But is it Really Proven to Work? Eight Research Studies Related to Copywriting
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Marcia Yudkin
Apr 23, 2013, 12:20:03 AM4/23/13
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Article Title: But is it Really Proven to Work? Eight Research Studies Related to Copywriting
Author: Marcia Yudkin
Word Count: 513
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=617203&ca=Marketing
Format: 64cpl
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Hang out in any copywriting forum online, and you�ll soon encounter the refrain, �But what does testing show?� Educated opinions have their place, but quite often testing yields surprising, valuable insights.
Testing can involve a real-world procedure where half the customers see one version of copy or design and the other half see a slightly different version, and results are compared. Testing can also take place in a laboratory or experimental context, where test subjects who are not actually in the market to buy are presented with materials and their reactions or ratings are measured.
Sometimes testing results settle arguments. In other instances, they get us thinking along entirely new lines.
To help pass along what�s known about copywriting topics from rigorous testing, here are summaries of eight research studies where people tested hypotheses related to copywriting or where they tested two versions of the same piece against each other.
1. Readability matters: Brands whose message scored at a fifth-grade reading level were 25 percent more likely to last to the five-year mark than those whose messages were more complex.
2. Puns can hurt: In one study, the cutest titles made white papers less likely to be downloaded. Shorter titles fared better as well. The most downloaded titles contained 20 percent fewer words than titles that most visitors ignored.
3. Wordiness hurts, too: When a test compared how well people performed tasks at a long-winded web site with performance at a concise one, the latter led to 58 percent more success in accomplishing the tasks.
4. Experience gets in the way: The more formal education and experience sales reps had, the more they tended to misjudge the minds of customers, in one study of 504 industrial buyers and the sales representatives who served them.
5. Familiarity helps: Comparisons with items closer to daily life lead to a better understanding and appreciation of abstract ideas. While 58 percent of people in a study rated a degree of accuracy phrased in terms of the distance between the sun and the moon as �impressive,� 83 percent rated the same degree of accuracy phrased in terms of the distance between Los Angeles and New York as �impressive.�
6. Focus on customers, not you: In comparing the response to a you-directed ad and one that just talked up the product, more than five times as many readers found the you-directed ad interesting than those who found the product-centered ad interesting.
7. Focus on benefits: A close look at more than 900 new product launches revealed that products using promotions that explicitly highlighted the product�s benefits were 75 percent more likely to sell well than products pitched with a broad, indirect message.
8. Numerals get attention: When you have numbers in your pitch, present them as numerals rather than in words, such as �16 percent,� not �sixteen percent.� Eye tracking studies show that digits attract attention from web site visitors who are scanning a page, even when they�re in the midst of a sea of words that users otherwise ignore.
About The Author: Marcia Yudkin, a mentor for copywriters and marketing consultants, is the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and Meatier Marketing Copy, from which this article is adapted. Learn about her Marketing Insight Guides series on copywriting, persuasion, marketing: http://www.yudkin.com/guides/index.htm
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=617203
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Message delivered directly to members of the group:
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*****************************************************************
Please consider this free-reprint article written by:
Marcia Yudkin
*****************************
IMPORTANT - Publication/Reprint Terms
- You have permission to publish this article electronically in free-only publications such as a website or an ezine as long as the bylines are included.
- You are not allowed to use this article for commercial purposes. The article should only be reprinted in a publicly accessible website and not in a members-only commercial site.
- You are not allowed to post/reprint this article in any sites/publications that contains or supports hate, violence, porn and warez or any indecent and illegal sites/publications.
- You are not allowed to use this article in UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) or SPAM. This article MUST be distributed in an opt-in email list only.
- If you distribute this article in an ezine or newsletter, we ask that you send a copy of the newsletter or ezine that contains the article to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=617203
- If you post this article in a website/forum/blog, ALL links MUST be set to hyperlinks and we ask that you send a copy of the URL where the article is posted to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=617203
- We request that you ask permission from the author if you want to publish this article in print.
The role of iSnare.com is only to distribute this article as part of its Article Distribution feature ( http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php ). iSnare.com does NOT own this article, please respect the author's copyright and this publication/reprint terms. If you do not agree to any of these terms, please do not reprint or publish this article.
*****************************
Article Title: But is it Really Proven to Work? Eight Research Studies Related to Copywriting
Author: Marcia Yudkin
Word Count: 513
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=617203&ca=Marketing
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=617203
Easy Publish Tool: http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=617203
*********************** ARTICLE START ***********************
Hang out in any copywriting forum online, and you�ll soon encounter the refrain, �But what does testing show?� Educated opinions have their place, but quite often testing yields surprising, valuable insights.
Testing can involve a real-world procedure where half the customers see one version of copy or design and the other half see a slightly different version, and results are compared. Testing can also take place in a laboratory or experimental context, where test subjects who are not actually in the market to buy are presented with materials and their reactions or ratings are measured.
Sometimes testing results settle arguments. In other instances, they get us thinking along entirely new lines.
To help pass along what�s known about copywriting topics from rigorous testing, here are summaries of eight research studies where people tested hypotheses related to copywriting or where they tested two versions of the same piece against each other.
1. Readability matters: Brands whose message scored at a fifth-grade reading level were 25 percent more likely to last to the five-year mark than those whose messages were more complex.
2. Puns can hurt: In one study, the cutest titles made white papers less likely to be downloaded. Shorter titles fared better as well. The most downloaded titles contained 20 percent fewer words than titles that most visitors ignored.
3. Wordiness hurts, too: When a test compared how well people performed tasks at a long-winded web site with performance at a concise one, the latter led to 58 percent more success in accomplishing the tasks.
4. Experience gets in the way: The more formal education and experience sales reps had, the more they tended to misjudge the minds of customers, in one study of 504 industrial buyers and the sales representatives who served them.
5. Familiarity helps: Comparisons with items closer to daily life lead to a better understanding and appreciation of abstract ideas. While 58 percent of people in a study rated a degree of accuracy phrased in terms of the distance between the sun and the moon as �impressive,� 83 percent rated the same degree of accuracy phrased in terms of the distance between Los Angeles and New York as �impressive.�
6. Focus on customers, not you: In comparing the response to a you-directed ad and one that just talked up the product, more than five times as many readers found the you-directed ad interesting than those who found the product-centered ad interesting.
7. Focus on benefits: A close look at more than 900 new product launches revealed that products using promotions that explicitly highlighted the product�s benefits were 75 percent more likely to sell well than products pitched with a broad, indirect message.
8. Numerals get attention: When you have numbers in your pitch, present them as numerals rather than in words, such as �16 percent,� not �sixteen percent.� Eye tracking studies show that digits attract attention from web site visitors who are scanning a page, even when they�re in the midst of a sea of words that users otherwise ignore.
About The Author: Marcia Yudkin, a mentor for copywriters and marketing consultants, is the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and Meatier Marketing Copy, from which this article is adapted. Learn about her Marketing Insight Guides series on copywriting, persuasion, marketing: http://www.yudkin.com/guides/index.htm
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=617203
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
- To distribute your articles go to http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php
- For more free-reprint articles go to http://www.isnare.com
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