Aggravation as a marketing tactic

[CDarklock]

There's a general understanding in marketing that pain is a greater motivator than pleasure, so you lead off your sales efforts with an identification of the pain your customer is feeling.

There is then a school of thought that says you aggravate this pain, and intensify it, so the customer feels increasing tension. This allows you to provide much greater relief, so the customer is more moved to buy.

It strikes me that aggravating the pain is a tactic which isn't very nice. It's like saying "I'll bet that wound hurts - let me rip off the scab, pour some salt in it, and smack it a couple times".

When I sit and consider this as a tactic, it appears to me that when you are attempting to build a reputation, aggravating the customer's pain is a counterproductive tactic. While you may still garner a reputation for relieving the pain, the aggravation of this pain seems like it would be a stronger connection in the customer's memory - so rather than recalling the relief of buying the product, the customer instead recalls the pain of your prior aggravation.

When you add into this mix the number of people who don't buy until they've gotten six or seven offers, aggravating the pain may be their only association... indeed, when you offer a product they don't buy, they may feel the added pain of not buying the product. They wanted the product to relieve their pain, but for some reason they didn't buy it, and now they have another pain association with your products.

Am I completely off base on this? Does anyone else have this same general perception, that aggravating the pain impedes brand-building?

[Loren Woirhaye]

Direct-response isn't, generally, about building a brand - it's about
collecting orders.

Aggravation is just a word, perhaps not an accurate term for how
effective salescopy help (empathetically) the reader come to
terms with the real consequences of not doing anything about
solving his problem. Because people are averse to taking action
to deal with problems naturally, the salesperson or copywriter
draws attention to the ongoing pain the prospect is having
by not fixing the problem.

It's not the same as pestering somebody to buy.

[Raydal]

Originally Posted by CDarklock

Am I completely off base on this? Does anyone else have this same general perception, that aggravating the pain impedes brand-building?

Great question BTW.

Here is where it is important to study human psychology and BEHAVIOR.
You see people behave very different to how they talk. What you say
sounds good and logical but it doesn't match experience.

Fro example, everybody complains how the news is negative and these
companies should use more positive stories. But don't you think since
their business model is based on the number of people watching they
would use nicer stories? Well, studies show that people like bad news.

Look at all the threads in the main forum and you'll see an ongoing
live experiment. If someone titles a post: "I'm broke, my wife left
me and I'm $100,000 in debt" that thread would be the most
popular in no time.

So a copywriter must work with how people BEHAVE not how we
want them to behave.

-Ray Edwards

[MontelloMarketing]

When "salting the wound" as I call it, you're not hurting the reader...

You're reminding them of the hurt they already feel/felt. You don't create the pain... you reintegrate the pain because our attention spans are so short if they're not feeling it that very moment, they're not feeling it at all.

So you reintroduce it... salt it... just to make them remember the worst of it... then you heal it.

That said... in a series of autoresponders I would never continue on the pain thing for all that time. Take different tacks... play with other emotions... etc.

[BrianMcLeod]

You don't poke bruises to be cruel.. you do it to establish empathy and commonality...

When you are able to give voice to the reader's deep dark fears and pain, you prove implicitly that you UNDERSTAND their point of view.

They begin to believe that you "get it".

And once they believe that you truly understand them, they are much more receptive to hearing about how you can make sure that they never ______ (OUCH!) again.

Brian

[Treborrevo]

Is a doctor being mean or pestering you if he points out that your excess weight (small problem) is also causing cholesterol numbers can lead to a heart attack that may disable or kill you...(bigger, more painful problem). And if he points out that you've got a young family counting your living to raise and protect them? (really emotionally painful problem).

The technique is effective - see the results of tracking 30,000 sales calls from SPIN Selling.

I think the question is one of intent or motive.

It's not to just be cruel. It's to sell more. And in the case of a quality product or service - the more you sell, the more people gain life changing benefits and advantages they can achieve through no other means.

[Raydal]

Originally Posted by Treborrevo

Is a doctor being mean or pestering you if he points out that your excess weight (small problem) is also causing cholesterol numbers can lead to a heart attack that may disable or kill you...(bigger, more painful problem). And if he points out that you've got a young family counting your living to raise and protect them? (really emotionally painful problem).

Interesting you mentioned a doctor because that "free consultation"
you get from a dentist is simply to 'scare' you into signing on to
a dental plan to save your teeth.

Why do you think they scrape some bacteria from your teeth
and show you under he microscope? The whole idea is to get
you so disgusted that you take action.

It's an old persuasion strategy. The OT prophets used this all
the time. (Read Isaiah 1 for example.)

'In order to get them buy life insurance they have to see the
hearse at the door step ready to take the body out.'

I'm not so sure who said that. But it sums it all up.

-Ray Edwards

[Treborrevo]

Amen Ray

This copy strategy goes waaaaaaaay back...

Deuteronomy 11:26, "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;"