Short-Circuiting the Rational Mind, an Introduction
Posted 23rd October 2009 at 03:31 PM by ghyphena
I like logical fallacies. They're fun. You can do fun things with them. And I'll probably put some more of them up when I get round to it.
But logical and syllogistic fallacies are child's play when compared with the subject du jour - a set of psychological principles so effective at shortcutting the decision-making process...
Think I'm exaggerating? I'm not.
Let me back up here for a second and attack this from another angle:
When in comes to writing sales copy, I am definitely of the
school of thought. The more bullets, the better. Especially when you're talking about info-products... which, when I write sales copy, is generally the case. I really don't think you can have too many bullets.
Here's why:
Reason 1: As Gary Halbert said, you never know what might flip the sale - and bullets are the ultimate sale-flippers. I echo the words of Halbert, Carlton and others: sometimes a product... even a very expensive product... is bought because of a single bullet buried deep in the copy. And I'm not just talking about Halbert's legendary
"Fake cocaine - the legal substance that fools almost everybody"
bullet that he plucked out of the air for a book about financial stuff. I'm talking about purchases that I've made myself on the strength of a single bullet... where I've looked at the copy and said, "oooh, yes - I want that."
Onwards:
Reason 2: looking at a sales page and seeing pages and pages of bullets has a profound subconscious effect in the mind of the prospect. He will intuitively - and uncontrollably - reach the deep-seated conclusion that the product in question has a super-high value
even if their content isn't the bestest.
Why? Why would anyone think something so irrational?
Because of little things called heuristics. Specifically, one heuristic known as length-implies-strength (a la Stec and Bernstein).
You see, every day we are bombarded with thousands upon thousands of pieces of information... far too much for our feeble brains to cope with.
So, as an efficiency mechanism, we develop little shortcuts to save time and "thinking energy"... these shortcuts are called heuristics... and, for better or for worse, they are basically...
The heuristic I address today, as I have said already, is called "length-implies-strength"... and the principle is simple: bigger = better. Longer = better. More = better.
Here's a quick example of how you may have experienced the power of this yourself:
When you read posts made right here on Warrior Forum... and you want an "at-a-glance" indication of how reputable / successful / knowledgable the poster is... what do you do?
Well, if you're anything like me, you sneak a quick look at...
and use the number as quick measure of how "important" they are.
Sidebar: I've seen this discussed in threads. People, aside from vehemently denying that they themselves engage in such an irrational practice, have said stuff about the thanks-to-posts ratio and other convoluted calculations.
My opinion: These extremely logical deductions do little to offset the gut reaction you get from seeing that someone has 2,488 posts to their name. Negligibly little. You still feel like this person deserves to be listened to.
End of sidebar.
Now, of course, it makes absolutely no sense to afford someone more credence just because they have a high post count... or, vice versa, to assume that someone doesn't know what they're talking about just because they can't send PMs yet.
In fact... one might argue that people with high post counts...
I'm not saying that that's necessarily the case. Not at all. I'm just pointing out the obvious: post count alone is a completely baseless metric when it comes to adjudging credibility... and yet a high number (four figures+) strikes us automatically as knowledgable and credible, and a single or double-digit number strikes us as "noob who read about this forum in [Insert Random IM E-book Here]".
So... heuristics work. And they are dangerous. People make all sorts of irrational decisions without even realizing it... and... worst of all... trying to fight a heuristic-led conclusion with logic is kind of like...
Powerful stuff.
Back to copy - here's how to take advantage of the length-implies-strength heuristic when writing bullets:
1) Use lots of 'em. Lots and lots. Even if you don't use them all in the main copy, take the extras and put them all on a separate page and include a new-window link to it in your copy (or send it along with your direct mailing).
2) Especially if you have a "big page of bullets"... headline the section "XX More Reasons To Buy [Product Name]". Framing the bullets as "reasons" creates a combined effect of reason-why + heuristic = "wow... so many reasons... I'm sold". I know it sounds stupid. Take it or leave it.
3) Formatting: this applies both to "big page of bullets" and normal use of bullets in copy:
- If you have a high number... say, more than 100... use a numbered list. That way even those who don't read all the bullets will be able to tell how many "reasons" there are.
- If you have a lower number... say 20-30 bullets... use a round dot bullet. Why? Because by not numbering and using a dot, your list of bullets will seem much longer than it is in reality. It's best if your bullets aren't all one-liners. Seriously, you can look at 25 bullets and think it's 50... especially when you're scrolling on-screen and not handling physical sales letters.
Hopefully, I've challenged, stimulated and entertained you with this post... and, hopefully, I've brought it to a satisfying "closed-loop" conclusion.
It's time for my scotch.
Gil-Ad
PS - This stuff isn't around anywhere. I've seen heuristics talked about in precisely one (1) copywriting book... for a grand total of about 2 1/2 pages. Almost nobody knows about these principles. Use them wisely.
