Category: Copy & Content

Would you pay $193.50 for a small figurine of the Russian saint of extremely fast dancing? The Significant Objects Project proves that “narrative transforms the insignificant into the significant” and people pay big bucks for tall tales.

NY Times contributor Rob Walker and author Josh Glenn challenged a group of writers to find random objects and create fictional stories that added a certain je ne sais quoi to them. Between July and November of last year, $128.74 worth of these dust collectors sold for $3,612.51 through eBay auctions.

(It should be noted that the founders said they “did not set out to hoax eBay customers” and that they took care to avoid the impression that the stories were in any way true. A second phase of the project is underway that focuses on charitable fundraising.)

Whether you’re selling an HDTV or a sea captain pipe rest, just know that engaging narrative helps move merchandise.

On our blog we focus primarily on topics related to direct marketing strategy. Test design, targeting, marketing analytics, media strategy. Less often we talk about creative strategy.

Creative Strategy, we’d like to apologize. We haven’t ignored you on purpose. And we’d like to make it up to you. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to move our prospects to action quickly, enthusiastically and profitably. 

Today we’d like to talk about the copywriting aspect of creative strategy. This post from the excellent copyblogger.com reminds us that “Copywriting is one of the most essential elements of effective online marketing. The art and science of copywriting involves strategically writing words that promote a person, product, business, opinion, or idea, with the ultimate intention of having the reader take some form of action.”

This post doles out lots of great info for writing effective online copy, but there are plenty of lessons that can be transferred to all channels.

Please enjoy. And then go hug a copywriter. 

In direct marketing we’re big proponents of using customer testimonials to help close the sale. We’ve posted about best practices, the merits of using testimonials in print vs. on the web, and bloggers as product endorsers.

It seems only fitting then, to remind our readers that the FTC has issued new guidelines on using testimonials and endorsements in advertising. These new guidelines take effect on December 1st.

The fine folks over at MarketingSherpa have summarized the 6 key areas to be aware of with the new rules, as well as other useful links on this topic. If you’re a straight-up marketer who treats your prospects like they are intelligent beings, then these new regs won’t likely impact your marketing plan. If you’re not, well, you can view this as a chance to improve.

Dan Ariely, behavioral economist and author of Predictably Irrational, made a highly enlightening and entertaining presentation on the flawed nature of the human decision making process. Using examples ranging from magazine subscriptions to organ donor registration forms, Ariely shows how the wording, selection, and arrangement of choices can have a massive influence on the outcome:

In his analysis of research from Carnegie Mellon on the persuasive power of confident individuals, Robert Dooley of the fantastic blog Neuromarketing makes a strong connection to the world of business. From the source:

“I’m not suggesting that we develop false bravado to manipulate others. Rather, we should use time-honored strategies to develop our confidence. Salespeople should truly believe in their product. Every persuader should achieve mastery of the facts. Confidence will flow naturally from these. And, of course, we should resist the tendency to waffle or spend too much time discussing alternative possibilities - this will leave the audience confused and doubtful.”

Some excellent thoughts for marketers to keep in mind when figuring out how to speak to their target. Makes me think of the Albert Einstein quote: “If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

While history has given us countless examples of what can go wrong when a confident communicator gets reckless, Dooley chose this video of CNBC’s Jim Cramer as a cautionary tale:

Be sure to check out the paper database of the Carnegie Mellon Center for Behavioral Decision Research. It’s an absolute gold mine of insight on consumer behavior.

Nothing gets work done quite like a deadline. But the pressure of a ticking clock is typically associated with activities we don’t want to do (i.e. filing income taxes, writing a term paper). Virginia Postrel wrote an article for the Atlantic Monthly about consumer behavior towards shopping incentives with deadlines such as coupons and gift cards.

Postrel interviewed behavioral economists Suzanne B. Shu and Ayelet Gneez about a study they conducted to see how consumers react to different offer time frames. From the source:

In an experiment, Shu and Gneezy first surveyed 80 undergraduates, asking how they would feel about a gift certificate for a slice of cake and a beverage at a local café and how likely they were to use it. Forty-two survey participants were asked to consider a certificate good for three weeks, and 38 were asked about a two-month certificate. More than two-thirds of the group with the longer deadline said they would use such a coupon; only half of the group with the shorter deadline said they would.

Shu and Gneezy then ran the experiment in real life, with a different group of 64 undergraduates. Half the participants got certificates good for three weeks and half for two months. Both groups were far less likely to cash in their cake coupons than predicted. And contrary to predictions, the shorter deadline encouraged more indulgence. Ten out of 32 people redeemed the three-week certificate; only two of 32 used the two-month pass. Those who redeemed their certificates said they’d enjoyed themselves, while those who didn’t said they regretted letting the deadline slip.

