Let me give
you a small, very valuable tip…
It demonstrates
the Communicology selling method and helps you understand it better.
If you call
me colour blind, it would be an understatement. Which is why I always
like to get a second opinion on colour. But there’s certain aspects of design
and aesthetics that I NEVER trust a designer to advise on.
Here’s what
I mean…
Recently, I
got into a heated argument with some fellow shareholders in a local project I’m
working on.
It’s a
consumer research tool for the hospitality industry. And our clients, the people
who will pay for the service (eg, the restaurant owners, hoteliers) they need very
DEEP insights into their customer’s mind.
I won’t get
into the details. But what this means is we had to carefully craft a VERY long survey.
Most of my partners
felt consumers would not complete it.
It was too
long.
They wanted
us to cut out 45 of the 50 questions. Which would defy the purpose. Our
clients would learn NOTHING useful about their consumer from a 5 question survey.
A partner
suggested a middle-ground.
“Can you
reduce the font size?” he asked.
“No,” I said.
“Why not?
If there’s less scrolling they won’t feel it’s so long and then they’re more
likely to finish.”
HAHAHA.
Alright. I’ll
let YOU think on that stupid remark for a minute, while I change direction
briefly.
I once got
into a similar debate with my designer.
Great guy,
MASTER of his craft, honestly. So I showed him a sales page I’d just finished
writing and asked his opinion on the colours and aesthetics. And he gave me
excellent, useful feedback.
I did
everything he suggested EXCEPT one thing.
The font-size.
See, my
page used 21pt–that’s pretty fgkin big.
It’s great for
the half-blind and elderly.
My designer said if I used a 12pt font, I would reduce the amount of
scrolling a prospect would need to do. And HEY, 12pt is not a bad size. You’re
probably reading this email in 12.
But here’s
my thoughts on fonts, length, and size…
If I’m
REALLY concerned about length hurting the sale, I should throw out 90% of my words and give you the cliff notes instead.
That’s perfectly acceptable.
But if I believe
all those words are necessary (which I do), I may as well make your next 20
minutes of reading comfortable.
You might
need to scroll more, but there’s a better chance you’ll stick around to read my
whole sales pitch, and i might be able to influence you to give me your money.
The
best sales words are USELESS if people can’t read them.
That’s the
same logic I used to win the survey font-size argument too. No one brought up
length eversince.
So there ya
go.
A little
Communicology lesson for you.
Copywriters
think a “strong headline” should pull you in…But i’ve found it’s easier to make your prospect
comfortable, so they keep listening.
To learn
more Communicology, head on over here (and see some of it being practiced):

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~jim