Top 5 Techniques in Writing Sales Letters on Renewal/Subscription

Most Copywriters find it difficult to write sales letters on renewal appropriately but Andy Maslen, one of the great copywriters, gave out of the five techniques he used in writing sale letters and emails on renewal in one of his copy-writing books - 100 Great Copy-writing Ideas.

I have also applied it and it worked perfectly. That's why I am sharing it here to get informed and practice it.

Here are five techniques he used in writing the sales letters and emails on renewal:

1. Remind them of all the things they’re about to stop getting. Using a phrase like “Extend your subscription (or membership) and you will still enjoy all this . . .” is a great way to start.

2. Suggest that they will be missing out on things other people will still be getting. Nobody likes to feel left out and if you play, subtly, on this fear, you can make people feel that they ought to renew.

3. Make it easy for them to renew. Don’t stick complicated forms in front of your subscribers/members. Make it as simple as possible for them to renew and don’t confuse them with too many options.

4. Use “extend” instead of “renew.” Extend carries the sense of a continuing relationship, rather than one that comes to an end and has to be restarted each year. Really, we’re only interested in how long they’re going to renew for, rather than whether they’re going to renew at all. In other words, our old friend the assumptive close.

5. Make an offer for early renewal and explain that there won’t be any further better offers. You could use a phrase like “this is our best offer for existing subscribers.” People will sometimes hold off on the renewal because they’re convinced a better offer is just around the corner. You can push them off the fence by stating explicitly that this is the lowest price they’re going to get.

Write a plan for the timings, appeal, offer a tone of voice, and call to action for your renewal series. Include at least one letter using a regretful tone of voice. Explain that, although you personally would like nothing better than to continue having them as a subscriber, unless you receive their order it really will have to be goodbye.

Author: Michael Agwulonu, Digital Marketing Strategist