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My BOLDing theory. What's your opinion?

by jkhdsf
7 replies
Is this an effective way to use Bolding?

The idea here was that people will probably just take a quick skim through the email and their eyes will come to rest on a handful of places while they assess whether or not the email is worth their time to read.

I figure if they are going to skim, I may as well show them the key points i'd like them to see while they're skimming by putting those in bold

Is anyone aware of data that would support or reject this theory?

The below email is a recent example of a situation where I used this:

------- ------- ------- -------

Hi, it's Matt here from *Company Name*. I'm the guy in black who was frantically replacing your water jugs all night!

It was great to meet you at *event name*. Thanks again to *Company Name* for coordinating such a wonderful event.

Any friends of *Company Name* are friends of ours, and as Rob (the Chef) mentioned, we'd love to extend an invite to you for a complimentary Wild Edibles Foraging Tour.

Some of the ingredients on your plate last night - like wild asparagus - are hand foraged. We prowl around in the woods right here in Vancouver, to pick the freshest, most interesting ingredients, showcasing the bounty of BC.

We'd love to share our passion for wild foods with you.

On Sun, June 17 or Sun, June 24 we'll take you out and show you how to forage for wild foods in your own back yard. Then, you'll be fed wild herb tea + lunch in a mountain cabin.

Next time you have a party, you'll be able to impress dinner guests with delicious things they've never heard of; like sweet cicely, miners lettuce and thimbleberries.

To reserve your place in this complimentary tour, click here and use the promo code "*promo code*".

See you soon!
Matt
*Company Name*
#bolding #opinion #theory
  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    In my opinion, it has its place. I first heard about it years ago studying Joe Vitale's hypnotic copywriting methods. The trick is to do it right. I think the example you gave is a bit overdone. For example, the line about impressing guests... I'd just bolden the words delicious things. You can also incorporate different colors.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ross Bowring
    Don't know of any data, but it's common practice among many DR copywriters.

    --- Ross
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Pescetti
    Bolding helps people hone in upon the emotion you either want them to feel...

    ...or is a driver to get them there.
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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Crawley
    Basically two types of readers 1) The skim reader and 2) the reads every word reader. Bolding, highlights and colors will create a double or second readership path for the skim reader. So you're on the right track. I also agree with Mark above.
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    • Profile picture of the author Pusateri
      I like to bold the first few words of every other paragraph.

      Keeps the eye moving down the page and the column of text from looking monotonous.
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    • Profile picture of the author jkhdsf
      Thanks Allen. I've never heard of a second readership path but I just quickly looked it up. That's a handy concept to understand!

      When you say, "you're on the right track" (first of all, thanks...that's helpful to know), do you have any advice for me to get from "on the right track" to "right on the money"?

      Referring to the email example I posted above...If I used that bolding strategy in the same way for all my future emails, would that improve my copy?
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  • Profile picture of the author erin.banister
    Sean D'Souza, of Psychotactics, is where I learned this practice... and from my experience it works really well. Proper bolding will create a line of sight for the skimmers to look through your text, and the bold provides the most important information for them.

    Your use of bolding is good, I especially like the line set off from the others and bolded. This is proper technique, IMO. However, the long line in the second-to-last paragraph "impress dinner guests with delicious things they’ve never heard of" is too long and is not specific enough to require bolding.

    Best to you,
    Erin
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