Bullet Points

Bullet Points

The top copywriters know this and that’s why they spend so much time on bullet points. What is it exactly that they know?

Bullet points will almost write the sales copy for you. It’s true, and here’s why.

If you go through the product and make a note on each key feature, you will find that you can pretty much write a paragraph on each one. The reason is pretty simple. The key features, or what we call bullet points, are the main selling points of the product. It’s the why behind the why that we buy. Remember, most purchases are emotion based, but those emotions are triggered by what the product promises to do for them.

For example, let’s take one of my products on article writing.

Here are just a few of the bullet points, all taken from the product itself.

· How to write content on any subject in 30 minutes or less, GUARANTEED...

· The 4 things you must NEVER do when writing an article...

· Discover my 5 STEP MAGIC FORMULA for writing articles that will

ALWAYS deliver results INSTANTLY...

There are many more bullet points in the copy, but I want to focus on these. They were all written from the actual information in the product itself. The entire process of writing articles is explained so that ultimately, the end result is that the person is able to write articles in under 30 minutes.

The second bullet point alludes to a section of the book that talks about 4 things that one must never do when writing an article. All the bullet point does is to summarize this information.

The final bullet point is the one that explains that the entire process is a simple 5 step formula. This bullet point, in essence, has taken almost the entire book and summarized it in one sentence.

This is the power of bullet points.

Now, bullet points can further be broken down into features and benefits. And you need to fully understand the difference between them because they are not the same thing.

The best way to illustrate the difference between a feature and a benefit is through examples.

Feature: Our widget is made from solid steel.

Benefit: Our widget will last five times longer than the leading widget.

Feature: Our computer has a dual Pentium processor with 4 gigs of ram.

Benefit: You’ll be able to get your computing done quicker and easier.

Feature: My book on article writing will show you a step by step process.

Benefit: You’ll spend less time writing so that you’ll be able to do other things.

Do you see the difference between a feature and a benefit? A feature is something that the product HAS.

A benefit is something that the consumer GETS out of using the product.

Bullet points can be either, and yes, both are important. But ultimately, you want to concentrate more on the benefits than the features.

However, there is a way to do this.

You want to introduce the features of your product first. This will get the prospect interested. Consumers still have an interest in features. Let’s face it, when we go to buy a new computer, you want to see how fast the processor is and how much RAM it has. You want to know if it has a great sound card so that you can do some fancy audio multimedia. Intuitively, you understand that features translate to benefits.

But the human mind is a funny thing. Unless we actually say, “This processor will double your computing speed” or whatever benefit we want to point out, many people don’t really get it intuitively. The point needs to be driven home. They need to see that benefit in print. So that’s when we give it to them, but after we have pointed out the features.

Compiling bullet points is really a very simple process. A well written book will make this process even easier.

What’s a well written book?

A well written book is one that points out the feature of the product and then explains how this makes life easier for the consumer. If the book is not well written, and many are not, then most likely it will only focus on the features. There will be no mention of benefits.

What do you do in a case like this? You have two options.

The first option, if you feel that you understand the product well enough, and if you’ve researched your target market well enough, is to come up with the benefits on your own. Usually, this won’t be too difficult to do.

The second option, if you’re not too sure of what the benefits are, is to contact the product creator and ask him. What does this feature do for the person? What is the benefit? How does it help him? How does it make his life easier? If the person who created the product can’t answer these questions (believe me, it happens) then what you have here is a very poorly constructed product that probably isn’t of any use to anyone. Again, you can decide to go ahead and write the copy anyway, or do as I do and turn down the assignment.

Once you have gathered all your bullet points, which is usually the most time consuming part of the whole process, in most cases you have most of your sales copy written for you. It’s just a question of translating those bullet points into solid English.

The next step in the process is coming up with your headline.