AIDA: The Proven Sales Letter Formula

When it comes to writing a sales letter, there are a few ways to creating an effective one. A time tested and popular sales letter formula is the AIDA formula. AIDA is acronym for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

Here’s how to use it in your own copy:

Attention

The first thing you want to do when you start writing copy is grab the attention of your visitors. In 1926, a copywriter named John Caples used a simple headline to hook his readers. His headline was: "They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano - But When I Started to Play!"

The reason it was so effective is because he tells a story and asks a question at the same time. His story starts with sitting down at the piano only to be laughed at but it leaves readers asking the question, “What happens next?”

A question is a good way to get attention from your visitors. Try to come up with as many questions as you can that your prospective customers are asking. Do a search for your niche and find forums and reviews to get the questions that you can answer in your headline.

You can use a variety of headline ideas. You want to stop them in their tracks and get them to read your headline, and get them to take the next step, which is to read what comes after.

Interest

Once you’ve gotten your readers to pay attention, you want to keep them focused by making your topic interesting to them. If the topic is going to be interesting, it has to touch on a deep desire or need in the visitor’s life.

For example, if you are offering a weight loss guide, tell them how they can easily lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks, without exercise, and without feeling hungry all the time.

You can tell a story about someone who had a problem losing weight. They were hungry all the time, and no matter how hard they tried, they had a hard losing. Then they found your guide, and they easily lost the weight. Personal examples are powerful.

Desire

Now, it’s time to plug your product or service as the answer to your visitors’ problem. Now it's time to pile on the benefits. Use bulleted lists. Include testimonials. Give them all of the reasons why buying will make their life better. 

Tell them all of the things that they are going to miss out on if they pass on your offer. 

Action

After you’ve shown how your product or service meets a need for your target market, it’s time to ask them to take action. This might be telling them to purchase your digital planner (if you’re creating a sales page) or simply asking them to sign up for your newsletter filled with organization tips (if you’re trying to build your mailing list).

Keep in mind that during the action section you may want to offer an extra incentive to make the offer even more appealing. For instance, if a customer purchases now, you could share a coupon code for 15% off the purchase price. If a customer signs up for your newsletter, you could give her access to an exclusive webinar where she learns your best planning secrets.