There are many tactics and techniques that go into converting visitors into buyers. However, this article will prove to you why creating an interactive sales letter will be the most critical weapon in your modern marketing arsenal to accomplish this.

Most Internet Marketers rely on their savvy copywriting techniques and persuasive skills learned over the years from the offline print world. These concepts go back to the 1920s, where person-to-person dialog took a backseat due to the new mass media platform to push the sales message in various advertising forms. Today, Internet Marketers assume this is still the only option when it comes to online sales letters, since the reader is not physically present and cannot give immediate corrective-feedback.

In a minute, Ill tell you why this will be their downfall

Your sales letter is your voice to convey your benefits and offerings to the masses. The only reason a visitor is even at your site is to see if you have a solution to their problem. Effectively convince them that you have the solution for a reasonable price, overcome any objections and you get the sale! Simple. Right?

Wait a minute! How do I know whats most important to each different visitor. How do I convince an unknown reader that I have their solution?

Good questions. You may have one product with various benefits, or many different affiliate products which you promote. Which benefit or product should you focus on so that each specific visitor has no choice but to rip out their wallet and start spewing out credit card numbers?

Read this part carefully

All persuasive sales letters (no matter how hypnotic and enticing) must anticipate the mindset and views of the visitor. As a copywriter, youve been given the task of being a mind reader. You are forced to write your sales letter in such a way that it answers every possible question and objection. And when possible, trigger the emotional desire that was brought with each visitor. This can be quite daunting, considering that each visitor has their own specific desires and questions relevant to their unique situation. But the bottom line is -- you must satisfy the visitor's quest for meaningful, relevant information before they will say yes!

Now I am going to unveil a powerful and exclusive formula to do just that. Discover the hidden desires deep inside the minds of each and every one of your visitors. You will have the all-knowing power of what each wants from you.

All that you have to do is master the super-amazing-advanced-top-secret proven technique real live salespeople all over the world have used for years to dig out that elusive customer desire. They ask!

Thats right. The corrective feedback to strategic questions allows any sales person to drill-down to identify and focus on exactly what the customer is looking for and not waste each others time in the process. The main goal in any corrective feedback dialog is to narrow down the customers problem -- and to provide a solution.

STOP! Hold on.... I thought we were talking about sales letters here. Sales letters cant ask the visitor whats most important to them and just morph itself to focus on that!

Well, if thats what youre thinking, I have no choice but to believe that you are not keeping up with new technology. Remember I said I would tell you what will be the Internet Marketers downfall? Here it is -- They forget that they are on the Internet. Plain and simple.

By posting a web page and some great copy, Internet Marketers feel thats the best they can hope for. They forget about the underlying technology running the show. They are riding a vehicle of interactive communication that is still evolving. However, the horse-blinders are only showing them a new place to display a once-printed direct mail sales letter, without exploring the possibilities.

Dont fall into this trap!

An ecommerce website should be an interactive conversation to communicate relevant information for each visitors questions and eventually persuade a sale. It is not just a digital billboard.

FACT: Yes, with todays advancements in technology, YOU CAN convert your static online sales page to a fully interactive sales letter that asks the reader questions, and in turn, dynamically generate specific, relevant offers dependant upon the readers answers. This is all done instantly, without linked pages, without page flashes, and most importantly -- without the reader ever knowing.

Are the bells going off yet?

Can you see the potential of being able to ask each of your readers a question and have a special suitable benefit or offer waiting for them to read before they even get to it -- automatically? What do you think will happen to your conversion rate if your interactive sales letter actually spoke differently to each reader -- knowing what each wanted, and offered it?

In fact, you'll be able to deal a knockout blow to your competition by having the only access to your readers mind. While your competition is analyzing their data and graphs from another day-late-and-a-dollar-short survey, youre reaching into the minds of your readers, and pulling out sales on the spot!

The purpose of this article is to open your mind. Be proactive in creating different techniques of online promotion. There is something new that can be developed every day. Just use your imagination. Be creative and remember that you can make money by solving a customers problem. The goal is to find out what each potential customer is looking for and offer a solution to satisfy that. Period!

Copyright 2004 Scott Stevenson