Multi-page vs Single-page Sales Letters, Flow Testing & More (16)
Multi-page vs Single-page Sales Letters, Flow Testing & More
I want to share with you some hints and tips about multi-page sales letters (MPSLs). Many CB-type products are still being sold successfully via Adwords using the power of MPSLs. I've made them work on Bing very well. 
In our CPA marketing efforts (well, if you're going for the streamlined experience ie. incorporating elements from the offer page in your LP) we are already utilising the power of the MPSL - even though we have no control over the final step. (Unless you're iframing, which I don't recommend.)
What are they?
MPSLs are sales letters with more than one page. In analysing the flow of visitors, you are more likely to determine blocks in your copy, and can test each page to find the highest CVR.
Paul Hancox's e-book, Secrets of 10% Conversion Rate, detail his thoughts on "flow testing" aka the MPSL.
Special note
Single-page SLs (SPSLs) and MPSLs cannot be easily interchanged. The concepts are similar but the flow from page to page (MPSL) differs greatly in the mind of the reader from the flow from subtitle to subtitle (SPSL).
The good
- In my tests it has out-performed SPSL by 30-50%. It works for the same reason LPs destroy direct-linking in most CPA marketing efforts, and why people love clicking on bullet-point articles (5 tips to lose your love-handles within 30 days! vs Losing your love handles in 30 days - the former will always win as it has no scent of a scientific paper, whereas the latter might be lengthy and boring).
- Everything can always be above the fold, or at least the scroll bar is not intimidatingly small (aka. "Ohh... I have to read 10 pages of this shit? Let's scroll down and see the price first.")
- Allows you to see where you are losing visitors, even with low traffic – pinpoint where people are losing interest.
- Multiple pages can lower resistance, as they are constantly engaging with the site.
- Great with high-priced CPS and CPA offers - the visitor cannot scroll immediately down to see the price. By the time they do get to the final page (the offer), they have engaged with your site and are now on a "yes ladder" of a sort. They've clicked 3 buttons and have internally agreed to all the points made, and therefore they are more likely to buy. Principal of internal consistency.
- Works well on Adwords if you do it right. Do not make the mistake of capturing the email address on the first page in order to have them step through the rest of the funnel. You can experiment with capturing email from page 2 onwards, but you must have delivered (somewhat) what was promised in your Adwords ad.
The bad
- Some of the people you lose during the flow/path may have been people who would purchase from a SPSL (this becomes a non-issue once your flow is refined).
Making it work
- Use swipes from people who’ve used this (whole swipes + the buttons and imagery they use, plus the headings etc. – basically swipe the STRUCTURE and bullets/headings/paragraph points)
- Use “cliff-hangers” to entice people to click the next page – experiment with the buttons and wording.
- Don't JUST make it about CTR (you want QUALIFIED people hitting the offer page) - the cliff-hangers and buttons should reflect a message that the person accepts. The trick is not getting them to click to the next page, but to have them internalise their acceptance of the main point/message on that page.
- Each page can (and should) have a distinct message/theme (colours can also be changed, or you can remain consistent the whole way through - test)
- This tip improved the number of people I had go through to offer page (in a 5-page MPSL): At the bottom or top of all pages, use dots to indicate which step they are on, eg. [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] [ ] (page two of five).
Tracking/testing
- GetClicky has path testing which can monitor this sort of thing. Google Analytics is also good and you can set up flow/path testing quite easily.
- CTR to final offer page being highest is not always advantageous (as I mentioned earlier), but generally is still a good indication of how well you are connecting to your audience.
A quote about MPSLs (forget where I got this)
- There's some interesting psychological work to do here too. In any sales process there are some milestones that need to be reached before the customer is ready to pull out the credit card. Virtually all of these questions have to be answered along the way:
'do you understand my problem?'
'do you have a solution to my problem?'
'what if... questions'
'are you reliable/reputable/safe as a supplier?'
'is it good value for money?'
