customers. 

Here are some research techniques to help you stay on course:

• Conduct customer interviews 
• Ask the right questions using copywriting questionnaires
• Read existing product reviews
• Audit your competitor's Facebook ads

Step 2: Craft the offer

An offer is a solution to your customer's problems. They can be free or paid and are a critical part of any successful business. The more specific or niche you can make an offer, the better it will perform. 

My favorite framework for creating offers is taught by Alex Hormozi on Acqusition.com. Here are the seven questions you need to answer before coming up with an offer.

1. What is the problem your customer faces?
2. What is the dream outcome for your customer?
3. What is the perceived risk for your customer?
4. What is the time delay for your customer to get this outcome?
5. What is the effort required from the customer?
6. What can be stacked onto this offer to make it more valuable?
7. What are the 1-10 bonuses aka “The Sizzle” of the offer?

Step 3: Write compelling copy

The hardest part is gaining clarity which is achieved in steps 1 and 2. 

Once you have clarity on what you’re selling, who it’s for, and why, the copy shouldn’t be difficult to produce. There are two key frameworks you can use to write sales copy. 

1. Attention. Interest, Desire, Conviction, Action (AIDCA): This formula is perfect for writing sales pages. The framework helps you grab attention with a hook, keep the reader engaged, show them all the benefits, show them everyone else that’s benefited, and then drive them to take an action. The reason this stacks up as one of the best copywriting formulas is that it’s easy to understand and structure. The page follows a logical sequence and there are loads of other swipe files you can reference that have used this formula.  

2. Problem, Agitate, Solve (PAS): This is a less structured approach to writing copy but can still guide your work. The idea is to make sure you call out the problem your users are facing, show them how much it sucks and then give them the solution (i.e your offer). 

Step 4: Include visuals (preferably a VSL)

It's hard to build trust on a sales page without any visual elements. The caveat is that they need to add value. Images or videos for the sake of it will hurt the authenticity of the page and likely deter users from actually buying into your offer. There are different ways to add value, however, these are usually the best methods.

• Video sales letter (VSL)
• Screenshots of your product or a how-to tutorial video
• Video testimonials
• “As featured in” logos
• Money-back guarantee logos
• Safe and secure checkout logos

Step 5: Reduce the fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD)

Reducing the FUD is the key to improving your conversion rate. Even if everything else on your sales page is perfectly executed, the reader is still going to have doubts. You can reduce this by including the following elements:

• Social proof (review, testimonials, etc)
• Screenshots and previews of the product
• Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• Money-back guarantees
• Risk reversals 

Step 6: Create a clear call to action (CTA)

Even though this might be simple but it’s still important. 

Every reader needs guidance on what to do after reading your sales page.

Do they need to enter an email address? Signup for the free trial? Buy your product for $99? 

It doesn’t matter what the CTA is, it just needs to be clear.  All your hard work can be messed up in this step if you don’t actually tell the reader what to do and when to do it. It’s best to use a verb such as  “buy” or “download” followed by an adverb such as “now” or “today”. This will help improve your conversion rate.  

Best sales pages to use as inspiration 

1. King Kong

King Kong is a direct-response digital marketing agency based in Melbourne, Australia. It’s run by Sabri Suby, the author of Sell Like Crazy.  The landing page acts like a direct response sales page. The copy is very specific to the target audience, it uses various heuristics and cognitive biases, and loads of social proof.  

2. Blogging Growth Engine by Adam Enfroy

Adam Enfroy has one of the largest personal blogs in the world. He’s also the founder of a course called Blogging Growth Engine (which I’ve personally taken, it’s good!). I like this landing page because it’s short, simple, and includes everything I need to know before I take any action. 

3. Client Ascension

Client Ascension is a marketing and business education company that helps agencies grow by scaling their email outreach. I’ve included this because it’s another ultra-short sales page. Whilst some sales pages can be thousands of words long, this is very simple. The only goal of the page is to capture a relevant lead and get them to watch the sales training video. 

4. OptinMonster University

OptinMonster is a SaaS tool that helps businesses collect emails through smart popups & email capture forms. I personally use OptinMonster on my sites and they perform really well. However, the reason I included them as an example is that they’re masters at writing great sales pages. 

Sales page statistics to guide your work

Knowing how to create a sales page is important, but referencing proven statistics can make a real impact. Below are six statistics that will help you convert more customers. 

1. Marketers see a 4.42% drop in conversion rates for every second of page-load time. Source Portent.
2.  54.4% of web traffic is now mobile. Source Broadband Search.
3.  77% of landing pages are positioned as a home page. Source: Optinmonster.
4. Readability increased by 11.8% in accordance with the copy length. Source: Unbounce.
5. 9 out of every 10 viewers who read your headline will also read your call to action (CTA). Source: Marketing Sherpa.
6. 36% of the top-converting landing pages included testimonials from customers or clients. Source: Nifty Marketing.

Frequently asked questions