3 builders who never spoke to each other

Open with the question already in their head

Write the headline against the question the visitor arrived carrying, not the one you would prefer them to be asking, since the gap between those two is where conversions leak. A question broad enough that nearly everyone answers yes gets the reader to label themselves as having the problem before you name the remedy. A short set of yes-or-no questions about their own setup does the same by letting them diagnose it themselves.

The method

1. 01

   Write the headline against the exact question already running in the visitor's head when they land, not the question you would prefer them to be asking.

2. 02

   Open a campaign with a question so broadly true that nearly everyone answers yes, so the prospect labels themselves as having the problem before you offer the product as the remedy.

3. 03

   Open the piece with two or three yes-or-no questions the reader can answer about their own setup, so they diagnose the problem before you name a solution.

4. 04

   Open the ad's intro text with a direct question naming the reader's role, location or need, follow it immediately with the offer, and keep the whole thing short enough that no device truncates it.

What it returned

• 189%

  Swapping a headline that asked whether the reader was ready to move to Australia for one asking whether they were eligible lifted leads by 189%: from 74 per thousand ad clicks to 214, on identical spend.

• 150

  Under 150 characters; his sample opens by naming B2B CMOs and VPs of Marketing, then offers the free guide.

• Bourgoin's own examples: asking whether the reader's ambitions are a bit unrealistic, or a headline offering a neurologist's tip for people who are hard on themselves.

• Fathom asks the reader whether their analytics vendor is based in the US and whether the machines it runs on belong to a US cloud company, noting that where those machines physically sit does not help.

Sources

• The Barnum Effect - Why We Buy 🧠Katelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · The Psychology of the Barnum Effect · undated
• The 80/20 of Copywriting: How Copy Can Elevate Your Freelance Game In Just 7 Days - Double Your FreelancingListon Witherill · doubleyourfreelancing.com · The 80/20 of Copywriting: How Copy Can Elevate Your Freelance Game In Just 7 Days · 2015-08-28
• Your website analytics are breaking the law - Fathom AnalyticsJack Ellis · usefathom.com · Are my website analytics breaking the law? · 2022-01-17
• How to Use LinkedIn Sponsored Content to Get Sales LeadsGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · Set Up and Run the LinkedIn Sponsored Content Campaign · 2016-06-10