Do Big Long Boring Fake Hyped-Up Sales Landing Pages Really Really Work???

[Aminka Ozmun]

I must ask!

You've all seen them before. They just scream "scam!" but everyone seems to use them. Even SBI! utilizes this incessant-harangue method of salesmanship!

Do they really work? Why?? I'm honestly not trying to mock them here; I'm just incredulous and would like to understand if people really do read through them, all the fake or otherwise not-disinterested testimonials, et cetera.

Just trying to understand the mentality behind such tactics. Exactly who is converted by such an obvious and old-timey pitch??

[Shift]

I made a post earlier today about how I made $700 last month in five minutes. I'm willing to bet that hardly anyone who reads that post will try it.

If I were to make a post that I just won $1 million dollars scratching a lottery ticket, I'm willing to bet I'd inspire more people. They'll buy the dream over the sure thing.

Sales copy tends to sell a dream, and is followed up by dealing with objections. That's why it gets long. If it looks ridiculous to you, you're probably not it's target. If you had the problem that the sales copy is talking about, you'd be all over it.

[CoolBee]

I feel the same as you Aminka!

I've signed up for a business course which I guess serves a very similar function to SBI but different and one of the things I saw of theirs had that kind of page - the big long yellow ones. The ones which keep going with the pitch long after you just want to know the price. grrrr.

And then when you see the price and go to close the page give you a grey message box offering it cheaper.

Benefits of having 2 computers LOL - check it out on one to see how low they go (assuming genuinely interested) - sometimes if you 'cancel' another even cheaper one comes up, then use the other 'puter to actually buy it at the lowest price in case you blew it, opportunities wise, via a cookie or something!

As soon as I see those pages, I am on scam alert.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Aminka Ozmun

I must ask!

You've all seen them before. They just scream "scam!" but everyone seems to use them. Even SBI! utilizes this incessant-harangue method of salesmanship!

Do they really work? Why?? I'm honestly not trying to mock them here; I'm just incredulous and would like to understand if people really do read through them, all the fake or otherwise not-disinterested testimonials, et cetera.

Just trying to understand the mentality behind such tactics. Exactly who is converted by such an obvious and old-timey pitch??

Yes, they work if they are made correctly by a good copywriter who knows what he is doing.

Keep in mind that usually these sales pages only need a conversion rate of 1-2% in order to be profitable for the company. That means that 98 people out of 100 might think "this is definitely a scam" and only 2 people think "oh wow this is exactly what I'm looking for", and the sales page is a success.

So anytime you see a sales page and it looks like a scam, please consider the fact that that sales page is probably not targeted towards someone like you in the first place, because if it was then it wouldn't look like a scam to begin with.

[CoolBee]

Another thing I do is when they say 'only available today' and you go on the page and it has today's date right there, I 'view source' and see if they have a thing that automatically puts today's date in there so you know if you go tomorrow it will be the same offer with tomorrow's date.

That is instant scam land as far as I'm concerned. Attempt at coercion. I do appreciate time-zone differences but once the last country on the planet has passed today's date then that should be that. I would prefer even if the site has miserably failed to take the page down by mistake that an 'expired' date is up there than today's fake.

[Orionjoel]

If they didn't work would so many people still be using them. They woud have moved on to whatever was working.

They do not work for me though, I read them on the assumption they are only partially true, but more so I look for what is being offered, as in wht i get if i buy, and once i know scroll down until i find the price. If the price is what i am willing to pay for what i am getting, i buy, if not a leave.

[just jr]

Originally Posted by Aminka Ozmun

I must ask!

You've all seen them before. They just scream "scam!" but everyone seems to use them. Even SBI! utilizes this incessant-harangue method of salesmanship!

Do they really work? Why?? I'm honestly not trying to mock them here; I'm just incredulous and would like to understand if people really do read through them, all the fake or otherwise not-disinterested testimonials, et cetera.

Just trying to understand the mentality behind such tactics. Exactly who is converted by such an obvious and old-timey pitch??

alot of people actually. they work as well as any sales method. I have been sold many a time by such ads. if its something you want/something you think you need then most will go for it. its the same with books if you read the synopsis and it intrigues you... you will go buy it even if you can afford it. however most are poorly written so that never helps

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by Shift

I made a post earlier today about how I made $700 last month in five minutes. I'm willing to bet that hardly anyone who reads that post will try it.

That's because you made $700 by giving up stuff. Most people don't want to give up stuff. And some people really have not much left at all to give up.

[pianoperformer]

I've wondered the same thing. When the page is so long, I know the price is going to be way higher than it should be. It's like they're justifying the high price.

I don't think it's true that it won't look like a scam if it's for you. I signed up for SBI!, despite their sales page, and I love it. However, when I read the sales page, I was really doubtful.

I also ordered this video seminar and that sales page pulled out all the stops, including saying the deal was only available today, lol. Of course I had that page open for about a week until i could afford to buy the product, and still got the deal.

The one tactic I hate is when they say "I've consulted XXX and they told me the price should be (five times what they're actually charging)," making you think it's such a great deal.