So the tighter the deadline, the more likely consumers will stop looking for excuses and start acting. Shu cites Disneyland as a great example of a business giving consumers “a justification and a deadline” with their free birthday pass program. Postrel goes into even greater detail on deadlines, tiered promotions, and other incentives in the article, which is most definitely worth you time. Just don’t put it off for later.

In an interview with Brandweek, veteran direct marketing copywriter Karen Gedney shared insight on some best practices everyone can learn from. From the source:

People sometimes get lost in testing and try to test everything. A lot of times people say, ‘Well, we’ve tested a lot, but I am not sure what we learned.’ You want to focus on the elements of highest impact first. So, subject lines are always good with testing because you got to get people to open. And you can quickly see that a short one is better than a long one, or the other way around.

Gedney goes on to explain the importance of paragraph breaks and making the page seem like a manageable read:

Your paragraphs should never be more than four lines. You can maybe go five lines at most. You need to break the paragraph lengths up. You should have two lines, then three lines and then a half a line for emphasis – it should almost go in a musical rhythm. You do not want people seeing big blocks of copy. It’s eye-glazing. It hurts to look at.

She closes the interview like any good direct marketing copywriter would—with a ‘P.S.’:

The ‘P.S.’ is one of the highest clicks in an e-mail. It’s another tool that has been used in direct mail forever. Nobody wants to do some of these old-fashioned things because they think online is so cool or hip or whatever. You still have to do things that have been proven to work.

It’s always good to be reminded of the basics. Keep it short. Repeat the offer. And test. And test. And test…

We always loved show and tell when we were a wee one. Showing off our Barbie collection, or our jar of fireflies, or the souvenir snow globe from the family vacation was always so exciting.

And you know what? It still is, that is If you think selling more stuff is exciting. And you wouldn’t be reading our blog if you didn’t…

Well, at least one company has proven that show ‘n tell works. Can’t argue with an increase of 35% in conversions!

Recently we were asked for our point of view on using customer testimonials in print advertising.

Our answer:

Follow the best practices of executing customer testimonials to achieve the best results. We posted on this topic a couple of months ago.

If you can’t follow the best practices, well maybe you should back away from the testimonial idea.  Here’s an example of a testimonial that breaks the rules: “Thinking about buying X? You should, X product is great!” -A.B. from Any Town, USA. Guess what the prospect thinks about that? It goes something like this: “What do I care about whether A.B. from Any Town thinks the product is great. If the Queen of England said the product was great, that would be one thing. Or if I know more about A.B., like if she was even real, or what specifically she liked about the product that would be helpful.” Trusts us, we executed some consumer research on this topic and there is rampant skepticism that the testimonials were  real, and this type of testimonial didn’t sway prospects in their purchase decision one iota.

Aren’t customer testimonials in print kind of old-fashioned, what with the web and all? Our take-away from our research is this: when reviews are featured in print marketing, they are less believable than when they are featured on a user review site on the web (even if it is a company’s own user review board).  The web is perceived to be owned not only by the brand but the customers too. It’s a place for customers to sound off, good and bad. But a piece of print communication is distinctly one-way, and it strips out the essential part of web reviews which is that it is two-way communication.  Which brings us to our next point:

Bring the web to the printed page. One of the things that makes online reviews and rankings useful is the sheer volume of them. When 1000 people rank something 4.5 stars, that is way more impactful than one or two people saying it. The online review and rankings have always operated on this principle - it is the sound of the entire community talking that makes reviews useful in making a purchase decision.  So by putting one or two rankings/reviews into print, a marketer misses the single most compelling part of reviews and rankings - the confidence a prospect gets from seeing a bunch of people give a product the thumbs-up.  The ideal situation occurs when a marketer can take the power of the web reviews and translate that to print. Think about how you can work in copy points like “10,000 gave this 4 out of 5 starts” and “Read thousands of customer reviews online.”  Skip the fluff and send your prospects directly to the source.

One of the amazing things about working at an agency is the sheer number of emails, IMs, and voicemails you receive per day. We’ve been talking on the blog a lot recently about communication tools, staying productive, and combating interruptions. All great tools and strategies. I’m here to suggest that another answer to confusion, ineffectiveness, and inefficiencies is remembering that how you say something is just as important as what you say. Try putting just a few of the tips below into practice and see what it does to make your communication more effective.

