How to create a sales page that actually SELLS!
If you promote your products or services for purchase online, then you’ll need a sales page. Find out what a sales page needs to include in order to sell.
Sales pages are tricky beasts. If you don’t know how to build them then it can be a frustrating experience trying to create one – on a that usually leads to plenty of missed sales.
The good news is that once you understand the purpose of a sales page, and know what needs to be included, you can start creating beautiful sales pages that sell with confidence. And that’s just what we’ll cover in this article.
What’s the difference between a landing page and a sales page?
Many people get confused between sales pages and landing pages. So what IS the difference between them – if any? The key difference is the word ‘sales’. Because while they both are designed to encourage you to take action, a landing page is usually used for lead generation. It will often promote a freebie, such as an ebook, guide or webinar, which people can get in return for giving their name and email address.
The purpose of sales page, meanwhile, is to actually sell – to promote a paid product or service. A sales page will contain all the details a visitor needs to make a decision whether they wish to purchase what you are offering, and have a call to action to enable them to buy.
What needs to be in a sales page?
So what exactly DO people need a sales page to include in order to evaluate whether they want to buy? There are some elements that will vary from page to page, and product to product, and others that are essential. Here are the elements every sales page will need in order to powerfully convert people from curious visitors to paying customers:
- A powerful, attention-grabbing headline
- Persuasive sales copy
- Imagery
- Product/service details and benefits
- Proof of authority or results
- Social proof (testimonials/reviews)
- FAQs
- Calls to action
You may also want to include video – either a product or service demonstration, a video of you or video testimonials. These can be particularly helpful for considered purchases (we’ll cover this shortly) where people need more detail and possibly some way of sampling your offering before deciding to buy.
What’s the journey your sales page needs to take people on?
Now you know what your sales page needs to include, how do you work out where to use them in the page? And what they need to actually say?
All sales pages need to take people on a journey, from problem to solution. At the start of your sales page you need to relate to how they are feeling now, and the ways that their problem is affecting them – this is known as the ‘pain points’. They need to believe that you really understand the problem they want to solve.
It’s common to use emotive language here, to get people feeling that pain and motivating them to solve the problem. But also to show that you really ‘get’ it. And if you really know what their problem feels like and how to affects them, then they are more likely to believe you when you say you know the answer.
In the middle section of your sales page, you’ll explain how your product or service solves this problem for them. At this point you’ll become more logical and go into detail about what they get, how it works, and how it helps.
You’ll also need to offer them some kind of proof that you know what you are talking about. This can be in terms of validating your experience or sharing qualifications, and sharing testimonials, reviews and case studies of other people you have helped.
At the end of your sales page, you’ll want to get them excited about the possibilities. Of how they can feel and what they can do once they have bought your product or service.
So over the course of your sales page there has been a transformation – from feeling stuck and frustrated with a problem, through to believing that it is possible to solve this problem and feeling excited about how life will be different once they do. The final step is to buy from you!
The nine questions your sales page needs to answer
In order to successfully take people on this transformation, there are nine questions your sales page needs to answer for them:
- What is for sale?
- What problem does it solve?
- Why do I need to solve this problem now?
- What results can I expect?
- How do I know this is for me?
- How can I trust it will work?
- How do I buy?
- What do I get when I buy?
- Who else has tried this?
It can be helpful to sit down and work out your answers to these questions before writing your sales page. You’ll then have content ready to start with when you do.
Why your sales page needs to work throughout your sales funnel
There’s another important consideration to take into account when planning your sales page content: your sales funnel.
Your sales page needs to meet the needs of people throughout your funnel. It will be where people who first encounter you (top of funnel) initially land to find out more. For example, by clicking on a social media post or advert. It’s also where people in the middle of your funnel learn more about you and your offering, investigate and weigh up whether you are the right solution for them (middle of funnel). And finally it’s where people who are ready to buy will make their purchase (bottom of funnel).
