It's interesting how people divide themselves into two separate camps when it comes to landing page/direct marketing (which are brothers of the same mother). The fact is, both longform and shortform work. But why they work and which context depends on the type of product you are offering and your sales model.
Long form works best for:
* Simple to understand products which have difficult to achieve benefits (weight loss pills, real estate riches courses). The idea is that once you find an interested party, it is just a matter of convincing him that YOUR SOLUTION is THE SOLUTION.
* The purchase process is single stepped with low time and mental effort involved on the part of the purchaser. (e-download, shipped product).
* It is really hard to sell services with the long form, although its been done. I'd still like to see a good example of a successful longform that sells a service, and analyse it to death.
Short form works best for:
* Complex sales where a conversion means pre-qualification, a phone call, question answering, a customized result (think general contractor), identity check or some other gate to completing the sale. The idea is just to give them just enough benefits that they feel both enticed and think it is low risk to give you their contact information. Almost all B2B sales fit in this category.
* Monthly services with a freemium model, and any other low risk opportunity to kick the tires.
* Items with a low purchase point and low effort checkout (App Store game).
That said, there are always exceptions to the rule, and you should test both forms of communication if you are unsure.
Believe it or not, I DON'T only do long-form salesletters so I don't divide myself into a "long-form-only" camp.
Typically what I do is figure out what the client needs... assess the market/product,etc... and do 1 or the other to START.
However, if I'm not absolutely positive that whatever form I'm using will work - I always recommend that the client test a longer copy page versus a shorter copy page.
All in all... it's not "long form vs. short form".
The bottom line is... you put out all your selling points, and defuse all the objectives. At that point it can be either long or short.
And you end it right there without any "extra" words :)
That could be 300 words... or 10,000 words. Like you said - it depends on a TON of variables!
When I read those "long form" salesletters, I can tell they are just stories written to divide a fool and his money.
Your comment is written in the same exact way. It isn't formal language (substituting 1 for one, for example), so I assume you write that way to seem "authentic" and "trustworthy", like you aren't trying to take advantage of someone. You throw superfluous, vague praises at every chance, hoping to ingratiate yourself with the "customer". Another annoying thing is how long it takes to express a short, simple idea -- the opposite of good communication. Unfortunately, your kind will continue to exist, as PT Barnum was right about suckers.
Your comment could have been written much more clearly:
I don't only do long-form salesletters so I don't divide myself into a "long-form-only" camp. Typically I assess the market/product, etc and start with one form or the other. However, if I'm not absolutely positive that whatever form I'm using will work - I always recommend that the client test a longer copy page versus a shorter copy page. You need to put out all your selling points, and defuse all the objectives. And you end it right there without any "extra" words. That could be 300 words or 10,000 words. Like you said - it depends on a TON of variables!
If you had written that, I would not have felt my intelligence insulted.
Long form works best for:
* Simple to understand products which have difficult to achieve benefits (weight loss pills, real estate riches courses). The idea is that once you find an interested party, it is just a matter of convincing him that YOUR SOLUTION is THE SOLUTION.
* The purchase process is single stepped with low time and mental effort involved on the part of the purchaser. (e-download, shipped product).
* It is really hard to sell services with the long form, although its been done. I'd still like to see a good example of a successful longform that sells a service, and analyse it to death.
Short form works best for:
* Complex sales where a conversion means pre-qualification, a phone call, question answering, a customized result (think general contractor), identity check or some other gate to completing the sale. The idea is just to give them just enough benefits that they feel both enticed and think it is low risk to give you their contact information. Almost all B2B sales fit in this category.
* Monthly services with a freemium model, and any other low risk opportunity to kick the tires.
* Items with a low purchase point and low effort checkout (App Store game).
That said, there are always exceptions to the rule, and you should test both forms of communication if you are unsure.