Using a multipage flow could be the answer to measuring how well you tick those boxes in the customer's mind. For example:
Page 1 - all about problems and solutions - if they click on then clearly you've ticked those boxes
Page 2 - all about why we have the solution, who we are and why you should work with us - if they click on you've clearly won their confidence
and so on
Obviously the order in which you try reaching those milestones will significantly affect your click though rates. And if they drop off significantly at the last page, then you've obviously failed to reach some of those milestones before asking for the order.
Examples of successful products marketed with MPSLs
- Fat Loss 4 Idiots (at one point had 700+ gravity and was the biggest product in dieting on CB, still going very strong) -- DETAILED ANALYSIS AND MY NOTES TO FOLLOW.
- Penis Advantage (number one penis program on Clickbank)
- Old School New Body (high gravity weight loss product from CB!) – two-page SL.
- Affiliate Bully and Tiny Little Businesses (by Andre Chaperon) and other products by Andre. He loves MPSLs.
- Many real-life mail letters where turning to the next page is required… swipe the copy used at the bottom of pages so people would finish reading!
Fat Loss 4 Idiots analysis
This product is different from the rest as it doesn't look like it's selling anything. It was a major sensation to copywriters, and it's still going strong CB today I believe.
The way it differs from usual sales copy
- No spokesperson, no “I” in copy – but a lot of “you”. There is no new person to get to know…
- Weak proof elements (no testimonials at all)
- No copywriting-style language with hard-hitting verbs and phrases like “burn off fat like a blowtorch”
- At bottom of the home page is a section where 12 articles are linked, with a small heading “Other Health and Fitness Articles Below:” – nobody is expected to click any of these, but it adds further authority – and each article is just a pre-sell for the program again (Very short articles). This could also be used to ensure a good QS in Adwords (especially with a manual review)
Why it works
- Less commitment, less of a scroll bar – doesn’t look like much reading!
- Turn-key diet program instead of an eBook so it seems more valuable and easy (though apparently it's just a shitty online calculator or something).
- The website plays heavily on paradox - and uses a "contrarian" approach ("low fat foods don't work")
More of my observations
- Old School New Body mirrors Fat Loss 4 Idiots in three respects: 1) it's complete lack of testimonials, 2) use of the word “FACT:” as bullets/headers throughout the copy (without actual proof), and 3) first page is very short…
- 1st page is the problem – you’re overweight, then it tells you WHY (it’s like how Eben starts off with the MISTAKES people make first) – also follows D’Souza’s “educate your clients” principle. They agitate the problem by saying low-carb diets make you miserable. Continues by giving you a picture of the solution, then how it works and what it does. The third page solves the problem brought up on the 1st page.
- They educate enough to address specific objections, even though there is hype.
- The “authority” is a computer-generated diet. In many people’s minds, programs = science, and that is “proof” and authority…
- Simple clip art-like images on the home page give the impression of a simple program… and the whole “idiot” theme adds to this (without being insulting)
- Lack of a personality (eg. My name is Michael and I want to show you how to lose 400 pounds!) similar to school textbooks (not written in first person) - coupled with the simple imagery and graphics, it makes for a unique effect
- Each page has a different colour scheme. I completely replicated this exact style (changing header images) for a non-diet ebook and had great success (Used WP with page templates and CSS unique for each page template)
Harlan Kilstein's analysis of the FL4I MPSL (my notes from his vid)
- BOLD claim – lose 9 pounds EVERY 11 days
- Minimal commitment
- 2nd page – state truisms (pace… they know these truths!)
- Because it’s all stated as FACTS, they don’t require TRUTH
- They use the words “it’s true” and TRUTH everywhere (redrummr note: barely any of the info is true)
- Very short paragraphs and sentences, at or below 5th grade reading level
- Even on the 3rd page, until that point the word BUY has NOT been used, it’s only “download” – nobody knows anything is for sale, HOWEVER they have voluntarily been pre-sold and have read/ACCEPTED all of the info (as there is no salesman), so the sale will begin when you start making the pitch – the website is a PRE-SELL leading into the sell…
- NO testimonials.
