The 6 sales letter motivators

4 April 2009

First of all, the copywriter must take the reader’s point of view. The next part of the job is to decide what proposition will best motivate the reader to buy.

Motivating a reader to buy to a product is a specialist task.

You may have read books or articles on what it is that motivates people to buy. If you have ever been involved in selling, then this should have been part of your training. The standard works give the primary motivators as: peer approval, financial security, success, enjoyment, saving time or money, mastery of a subject, etc.

But knowing this is unlikely to help a copywriter come up with a really good concept for his email marketing message, sales letter or marketing letter, because these needs are just too elementary. Look at the sample sales letters on this site and you will see they go far deeper.

To sell large volumes you have to tailor the concept in your sales letter or marketing letter to your specific audience. Here are 6 really good reasons for a reader to buy:

1. A desire to gain an advantage from your product

2. The opportunity to acquire something at an unrealistically low price

3. To be let into ‘a deal’ that is only normally available to a privileged few

4. To become eligible for special treatment through membership of a closed group or club

5. To answer a current need that is not being particularly well served at the moment

6. To avoid losing something

Any one of these is enough to motivate a reader to buy, though many email promotions, sales and marketing letters carry more than one motivator. You should choose one primary motivator to lead the email promotion or marketing letter with and this will probably generate the headline.

Once you have decided on your prime motivator, you must explain early on in your sales letter how it benefits the reader.