[MariconesUnited]

Originally Posted by moonrambler

That's because you made $700 by giving up stuff. Most people don't want to give up stuff. And some people really have not much left at all to give up.

Haha. I'm one of those latter people. It has its pros and cons. On the pro side it's very liberating. I feel like I can go where I want when I want. And in a way I do!

Regarding the OP...I can't stand those pages either. Maybe a month or two ago I came across this page that was selling fitness equipment. I was sold maybe 5 minutes into the intro video. But then it kept going. And going. And going. And I couldn't find the price. So I just got disinterested. It made me wonder just how much faith they have in their product that they need to convince people of its worth forever and ever...

[Agota]

OMG, I had the same questions for years and I still can't believe that someone buys something from those sales pages! They look so sleazy! I have no idea why these types of pages work..

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Agota

OMG, I had the same questions for years and I still can't believe that someone buys something from those sales pages! They look so sleazy! I have no idea why these types of pages work..

Well not all of the pages like that are selling scams. On the contrary, I think longer pages that are expert-made are usually for legitimate products, whereas shorter sales pages are often for scams since they are easier to use (and thus cheaper for noobie scammers to create).

Once you see enough internet marketing material, and also once you learn how to make some of it yourself, you learn to read between the lines and decipher what a 30-page sales letter is really selling.

[chadcharlie]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

Keep in mind that usually these sales pages only need a conversion rate of 1-2% in order to be profitable for the company. That means that 98 people out of 100 might think "this is definitely a scam" and only 2 people think "oh wow this is exactly what I'm looking for", and the sales page is a success.

Statistically, according to "gurus" the longer the sales page / landing page, the higher the conversion rate. In my personal sales experience (face to face) the longer the prospect talks with you, the higher the rate of conversion, definitely. But that is probably more correlation than anything.

Anyway, Curtis is spot on. It's a numbers game. My dad started spamming in the AOL days. "100 Best Kept Secrets of AOL, and 1,000 Keywords you Didn't Know Existed!" or something like that. He had a bot that would scour for contacts and then overnight he used another bot that MASS MAILED! I mean like MASS! 10's of 1,000's of emails going out overnight. He was booted from two ISP's before landing on one that could handle the volume.

He would get hate mail, lecture mail, shame mail, "please remove" mail, and none of that mattered because checks rolled in. The PO Box had to bag his mail for him, that was $10 and $15 checks by the bundle...and it was all probably only 1% of the emails he sent out.

...same reason you still get Viagra spam in your inbox, if it slips through the filters. Because a 1% response rate is profitable.

Back to landing pages though...it's one thing to be long, it's another thing to keep the reader reading. If you can generate 5 pages of great engaging copy and prospects are eating it all up, and it actually offers value, then why not make it long?

R/
Chad.

[mainstreetcm]

They obviously work... as they've been dominating several industries for quite some time, specifically "making money online", "weight loss" and even "wind-energy!"

They won't work on me. I always scroll to the bottom, but I am not usually the targeted buyer (like I said usually.)

For the few pages that I've read it seems that they take the reader on some whimsical adventure on everywhere they've been and then claim that THIS product will take them everywhere they haven't.

Probably why they work so well. Storytelling to sell products? Who'da thunk that!

[Aminka Ozmun]

Originally Posted by Shift

I made a post earlier today about how I made $700 last month in five minutes. I'm willing to bet that hardly anyone who reads that post will try it.

If I were to make a post that I just won $1 million dollars scratching a lottery ticket, I'm willing to bet I'd inspire more people. They'll buy the dream over the sure thing.

Sales copy tends to sell a dream, and is followed up by dealing with objections. That's why it gets long. If it looks ridiculous to you, you're probably not it's target. If you had the problem that the sales copy is talking about, you'd be all over it.

Good point, Shift! It's a well-established fact that most people don't really read online so much as skim, so it was curious to me why anyone would think that someone would go through such an obvious sales pitch at length...but I guess one should never underestimate the marketing power of preaching to the choir!!

[Aminka Ozmun]

Originally Posted by CoolBee

I feel the same as you Aminka!

I've signed up for a business course which I guess serves a very similar function to SBI but different and one of the things I saw of theirs had that kind of page - the big long yellow ones. The ones which keep going with the pitch long after you just want to know the price. grrrr.

So which one did you go with? Just curious as to which sales copy actually won you over!

Originally Posted by CoolBee

And then when you see the price and go to close the page give you a grey message box offering it cheaper.

Benefits of having 2 computers LOL - check it out on one to see how low they go (assuming genuinely interested) - sometimes if you 'cancel' another even cheaper one comes up, then use the other 'puter to actually buy it at the lowest price in case you blew it, opportunities wise, via a cookie or something!

Yes, and the funny thing is, when I see that, I really think to myself that it's a scam!!

Originally Posted by CoolBee

As soon as I see those pages, I am on scam alert.

Me too. I'm curious whether there's any money to be made this way, though. Some otherwise seemingly reputable companies engage in this kind of marketing, so it's got me wondering if it actually does work!