- The first “buy”-ish thing they mention is “discount” – and then it goes into the sales pitch with false price then real price (no scarcity tactic)
I basically had all these notes written up in my Copywriting folder (where I have all the swipes for the MPSLs mentioned), so I just formatted with BB code and posted here. Enjoy! This section isn't as alive as it should be, and I am no longer putting much work into cost-per-sale campaigns, but this info should help anybody looking to sell high-priced products.
geez long post... lots of good stuff.
fat loss for idiots has been kinda dormant for a few years... FBF and fat loss factor and diet solution were killing it.
personally... i found having multi-page sales letters lowered conversions and sales bigtime.
was loosing like 30-40% of the clicks from page 1 to page 2....
i know andre loves using the multi page stuff.... also the fitness stuff on CB... there's a few big media buyers sending traffic to all those offers... from what i hear.
Thank you Roger!
Here is a typical (once optimised) charting of visitors (from my own stats - one site via Bing, EPC > $1):
From 989 visitors:
531 went onto 2nd page (more than half)
471 went onto 3rd page
330 went onto 4th page
255 went onto 5th page (offer)
28 people clicked the 2nd product (primary + bonuses) (20 bought)
16 people clicked the 1st product (primary) (5 bought)
I also made $ from visitors on an exit script on the offer page, where the price was lowered quite a bit ($7 "in exchange for an honest review after you've XXX [desired solution]").
50% ROI on this camp...
The biggest drop-off in visitors is from page 1 to page 2 for sure, but it's the same with opt-ins (the ceiling is like 60%, usually 30-40% for a good opt-in page).
All about testing 'til you smash it!
Originally Posted by dconstrukt
The actual copy content of FL4I is still unique for the reasons I mentioned (no sales person etc.) and is a good study. I would split test using the "educational" approach of FL4I and some of the video sales letters, against traditional hard pitches.
Single-page SLs work for IM, a niche I despise lol.
see here's my thinking on this and from my end, my numbers back it up.
you're loosing all that traffic not seeing the offer. like 75% or so aren't seeing the offer.
i dont get that.
why not send them all to the offer and let it do its job.
This thread smells like the warrior forum...
who gives a fuck what it smells like.... we're talking marketing.
Originally Posted by seank
Originally Posted by dconstrukt
I mainly posted this to illustrate that you can go against the grain (refer to original post for FL4I's many deviations from copywriting "law") and be successful. Those that experiment, bank.
Seank, this is just copywriting...
ya... i mean ultimately you gotta test.... just seems like it would work better direct to the offer.... but you're doing a CPA thing... those offer pages aren't really designed to "sell".... moreso to give away free shit then bill you forever (lol).... so ya, preselling cpa stuff, i can TOTALLY see that.
i sell info products.... totally different. my vsl is designed to sell.... so more traffic goes there the better.
Originally Posted by dconstrukt
VSLs are effectively multi-page sales letters -- you can't scroll down to see the price, and content is presented horizontally, not vertically. So you are using a multi-page sales letter. There was a bit of an evolution, and the most evolved species of SL is the VSL (it also does convert the highest). I wouldn't use any more "pages" other than the one the video is on, so you are right in that respect, but I think my message just wasn't clear.
Anyway, food for thought!
Very informative thread here. It's good to see two successful product owners perspectives. The long sales letter copy that most info product owners use seems to be the least effective. I hope to release a couple ClickBank products soon. I've released two already but they weren't very successful. I have been able to get a couple WSOs off the ground since then, so hopefully I have a better concept of persuasive sales letter this time.
Both the VSL and the multi-page require more interaction which leaves the visitor more committed. They both risk a drop-off before the visitors sees the buy button (most successful VSLs show the "buy button" after a certain amount of time). But if the person isn't interested they were never going to buy anyway. In both scenarios they have to earn the chance to buy.
just goes to show you there is no 'one size fits all'.
you gotta test.
FWIW, I've done some testing with MPSLs in the past, and they worked for me - again, with an info product. Not stellar revenue figures (more a problem of the niche than the LP), but decent conversion rates. Actually, this article might prod me to go back to that project and rework it again...
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