I’ve always been a big fan of swipe files. It’s taken me over 10 years to develop a reasonable collection of swipe files to help me with my copywriting. For years I’ve collected direct marketing pieces, online sales letters, autoresponder messages, etc. that I thought were particularly effective. I have dozens of file folders full of hundreds of pieces… and I drag it all out and spread it all over the living room and my office when I need to get a little copywriting inspiration.

It’s a huge mess!

You see, whenever I see a direct marketing piece that has a great headline, awesome bullets, a really terrific closing, etc., I keep the entire direct marketing piece so that the part I want to swipe stays in context. I try to keep them organized, but it’s nearly impossible! The real problem is that I can rarely find what I want when I want it.

How frustrating!!!

The other thing about collecting swipe files is that you never know if what you’re collecting is really effective copywriting. After all, I’m no expert at copywriting and frankly I’m not very good at writing sales copy. I just collect the things that personally appeal to me without really knowing if they were effective promotional campaigns. So, whenever I think about using something from my swipe file I always wonder if it is really a good piece of copywriting or if it’s just something that I liked. That’s why I had to give My Instant Swipe File, by Jeff Gardner, a try. Let me give you a little background about the product.

What is My Instant Swipe File?

Quite simply, My Instant Swipe File is a collection of examples of the different components of a successful sales letter written by many of the masters of copywriting. It contains swipe files for:

  • Headlines
  • Bullets
  • Closings
  • Value Building
  • P.S.’s
  • Pricing
  • Openings
  • Closing
  • Bonuses
  • Guarantees

Plus many other common sales letter pieces that I can’t go into here without giving away too much and getting in trouble with the Jeff. This is literally a swipe file with all the fixin’s to create thousands of sales letters of your own. It would take you years to collect as many great “swipes” as are contained in My Instant Swipe File… And I would know since I’ve been collecting swipe files myself for many years.

In addition, Jeff hasn’t just put together a nice list of swipe files, he’s also sprinkled in a lot of tips and explanations about what makes them effective so that you can adapt them to fit your own needs, along with ready-to-use headlines that all you have to do is fill in the blanks to create your own unique headline!

Simply put, My Instant Swipe File is 155 pages of pure copywriting gold.

The Pros

As I said above, My Instant Swipe File is a veritable treasure trove of copywriting goodies that will help you to write really effective sales letters and promotional pieces.

I can sum it up in two words… pure inspiration.

I also think that the tips, tricks, and explanations within this whopping 155 page ebook are really good… I especially like the one about tying your headline into a current event and the one about creating new terminology.

Lastly, I really like the way Jeff broke down the “swipes” into the separate parts of a sales letter so that I can easily find help with whatever part of the sales letter that I’m having trouble with. It’s so much better than having to weed through all my own swipe files to find what I need… plus I think Jeff’s swipes are much better than most of mine.

The Cons

This product is not going to write your sales copy for you. DARN IT! You’ll have to hire a copywriting for that (we’re talking BIG bucks for that!)

All kidding aside, there was really only one thing that I didn’t like about this product. I thought the bonuses were a little weak.

I was especially disappointed with the Sales Letter Template. I was actually expecting something that was more like a true template, not a report. The 12 elements of a sales letter is highly useful and informative, but I just had a different picture in my head of what that bonus would be… it’s probably just a “blonde moment” on my part (I have a lot of those!)

Conclusions

As I said before, I’m a big believer in creating a swipe file for every aspect of promotion. My own personal swipe files have been the inspiration behind all of the sales material that I’ve written for years… and it’s taken me years to develop a decent sized swipe file!

I wish Jeff Gardner had put together a product like My Instant Swipe File a loooong time ago! It would have saved me an enormous amount of time and I would have had much better material in my swipe file! The materials you’ll find in it are like pearls of wisdom from an old sage… only better because you can use them as the inspiration for your best sales pieces.

You just won’t find better things to put in your swipe file than what Jeff has provided for you… directly from the masters of copywriting… and all in one easy reference guide.

If you write any kind of promotional materials for your business (and who doesn’t?), especially sales copy, then My Instant Swipe File is a must have. This is a reference that I’m positive that I’ll go back to over and over again… in fact, I’m so inspired that I can’t wait to write my next sales letter!

My Instant Swipe File gets my highest recommendation.

Arvada Yates
Arvada Yates

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Filed under: Copywriting • Direct Marketing • General Online Business • Reviews

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