Making your sales and marketing letter easy to read and attractive is crucial to getting your prospect to read it.

And busy people often 'scan' through a letter that has attracted their attention - just to gather the essence of the content and offer so they can make an instant decision…

"Is it interesting enough to read through or shall I just dump it?"

In this second part of the series, follow these design secrets as you craft your winning sales letter (8 of 16)…

1) Make your letter easy to read and as attractive as possible. Use serif fonts for the main body text of your letter.

What is a serif font?

There are serif fonts and sans serif fonts. Serif fonts are those with a slight tail at the bottom of each letter. The 'tail' draws the eye to the next letter or word and creates a flow so there is less strain on the eye. It makes reading much easier.

Example serif fonts are:

* Times New Roman
* Century Schoolbook
* Courier (Old typewriter style)
* Georgia

What is a sans serif font?

Sans serif fonts do not have the little tail. They are a harsher font and can, almost, stop the reader in his tracks. They are sometimes used in headlines or sub-headlines when you want to catch the reader's eye. They can be used to pull the reader into the letter when they are glancing through the pages.

Be careful though, you could have the opposite effect if your prospect is already reading through your entire letter.

Example san serif fonts are:

* Arial
* Goudita Sans SF
* Impact
* MS Sans Serif

Link Your Paragraphs to Create a 'Flow'

2) Link your paragraphs so your letter 'flows'. These links are known as transitional phrases. They help the reader to make the 'transition from paragraph to paragraph'.

Use links such as these 12 phrases:

'The thing is…'
'But that's not all…'
'Now - here is the most important part'
'And in addition…'
'Better yet…'
'Take advantage of this opportunity to…'
'Now - for a limited time only -'
'Here's your chance to….'
'Interestingly enough…'
'So - let me ask you…'
'Of course…'
'The Result?'

3) Use sub-headings to draw the 'skimmer' in. Like your main headline these should be benefit focused and be designed to highlight something attractive to the reader. Their purpose is to stop your reader glancing and discarding your letter… it should pull them in so they take the time to 'check this point out'.

Keep It Personal…

4) Write your letter to a specific person. Have a picture in your mind of your ideal prospect or reader as you develop your letter.

5) Start your letter with the person's name; "Dear John" or "Dear Mrs Allen". When you've finished your letter, go through and replace

the name of the person you've written to with someone else's. Does the letter still work? If not, scratch it and start again.

6) Next, go through your letter and replace your company name, product or service with your competitors. Is the letter describing your competition perfectly? If so - you haven't got a good winning sales letter.

Your letter must have something unique or different; otherwise your prospect has no reason to buy from you rather than your competitor.

7) How does your letter read? In 'The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters of All Time', Richard S Hudgson suggests the 'hat test':

"Put on your hat and go out of your office and find someone who doesn't know your product or service. Ask her to read your letter aloud. Listen to the way she reads it and any questions she asks. You'll soon discover if you've got it right. If she does ask questions - you need to add more information!"

8) Sign Your Letter Personally. Always, always, always sign your letter with a hand-written reflex-blue signature. Never use a computer generated 'handwriting' font and don not get someone to p.p. your letters.

Both of these give the recipient the impression he/she is not important enough for you to take the trouble.

Why reflex-blue? Reflex blue is the closest printed blue to the Royal Blue ink used in fountain pens. Tests have proved a blue signature does raise the response quite dramatically.

Obviously, signing the letters individually in blue ink is ideal. But if you are sending out large numbers, it's not very practical. You get writer's cramp and it takes you a very long time.

Check out the other 8 design secrets in Outline of a Winning Sales Letter - 16 Design Secrets - Part 1

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