Each step has been carefully selected based on the thinking of some of the world’s greatest marketing and copywriting experts.
It’s been years in the making, and like a fine wine... it’s gotten better and better with age.
With this “cheat sheet” you’ll feel like you have your own personal advisor.
Someone to critique your sales pitch, correct any mistakes you have, and help you skyrocket the pulling-power of your marketing piece!
Here’s a bonus: this checklist is “one size fits all.” It works for ads, emails, text sales letters, video sales letters, and any other piece of copy you could ever write. It works for
whatever you’re selling and whomever you’re targeting.
Don’t even think about running an ad or sales letter until you put your copy through the “litmus test” of this checklist.
Without further ado, let’s get started.
- Does your headline hit your prospect right between the eyes with the most outstanding benefit of your product or service, to immediately answer the question “What’s in it for me?”
- Is your headline an attention-grabber? Will it “stand out in a crowd”of ads, mail, and other messages fighting for consumer attention and dollars?
- Is the wording of the benefit so appealing, so alluring, so magnetic that it’s impossible to ignore?
- Have you put a hook in the headline to help you reel in the “big fish”?
- Did you use quotations in the headline to personalize the “voice” of your offer?
- Have you crafted an appealing and interesting pre-headline to ease readers into your copy and a strong sub-headline to make readers eager to read more?
- Is your first paragraph the “Hulk” of copy, so strong that readers will be sucked in and unable to resist reading the rest of the copy?7
- Are you using a story to paint word pictures that change what you’re saying from “an intellectual offer” into “an emotionally appealing idea” to buy?
- Have you positioned your product or service as a horse of a different color by telling your prospects how what you’re offering is unique and unlike anything else on the market?
- Do you re-energize the readers’ interest by placing compelling sub-headlines throughout the copy?
- Have you gotten to the heart of your prospect in addition to his/her mind with an emotional appeal that can’t be resisted?
- Have you spoken to the “hidden desires” of your reader?
- Does your copy talk about living large, living long, or living easy... depending on your target audience
- Does your copy positively jump with a contagious enthusiasm that will “infect” your prospect with the “Gotta Have It” virus?
- Is your writing dramatic... building from a big start to an even bigger finish?
- Are you letting your prospects in on your secret and letting them know the reason why you’re making the mouth-watering, seemingly too-good-to-be-true offer that you are?
- Have you stomped out resistance by offering a no-risk guarantee?
- Have you crushed any shred of concern by offering multiple guarantees? (“If you don’t like it... return it. If it doesn’t produce the results you want... return it. If you’ve had it for a year and decide you don’t want to keep it... return it.”)
- Have you annihilated even a whisper of a worry with a better than
- money-back guarantee? (For example: “If you don’t feel more confident in your skin, and feel younger as a result of taking our 3-prong approach to fast weight loss, we’ll refund you, give you double your money back, and let you keep the bottle of WeightLossPro as a thank you for trying us out”)
- Does your offer present big ideas, big promises, big news, big pictures, big results and other eye-popping pictures that make it clear that any other offer is just small potatoes?
- Have you explained to the reader that your solution will work faster and better, give the reader more free time, and can be ordered right now, immediately, today for “instant” results?
- Is your offer “ripped from the headlines,” and linked to timely news stories or discoveries?
- Do you successfully answer the question “What’s in it for me?” so effectively and so quickly that the reader never has a chance to ask, “Why are you bugging me?”
- Have you demonstrated to the reader that you understand and empathize with their problems, making you a logical person to offer solutions?
- Does the reader understand that your product/service is unique, and your offer is different that others (read: better than others) because it’s easier, quicker, more beneficial, and has a risk-free guarantee?
- Have you included case studies and success stories to build credibility and help readers visualize “people like me” benefiting from the product/service that you’re offering?
- Have you cashed in on the “cult of celebrity” and used celebrity endorsements to give your product/service credibility via its association with a well-loved athlete, a respected industry “superstar,” etc?
- Having you nipped every objection in the bud by acknowledging resistance and overcoming it with an FAQ?
- Are you offering the “magic pill”? Do you offer an all-in-one solution that makes it easier for readers to achieve the results they desire?
- Have you turned up the volume of your copy until the needle is in the “red zone” with power words like amazing, revolutionary, outrageous, miraculous... etc?
- Does your pitch include testimonials to convince your client that your offer is honest and the results proven?
- Do you have before and after pictures, testimonials, clinical trials and other information that will demonstrate results beyond a shadow of a doubt?
- Will your reader be mesmerized by a list of benefit-rich “you’ll feel better fast” bullet points that say, “Only a fool would pass up this offer.”
- Have you used bonuses, to give “added value” to your offer?
- Are you offering free bonuses and free gifts, which will make your customers feel smart, appreciated... and eager to buy from you?
- Have you made every number in your offer an eye-magnet by using specific non-round amounts? (“One man earned $5,437 in just one month” vs. “One man earned more than $5,000...)
- Is there a sense of urgency to your offer? Is it clear to the prospect that
- Did you use your post-script, the one copy block a prospect is almost sure to read, to restate the main benefit, re-phrase the offer, emphasize the guarantee, or underscore a sense of urgency?
- Are your “how to order” and “how to pay” instructions stated clearly? Don’t forget to restate this information several more times so that there are no ifs, ands or buts... and certainly no obstacles to keep a hot prospect from calling NOW!
