Instantly Improve Your Copywriting & Sales with "The 16-Word Sales Letter" Framework 1

Instantly Improve Your Copywriting & Sales with “The 16-Word Sales Letter” Framework

ByGeoff Currie

Delving into the marketing framework by Evaldo Albuqurque’ in’s book “The 16-Word Sales Letter” in this post and pulling out the nuggets from an experienced copywriter.

Do you suck at writing compelling sales letters, website copy, and product brochures, etc it’s usually because you don’t have a process.

“The secret to converting copy is to be structured and organised in order to convince your readers why they should buy this product.” – Envalso

Here are The 10-Questions in your buyers mind you must always answer and The One Belief they must confidently sell before they say “YES!” to the sale.

Evaldo’s framework process is in two-steps first establishing with the pre-work of establishing with absolute clarity the mission statement of The One Belief” in a concise statement. This then becomes your “North Star” and focus for writing the actual sales copy using his 10-Question sequence to designed for the reader to buy-into The One Belief emotionally and logically.

In my experience, the old adage of great sales copy is “Salesmanship in print!” is as still true as it ever was.

Yet … I see business owners and top salespeople that can sell like rockstars when the buyer is standing in front of them …

However, they often struggle capturing that expertise and process in written sales copy leading to dismal engagement results …

… That is if they can even get beyond the dreaded “blank page” syndrome.

As a Business Coach I’m always on the lookout for simpler approaches to writing high-converting sales copy and solve these “stucks” for clients.

Evaldo Albuqurque’s copywriting process from his book “The 16 Word Sales Letter” shows us a framework to give structure and find quick opportunities for improvement in our copy…and our sales results.

“The secret to converting copy is to define the one belief, then answer these ten questions.”

This is why I made the online “The 16 Word Sales Letter” builder to help you to write better copy that is truly “Salesmanship in print!”. Feel free to use it as your guide and format your sales copy.

What is “The One Belief”?…

The One Belief is made up of three parts:

  • The New Opportunity → Humans are hard-wired to look for novelty. New things signal to our lizard brain that something is either dangerous or could be highly rewarding.
  • The Key Desire → What is the ONE thing they really want from your product?
  • The New Mechanism → Once your prospect believes that the new opportunity is key to their desire, it’s time to show them that your New Mechanism (the product) is the ONLY way to go.

Written in a way to make the reader believe in that one belief typically in a format like:

“This new opportunity, is the key to their desire, is now available thanks to this improved special mechanism!”

Get someone to truly believe this opportunity is the key to speak to what they want most and make them think that there’s only one way for them to achieve it – through your product/service.

“The One Belief” Examples

Here’s a few of the many examples of the One Belief provided by Evaldo

Febreeze:

“Adding a pleasant smell at the end of your cleaning routine (new opportunity) is the key to keeping your home looking fresh and clean (desire) and it’s attainable only through Febreze’s OdorClear technology (new mechanism.)”

The One Belief for Subway (before Jared got arrested for child pornography):

“Eating healthy fast food (new opportunity) is the key to losing weight (desire) and it’s attainable only through a diet based on Subway sandwiches (new mechanism).”

The one belief for Invisalign:

“Aligning your teeth without ugly braces (new opportunity) is the key to getting the smile you want without disrupting your life (desire) and it’s attainable only through the Invisalign proprietary technology (new mechanism).”

What are the 10-Questions?…

With the clarity of the One Belief established and front and centre, use Evaldo’s 10-Questions as a checklist to sell that belief that using your product/service will solve:

  1. How is this different from anything else I’ve seen?
  2. What’s in it for me? (Big promise)
  3. How do I know this is real?
  4. What’s holding me back? (Reveal the REAL problem)
  5. Who / what is to blame? (Enemy = an existing belief)
  6. Why now?
  7. Why should I trust you?
  8. How does it work?
  9. How can I get started? (Superior, irresistible, and no-brainer offer)
  10. What do I have to lose? (What should I do next?)

The better you answer these questions, the more persuasive your copy will be.

As for writing style, most situations and modern practices require a more conversational approach. So forget what you learn’t at high-school and write like you would talk.

“The contents should be presented as if you were speaking face-to-face with the reader. If I believe in what I’m selling so much that it feels like I’m having a personal conversation with the reader, then I know they’re going to feel so compelled by everything written that they have no choice but to buy from me.” – Russel Brunson

One more thing…

Oh and if you still haven’t figured out what the 16-words are:

“The secret to converting copy is to define the one belief, then answer these ten questions.”

For more information…

To your success.
Geoff