If you’re selling bananas, don’t call them a hydrocarbon based food products.

Dorothy from grammology
remember to call gram
http://www.grammology.com

By the way, in NLP this is called “ecology.” By bullying someone into buying, you have negative side-effects in the business-customer system, like toxic waste in a river. By cleaning up your processes, you gain the customer without the waste.

The net is already full of too much toxic copywaste as it is. If I read one more long-form letter I’m gonna puke.

I smile when I read the “I hate long copy” comments. I expect it’s true, you do hate long copy, but the fact is long copy sells. Not to you perhaps, or at least not right now, but providing an interested prospect with all the information they need to make an informed decision, information relative to their needs and situation, is an efficient use of real estate in many circumstances. Good copywriting compels your reader to do what you want them to do. Long or short, it depends on what you are selling and the needs of the customer.

Badly written long copy doesn’t sell. And a lot of long copy I see on the web is badly written. Crafting good long copy is a skill honed over time and, sadly, it seems few are willing to take the time to master it. When it is mastered long copy reads like short copy. This post for example.

I agree that bullying a customer into a sale isn’t likely to build a long-term customer. Another axiom of direct marketing is, “The most important sales isn’t the first sale, it’s the second.” You want long-term customers. But “extremely persuasive” doesn’t equal “Bullying.” Providing just enough information to generate a confident conversion is the way to go.