Magic Bullets

Fair warning, you’re about to be exposed to something ironic.

Despite everything you’ve ever heard in life about there being no shortcuts and no silver bullets, sales copywriting does have a few.

Turns out, ‘Bullet Points’ are the magic bullets of sales writing.

Bullet points have a long history in copywriting. They’re those small lists of features and benefits, a few lines of copy each, that are batched somewhere in the ad. Interestingly enough, they’ve actually become more important in the digital age.

Why? Because even in this modern distracted world, they attract attention like no other. Technology shows us that even readers who skim over ads will stop and read bullets. They’re just too easy to consume.

They’re easily digested in the client's mind.

Like a good headline, bullets are important enough to spend the extra time and focus because they have such an impact. Pro-Copywriters often make a point of working on the bullets before fleshing out the rest of the letter.

John Carlton talks about how his goal is to use each word like a surgeon's scalpel. Not one wasted letter. Each bullet needed to be masterfully crafted for maximum impact in the prospects brains.

A litmus test John uses is the “2:00 am Purchase”. Meaning that a client reads the letter, and one of his bullets is so compelling that hours later it makes the reader toss and turn in their bed. Until finally, they have to get up and make the order, just to get some sleep.

Entire copywriting books have been written about the subject.

The basic formula is to make a list of every imaginable feature a product has, then make a list of all the obvious and nonobvious benefits those feature give. Taking that raw material, the writer then crafts them into as many smooth points as possible.

Some will take one step further and list competitors ‘missing features’ and shortcomings, and then show how they detract (or how they are the opposite of a benefit). These bullets show the value of your product by contrast.

Copywriters come up with as many bullets as possible, and pick the strongest ones.

Some customers will read the entire letter. Others scan or skim letters. You want to write your letter such that it will have the same impact on both these readers. Bullets are the area where everyone stops.

The bullets themselves aren’t the actual sales pitch. These are more about raising your client’s ‘buying temperature.’ They engage more and more of the emotions of the customer and build up momentum in the ad. So much so that when they see the offer, their need for the product overwhelms any second guessing. Everything after that is intended to scoop up as many of the people sitting on the fence and convert them into sales.