Comments on: Does Hard Sell Work on the Web?

By: gang

gang — Sat, 19 May 2007 06:54:23 +0000

The information I found here was rather helpful. Thank you for this.

By: Ruth Stevens

Ruth Stevens — Sun, 21 May 2006 12:24:53 +0000

I’ve always throught your idea that a short email combined with longer sales copy on the landing page is the right mix. You grab their attention with a teaser (and no scrolling) and then use as much copy as you need to close the deal, once they have clicked through. I first heard this idea from you, Bob, and it still rings true for me.

By: Michael A Stelzner

Michael A Stelzner — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 13:23:44 +0000

People hate being sold to, UNLESS they are looking to be sold (like on a car lot). The higher up the food chain you go at a company, the less hard sell approach should be taken. For example, a well-written white paper should be a soft sell document AND can be very effective.

Mike

By: Des Walsh

Des Walsh — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 04:13:53 +0000

A distinction I found useful in the ‘long vs short’ sales letter debate, and which is intrinsically about neither hard sell nor soft sell, was that a ‘long’ or longish letter is how you handle the fact that you can’t sit and talk directly with the person. So you can anticipate questions and objections and endeavour to deal with those systematically. This made some sense to me. The related observation was that when you are really interested in/looking for something, you won’t in fact notice that it’s long. As when someone is very fashion conscious they will spend what to another person will seem like an inordinate amount of time studying fashion mags, window-shopping, trying things on etc. I used to be very anti long sales letter, now I’m agnostic but willing to give them a go. I still hate the hard sell.

By: Andrew Hunter

Andrew Hunter — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 16:40:25 +0000

Yes, It’s completely dependent on your site and your product. Both have worked in the past for me. What really counts is an understanding of your audience and what they will respond to. Clear, digestable, succint messages have worked the best for me.

Andrew Hunter

By: Jeanna Pool

Jeanna Pool — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 01:05:42 +0000

I think it totally depends on the prospect. Of course this is obvious, as some need a hard sell, some are completely turned off by it. I respond best when the author of the offer “speaks” to me and answers my “what’s in it for me?” question. I believe that is the true key to selling anything — answering the prospects burning question and speaking to their wants, needs and desires. I do think that too many internet marketers have gone completely over the top with the hard sell. But again, it depends on the prospect. I guess the bottom line is not so much “know thyself” as “know thy audience”.

By: Susanna K. Hutcheson

Susanna K. Hutcheson — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 12:53:06 +0000

I’ve found that really both are right. There is a large and growing group that is turned off by the hard sell. There is another group who responds to it. But the copy that pulls best for me is neither. It is copy that is very direct to the point of almost being insulting. It is honest and straight forward. People seem to respond to that.

I use soft sell on one site and hard sell on another. The soft sell seems to outpull the hard sell. But in both cases the direct approach beats them all. People respond to honesty even when it’s not the nicest thing to hear. They know it when they hear it, read it or see it. And they tend to respect it.

Susanna

By: Matt Spergel

Matt Spergel — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 20:30:18 +0000

Yes, it’s true: hard sell doesn’t work on the Web. Oh yeah, and benefit headlines don’t work either. In fact, nothing works. We’re all screwed. =)

By: Heather Cook

Heather Cook — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 16:19:45 +0000

Personally, I have purchased a lot of books, courses, technology and services over the internet. If there’s a ‘long, breezy, chatty’ page (you know, the ones with lots of different colours of text that you have to scroll down to read) then I click AWAY from that. I despise that type of selling.

And I’m in sales.

Personally, I have to first want the product. Then I have to be informed of the benefits. Then I will comparison shop. Then I will buy.

The hard sell does not work for me. Not on the internet, not on the street. Unless it’s a Girl Guide holding a box of cookies and looking at me with doe-eyes. Then I’ll buy anything.

The hard sell (anywhere) smacks of desperation. I want to be able to TRUST the seller. If it smells like he’s trying too hard to convince me to buy, then I don’t want it. At least not from him. But that’s just my personal experience. As a salesperson I am not good at ‘closing the sale’ or being too aggressive. This is probably why.

By: Richard Armstrong

Richard Armstrong — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 21:10:25 +0000

A website designer telling you that your copy is too long for the internet is like me telling Luciano Pavarotti that he sounds a little “pitchy.”