a single source, nothing corroborates it
Point at what they are about to lose
Loss moves people more reliably than gain, so frame the headline around what the reader is currently ruining rather than what they could improve, and write the offer around which regret would be larger. Make it funny so the threat reads as entertainment rather than fear-mongering. Keep it to a dose, because a brand that only ever brings bad news becomes the thing people avoid.
The method
- 01
Point at a threat or a potential loss rather than only at gains, using scarcity or negatively framed messaging, and make it funny so it lands as entertainment instead of fear-mongering.
- 02
Frame the headline around what the reader is currently ruining rather than what they could improve.
- 03
Keep the negative framing to a dose, because a brand that only ever brings bad news becomes the thing people avoid.
- 04
Write the offer around which regret is larger, buying it or skipping it, rather than around the benefits.
What it returned
- 16%
The Snickers campaign built on the fear of losing social status was funny as well as memorable, and market share rose 16%.
- 63
Click-through on an article rises by an average of 63 percent when the title carries a negative superlative such as bad, worst or never instead of always or best; a Russian newspaper that flipped every headline positive in 2014 lost two-thirds of its readers within a day.
Katelyn Bourgoin's rule is that a little adversity drives action while too much makes buyers associate you with a dark cloud.
Rory Sutherland argues in The Choice Factory that people want to blend into a peer group rather than beat it, and will work harder to dodge embarrassment or a bad purchase than to look dominant.
Sources
- Attention - Why We Buy 🧠Katelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · 2: Fears · undated
- Negativity Bias - Why We Buy 🧠Katelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · Use negativity to craft compelling messages · undated
- Regret Aversion - Why We Buy 🧠Katelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · 🧐 Inside Your Buyer’s Mind · undated
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in copy
- Keep the personality that drives some people off7 unconnected
- Interview buyers and write the page in their sentences6 unconnected
- Re-aim one durable claim at today's worry5 unconnected
- Answer the predictable objection with a specific4 unconnected
- Say the thing only you could have said4 unconnected
- Tighten the headline until only your segment fits4 unconnected