- Are you specific rather than general about how to order? Say, “Click the link below and fill in your payment details to secure your order...” rather than “Get this product now.”
- Is the copy that you’ve written concise, and so simple that a kindergartener would be able to understand it?
- Is your message crystal clear? A consumer can’t get excited about what a consumer can’t understand.
- Did you remember to use “copy connectors” to ease your reader through your sales letter and ensure a smooth (and uninterrupted) journey from start to finish?
- Is your copy like a spotlight that illuminates your offer and shows the prospect without any confusion precisely how they’ll benefit and exactly what they’ll receive?
- Does your copy sound like salesmanship in print -- as though you were speaking with your reader in person with a warm, conversational and non-threatening tone?
- Does your copy say, “Let’s talk friend-to-friend” rather than “Let’s talk salesman-to-consumer”?
- Will your reader’s eyes immediately be drawn to a long (or highly focused) list of “just for you,” “this is what you’ve been looking for,” “who knew it could be this easy” benefit-oriented bullet points?
- Do you have a distinctive and psychologically appealing price that will capture reader’s attention because you’ve selected an odd-ending number? ($19.97, $39.97, $297, etc.)
- Are your strong words and phrases highlighted, bolded, underlined or italicized to draw your readers’ attention and keep him/her stuck to your copy like Krazy Glue?
- Are you taking advantage of consumers’ fondness for “free stuff” by offering premiums to sweeten the pot?
- Have you selected premium and bonus offers that reflect back on your primary promise and make MORE sales possible? (FREE T-shirt means FREE advertising for you.)
- Have you listed all the most compelling reasons why the reader should act now -- stop the pain fast, be ahead of the competition, don’t miss out, etc?
- Is your page filled with the “short ‘n’ sweet” paragraphs that “go down easy” and make the reader feel smart for understanding your offer?
- Will your reader eagerly keep reading because you’ve planted cliff-hangers and open loops?
- Does your letter tell the complete story about your product, filling in every gap and answering any question a reader might have?
- Is there a caption under each photo so readers will “get the picture”... and hopefully put themselves in it? (And if you’re offering multiple products, services, or “bundles,” you want to very clearly differentiate one from another.)
- Does the copy help the reader justify the purchase by providing logical reasons for an emotional decision? Have you talked about better value, better service, and faster service?
- Have you made it clear that “this product pays for itself so it’s like getting it for free”? (For example, this product saves them from costly back surgeries down the road. They’ll be able to make back 5X what they invested. Or they’ll save money on going on bad dates because they’ll get the ONE the first time around etc)
- Have you explained that the reader will save more if they buy now, pay more if they buy later, and probably miss out on this opportunity if they don’t act immediately?
- Is your copy filled with words like “immediate,” “right away,” “overnight,” “before you very eyes” and other phrases that spell “instant gratification” to today’s I-Want-It-NOW consumer?
- Have you leveraged your message and maximized money-making abilities by including an upsell that cleverly promotes additional products, a “gold package,” etc?
- Do you point out your prospect’s most nagging problem, “pour salt on the wound” by listing all the negative consequences of having that problem, and then step in to “save the day” with your product or service?
- Does your copy speak in an active voice, rather than a passive style? Have you used lots of high-energy action words and created motivational “verb phrases” that start with those action words?
- Is your letter filled with “buzz words,” the key words and phrases that tell your target audience, “I speak your language”? (Buzz words demonstrate your empathy and changes you from a suspicious-looking outsider to “one of us.”)
- Have you created a killer order form? Does it help you close the deal by re-stating the key points of the guarantee, headline, benefits, and offer again in the order form?
- Have you done everything you can to make it easy to order by fax, telephone, online, mail?
- Have you done everything you can to make it easy to pay? Have you included multiple options of payments? A choice of Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Card, check, money order, PayPal... or maybe dropping by your house with cash in hand?
- Can you include the thing that makes it the easiest thing in the world for someone to say, “I can afford that NOW”: multiple credit cards for high-ticket items or installment payments?
- Did you set up tracking or have access to statistics (inside whatever platform you’re advertising on) to analyze the effectiveness of what you’re doing... keep the good stuff... and cut out the bad?
- Is your overall message “easy on the eyes,” with lots of white space, broad margins, and vision-friendly fonts, etc. so that your prospect will reach for a credit card, not a bottle of eye-drops?
- Have you borrowed from Burger King’s “have it your way” attitude by offering multiple shipping options? Air Overnight?
- Have you created a message that fits its environment? Does your website sales letter have margins that are too wide? Too narrow? Have you selected colors and fonts that will read clearly on everyone’s monitor?
- Is your message the centerpiece of what the reader sees? Have you “cleaned up the environment” on a website so that there are a minimum of distractions (links, noisy graphics, irrelevant videos, ads, etc.)?
Okay, there you have it, a Master Checklist that will turn you into a copywriting master yourself.
But here’s a secret: this list is just the beginning. My list is “fluid”... I’m always adding to it. And in the weeks and months to come, you should add to your list, too.
Work diligently on your checklist. Always be on the lookout for new list items based on your own personal and unique experience.
Use your checklist to whip your sales letter, ad, or email into shape and your sales copy will whip your customers into a buying frenzy.
