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DO YOU KNOW WHAT STOPS YOUR RECIPIENTS FROM READING YOUR DIRECT OR ONLINE MATERIAL? HERE’S A HINT — IT COULD BE YOU.

Guest post by: Billy Sharma

Article Overview: Mistakes to avoid when writing direct mail or online material.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT STOPS YOUR RECIPIENTS FROM READING YOUR DIRECT OR ONLINE MATERIAL? HERE’S A HINT — IT COULD BE YOU.

As copywriters we try and build a solid argument as to why the recipient should buy our product or make a donation to our cause.

To do this we advance the process bit by bit by logically moving the reader on forward to the end of our argument or sales pitch.

One of the best ways to do this is to separate our thoughts into individual paragraphs, which can work great but too often can turn on you and become the culprit that keeps your readers from finishing your letter.

The end of every paragraph in reality provides the perfect opportunity for the reader to stop reading. Unless…

… You connect it to the next paragraph.

The whole point of direct-response writing is to keep your prospects reading, word after word, passage after passage, until the end.

So it is imperative your paragraphs interconnect driving your reader from one to the next so that your targets stay with you until the end.

Someone once suggested that each paragraph is an island, which is true, so you have to show the reader how to hop on to the next island lest you lose them before they’ve read everything you want them to read.

Another danger of losing the reader in mid-sale is at the end of a page. That is why, in a well designed letter, you will often see that a sentence is broken into two, between the bottom of page one and will continue on to page two. This is done to help navigate the reader across to the next page.

So, how do you connect paragraphs?

One way to create transactions is by using subheads between paragraphs.

Another way is to suggest that there is more to come, like this short list of connectors that are underlined:

But that’s not all… Or, here’s another reason why… Or, to explain further what I mean… Or. and… Or, in addition…

Another method is to Indent the next paragraph and make it shorter then the other paragraphs.

And finally, you can connect the previous part of your letter by asking a question mid-way that results from what has been said and leads them to the final answer.

Connecting your paragraphs is key. It is also the reason why letters that tell a story are the most read letters.

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Article Tags: bit by bit, culprit, direct response, paragraph, paragraphs, prospects, recipient, rsquo, sales pitch, targets, word after word, word passage



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