1. Know your subject.

Does your message recipient work well on IM but go dark on email? Do they reply via email to voicemails but never pick up the phone? Know the communication style of the people you’re working with. Don’t assume everyone is tethered to their Blackberry and checking email after hours or on the weekend. Send a message, but if it’s mission-critical, make sure you also give a phone call.

2. Increase click-through.

Create a subject line that means something. My team and I have so many messages floating around with subjects like “Database needed” and “QA progress.” Even adding something as simple as the project name helps the recipient start to understand what brainwave they should be tuning themselves to before even reading the message itself. The subject line “Wells Fargo draft schedule – please review” says much more than “schedule.” And guess what: if you’re replying to or forwarding a message, you have the power to rename the subject. It’s all for the greater good.

3. Say their name, say their name.

Messages should be addressed to a real person. It’s easy and perhaps even socially-acceptable to launch into the body of your message before so much as saying “Dear John.” But people like the sound (sight) of their name. It’s not even vanity. When multiple people are on a message, it’s especially important to clarify to whom the message is directed. If it’s directed the entire team, address it to “All,” before launching into the message. But if there are specific bits of information addressed to individuals within the message, be sure to call out their names.

4. Delete the chatter.

Often in a long string of email, too much unnecessary narrative gets sent around the thread, making it difficult to see the core issues at play and what needs to be done. Feel free to condense the message so that only the pertinent information remains. I often delete extraneous information and include ellipses […] to show that I’ve taken parts out. This helps people focus on the key points. Better yet, follow Tim Ross’s advice and use another means of communication altogether. If you’re discussing options, use an online poll. If you’re compiling documentation, create a wiki. If you’re choosing images, create a lightboard or photo album.

5. Cut the string.

Likewise, if the message is being bounced around, sometimes it means that people aren’t understanding the issue. Resist the urge to punt the message yet again and just pick up the phone or schedule a meeting to work out the issue. Then (and only then) follow up with a message summarizing the resolution.

6. Avoid CC surprise.

Never copy your team member on something that comes as a total surprise to them, especially if it is addressed to a client. Take a moment to get your team member’s opinion or brief them so that they know the news before the client does. CC surprise is the perfect way for your team members to feel blind-sighted and stressed. Avoid it at all costs.

7. Get active.

It might sound like a grammar lesson, but at pain of death, you should avoid the use of passive voice in your communication. What’s passive voice? It’s when the subject receives the action expressed in the verb. Examples include “It was decided,” or “It came to my attention.” You’ve probably seen these in messages in the past and thus know that this technique is pretty effective in obscuring the details and avoiding the background story! It is unclear who did what and more importantly, what needs to be done about it as a result.

In active voice, the subject performs the action expressed in the verb; the subject acts. Usually this makes language more straight-forward and clear. Consider the vagueness of the following passive voice example: “It was decided to go with option B.” But look what happens when you switch to active voice and say who decided to use option B and what that means: “The client decided that they liked the stripes, so please prep option B for production.” Passive voice leaves a lot open to interpretation. Again consider the difference between “The deployment was approved for 5 p.m.” and “Please deploy the website at 5 p.m.” Decide for yourself which method is better-suited for getting the message across.

8. Have an opinion.

Every day we work with people who have great ideas. But when we move from ideas to action, it’s important to no longer hypothesize. Sometimes clients will say “It would be great if. . . [fill in the blank]” when what they really mean is “This thing is broken, or cumbersome, or not what I expected.” Far better to say, “This thing is broken; please scope it.” Saying, “It would be great if the sky was pink,” often leads the recipient to say, “Yeah, that’d be something, wouldn’t it?” But if you say, “I’d like the sky to be pink,” then it’s easier to know to reply, “Well, that would involve these resources and impact the schedule this much.” If multiple options are available, outline them all, but say which one you think is best.

9. Give solution, then details.

Start off your message with the answer so that time-pressed executives can get to the crux of the matter quickly. Then if background details are needed, add them after the outcome. It’s really painful to read a message that gives all gory details of a problem gone awry only to get to the very end of it and read “But it’s fixed now.” Start the message with “We were able to fix the shopping cart issue that we discussed at Monday’s review.” Then if the details are pertinent, add them in after that.

10. Recap.

By the same token, when you give a solution or assign a task in a message (then give the details), be sure to recap what needs to happen. A bulleted list of action items is useful, each having an owner and deadline. Remember the basic composition outline you learned in school: intro, body, summary? Saying it twice helps hit the message home.

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There are plenty of other good communication tips out there, including this list of email dos and don’ts, written by TechSoup. The fundamental truth is that clear communication can make everyone’s day go more smoothly, help you look good in front of the client, and help your team to be more effective.