So you need to have enough information, presented properly (starting with the big picture then mining down into details) to meet the needs of people at every stage. So consider what someone visiting your sales page for the first time needs to know as soon as they land on it in order for them to care enough to scroll down.
Then think about the level of detail someone learning more about what you sell and considering whether or not to buy needs in order to make a decision. And finally make sure that someone who is returning to make a purchase has the information they need upfront to encourage that sale.
You also need to ensure your calls to action (usually ‘buy now’ buttons) are liberally spread throughout a long sales page to meet the needs of people at each stage of the funnel. That means you need one at the top for people ready to buy at the bottom of your funnel, and one at the very end for people in the middle who are doing a deep dive into your offering and possibly reading every word of your sales page.
Then spread more throughout, for people in the middle of your funnel who don’t need to get to the bottom of your sales page to know your product or service is right for them. It’s a good idea to place them after particularly persuasive elements, such as a great testimonial or a video.
Understanding how people may feel and what they need at each stage of your funnel will ensure you build a sales page that will help them move through the sales journey and ultimately buy with confidence if what you sell is right for them.
Watch our short sales funnel video to understand how it works, the three things you need at the top off the funnel, the three things that decide how much time and information customers need to make a purchase from you, and the two types of trigger you need to know about at the bottom of your funnel.
How long should your sales page be?
How long your sales page will be will partly depend on what you are selling. If you are selling something cheap that doesn’t require much deliberation before buying, you would only need a short sales page.
But if you are selling a considered purchase then you’ll need to give people more information to base their decision on. A considered purchase is something that requires more thought and time before buying – usually because it costs more, you’ll spend more time using, or has more hope or emotion invested in it.
So for example, let’s say you are at a festival and you want to eat, and there are a number of food trucks to choose from. It’s likely you’ll decide what to eat quite easily as the food is cheap and you’ll eat it quickly. It’s also unlliley to be a memorable meal. That’s not a considered purchase.
Your wedding reception meal, however IS a considered purchase, as it will cost a lot more money, you’ll spend more time savouring it, and you are hopeful this will be a special meal you will remember for many years. So you’ll probably spend quite a lot of time agonising over the right venue and menu. You’ll also need a lot more information in order to make a decision, and will quite possibly want to sample the chef’s food before committing.
So when planning your sales page, think about where it sits on the considered purchase continuum. Is it a quick, cheap, low commitment buy, or are people going to need lots of time and information before they decide to purchase? The amount of information you’ll need to include will depend on the answer.
Ready to create a sales page that SELLS?
So now you should have enough information to start planning and building a sales page that sells. To recap, here’s what you need to remember:
- Ensure your sales page includes all the elements needed to help potential customers make a decision.
- Make sure your sales page answers the nine questions needed to take people on that transformation.
- Create a sales page that meets the needs of people at every stage of your sales funnel.
- And finally, check your sales page is the right length for the type of purchase you’re asking people to make.
Love more help building sales pages that convert?
If you’d love to learn more about sales pages, and see examples, watch our hour-long Sales Page Masterclass. After watching it you’ll have:
- A clear understanding of the psychology of sales pages, and what needs to happen on them for people to buy from you… and for you to feel good about it.
- Mastered the sales page ‘flip’ and know exactly what information you need to gather to build a brilliant, high converting sales page using the UNsell Technique.
- Nailed the nine elements every sales page needs and finally ‘get’ the core structure of a sales page so you can finally see clearly how to build your own.
- A set of individual blocks you can use to make your sales page uniquely yours, so you can build a brilliant sales page for any product, any time.
- Gained the knowledge and skills to confidently write sales pages that sound like YOU, while authentically selling to delighted customers… without needing to use tricks and tactics.
- A unique planning tool you can use to start building your first sales page straight away – and use for every sales page you build in future as you grow your business.
You can watch our Sales Page Masterclass here right now for just £45.
Photo by Annie Spratt
