Grabbers In Internet Copy

by 10 replies
13
Dear Copywriter,

Have you tried using a "grabber" for an
internet sales page before?

Gary Halbert Letter on Grabbers

I've used it on offline sales pages before
by using bizarre and simple small objects
as grabbers...

... But I'm curious to its effectiveness in
internet sales pages.

Has anyone tried it? Results?

Thanks.
#copywriting #copy #grabbers #internet
  • It would be hard to implement.
    Internet users know what they want from a site before entering the site.
    AIDA - attention interest desire action
    Internet copy assumes the A-I are already taken care of. So, it's main purpose is to create desire and action.
    Incentive packages-free reports/videos and such, are the "Grabbers" of the internet.
    Any other "grabbers" would probably be recognized as nothing but spam.

    I would however, be interested in someone finding or giving an example of an effective "grabber" which would contradict my thoughts.
    • [1] reply
    • What good, effective copy (Internet or otherwise) do you know of that neglects these two things?
      • [1] reply
  • If someone goes to www hometownkarate com [probably not a real site]
    Would you not assume that "hometown karate" was not their intent? That they crossed paths with the site accidentally?
    No.
    They have already established awareness and interest.
    So- web copy, sales page or otherwise, focuses on creating desire and action.
    How? By focusing on benefits to the consumer. Yes, benefits do grab attention, and you have to bring attention to the benefits...But, none the less, they are there for the purpose of creating desire. They make you want to click the "learn more", and from there its time to focus on getting them to take action.

    I would ask you to show me effective web copy in which the homepage, or whatever is designed to grab attention.
    That's what we have SEO people for.. bringing the attention.
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks for the replies guys, here is one
      example of a grabber that Gary Halbert
      used in his letter:

      The simplest grabbers I've used offline
      are tiny or bizarre things, like a bag of
      sand or a nickel/dollar/coin.

      The one Gary used added an element
      of interactivity...

      ... And I wonder what it does to
      conversion.

      I know John Carlton used it in his
      Nickel letter (about street martial arts)
      to great effect.

      What happens if you place a bizarre
      picture above?

      I've always stayed away from curiosity
      headlines unless the competition is very
      scarce, since benefit headlines convert
      a lot more better and stay longer as
      controls.

      Just wondering if anyone has experience
      on internet copy grabbers that may not
      be conventional, but still have that
      element of interactivity.
  • It's hard to stick a dollar bill to a website.

    If there is a good example of a grabber on a web based sales page then I'd love to see it.
  • The function of a grabber is not to get attention, but to change attention.

    Here's the deal: the human brain can only hold one thought in conscious awareness at a time. When Mr. Brain picks up a DM piece or lands on a sales page, that thought is, "CAUTION! CAUTION! MARKETING AHEAD! SECURE WALLET!"

    The grabber kicks that thought off the stage and replaces it with a mental image of the copywriter's design. With his defensive circuitry thus shorted, Mr. Brain is much more receptive when the the copywriter seguays into the marketing message.

    Online, a grabber is an image or sentence that is unexpected and compelling enough to push CAUTION! out of the mental spotlight.
    • [ 3 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Now that is the perfect definition of a grabber.



      I'm not an internet expert - but if I was to have a go at "web grabbers"

      I might try an animated graphic - possibly with sound.

      Say a balloon being blown up - then it goes bang and cascades of money flow out.

      The headline might say "Explode Your Online Profits"

      Or an animated graphic that reaches out and hands you a dollar.

      The headline might be "Here's Your First Dollar - Now Lets Make you 1000's more"

      And so on...

      Steve
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • Great way to define grabber Pusateri :-)
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