But logical and syllogistic fallacies are child's play when compared with the subject du jour - a set of psychological principles so effective at shortcutting the decision-making process...
They can be downright dangerous
Think I'm exaggerating? I'm not.
Let me back up here for a second and attack this from another angle:
When in comes to writing sales copy, I am definitely of the
"Holy Crap, that's a LOT of bullets"
school of thought. The more bullets, the better. Especially when you're talking about info-products... which, when I write sales copy, is generally the case. I really don't think you can have too many bullets.
Here's why:
Reason 1: As Gary Halbert said, you never know what might flip the sale - and bullets are the ultimate sale-flippers. I echo the words of Halbert, Carlton and others: sometimes a product... even a very expensive product... is bought because of a single bullet buried deep in the copy. And I'm not just talking about Halbert's legendary
"Fake cocaine - the legal substance that fools almost everybody"
bullet that he plucked out of the air for a book about financial stuff. I'm talking about purchases that I've made myself on the strength of a single bullet... where I've looked at the copy and said, "oooh, yes - I want that."
Onwards:
Reason 2: looking at a sales page and seeing pages and pages of bullets has a profound subconscious effect in the mind of the prospect. He will intuitively - and uncontrollably - reach the deep-seated conclusion that the product in question has a super-high value
just judging by the number of bullets alone
even if their content isn't the bestest.
Why? Why would anyone think something so irrational?
Because of little things called heuristics. Specifically, one heuristic known as length-implies-strength (a la Stec and Bernstein).
You see, every day we are bombarded with thousands upon thousands of pieces of information... far too much for our feeble brains to cope with.
So, as an efficiency mechanism, we develop little shortcuts to save time and "thinking energy"... these shortcuts are called heuristics... and, for better or for worse, they are basically...
open loopholes in the brain prone to manipulation.
The heuristic I address today, as I have said already, is called "length-implies-strength"... and the principle is simple: bigger = better. Longer = better. More = better.
Here's a quick example of how you may have experienced the power of this yourself:
When you read posts made right here on Warrior Forum... and you want an "at-a-glance" indication of how reputable / successful / knowledgable the poster is... what do you do?
Well, if you're anything like me, you sneak a quick look at...
His/her Post Count
and use the number as quick measure of how "important" they are.
Sidebar: I've seen this discussed in threads. People, aside from vehemently denying that they themselves engage in such an irrational practice, have said stuff about the thanks-to-posts ratio and other convoluted calculations.
My opinion: These extremely logical deductions do little to offset the gut reaction you get from seeing that someone has 2,488 posts to their name. Negligibly little. You still feel like this person deserves to be listened to.
End of sidebar.
Now, of course, it makes absolutely no sense to afford someone more credence just because they have a high post count... or, vice versa, to assume that someone doesn't know what they're talking about just because they can't send PMs yet.
In fact... one might argue that people with high post counts...
Waste too much time here surfing WF instead of building their business
I'm not saying that that's necessarily the case. Not at all. I'm just pointing out the obvious: post count alone is a completely baseless metric when it comes to adjudging credibility... and yet a high number (four figures+) strikes us automatically as knowledgable and credible, and a single or double-digit number strikes us as "noob who read about this forum in [Insert Random IM E-book Here]".
So... heuristics work. And they are dangerous. People make all sorts of irrational decisions without even realizing it... and... worst of all... trying to fight a heuristic-led conclusion with logic is kind of like...
Trying to break down a stone wall with a dessert spoon
Powerful stuff.
Back to copy - here's how to take advantage of the length-implies-strength heuristic when writing bullets:
1) Use lots of 'em. Lots and lots. Even if you don't use them all in the main copy, take the extras and put them all on a separate page and include a new-window link to it in your copy (or send it along with your direct mailing).
2) Especially if you have a "big page of bullets"... headline the section "XX More Reasons To Buy [Product Name]". Framing the bullets as "reasons" creates a combined effect of reason-why + heuristic = "wow... so many reasons... I'm sold". I know it sounds stupid. Take it or leave it.
3) Formatting: this applies both to "big page of bullets" and normal use of bullets in copy:
- If you have a high number... say, more than 100... use a numbered list. That way even those who don't read all the bullets will be able to tell how many "reasons" there are.
- If you have a lower number... say 20-30 bullets... use a round dot bullet. Why? Because by not numbering and using a dot, your list of bullets will seem much longer than it is in reality. It's best if your bullets aren't all one-liners. Seriously, you can look at 25 bullets and think it's 50... especially when you're scrolling on-screen and not handling physical sales letters.
Hopefully, I've challenged, stimulated and entertained you with this post... and, hopefully, I've brought it to a satisfying "closed-loop" conclusion.
It's time for my scotch.
Gil-Ad
PS - This stuff isn't around anywhere. I've seen heuristics talked about in precisely one (1) copywriting book... for a grand total of about 2 1/2 pages. Almost nobody knows about these principles. Use them wisely.
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