Posted by: Gary Bencivenga
July 15, 2008
Issue #459

The Two Most Powerful Words
in Advertising.
(No, they’re not FREE and NEW.)

Dear Marketing Top Gun:

In this BULLET you’ll discover the two most powerful words in advertising and how to use them to explode your response fairly easily and consistently.

Which Headline Pulled Best?

First, to illustrate the secret, can you guess which of these two magalog headlines was the big winner for a financial newsletter?

HEADLINE A: (next to photo of financial guru, Charles J. Givens):

If you’ve got 20 minutes a month,
I guarantee to work a financial miracle
in your life.

(caption under photo)

Charles J. Givens, the self-made $200-millionaire,
entrepreneur and best-selling financial author of all time.

HEADLINE B: (same photo and caption):

The Millionaire Maker

(subhead) Can he make YOU rich, too?

* * *

Which of these headlines absolutely smashed the other in a split-run test, out pulling it by a huge margin and becoming a profitable control for years?

Rather than just tell you the winner, let me describe how you could know in advance, once you understand the two most powerful words in advertising today.

By the way, no BULLET you will ever read will give you more sheer power to boost your response consistently, beat existing control packages easily and create your own blockbuster products than the simple yet profound secret I will now share. Yet I doubt if you have ever read this anywhere, even if you have been a lifelong student of advertising.

Conventional Wisdom That’s Wrong

First, you must understand why some of what you have been taught about direct marketing is wrong, or at least outdated and incomplete.

Most of the few great books on direct response were written more than a generation ago by legends such as John Caples, David Ogilvy, Claude Hopkins and one or two others. Most of their response-boosting secrets remain valid, as we will see in future BULLETS.

Their main teaching: benefits, big benefits, are the key to high response.

Makes sense. But there’s a problem. These giants wrote this advice long ago when, compared with today, prospects were under-marketed. So, yes, back then, flat-out big benefits and words like FREE and NEW got people excited.

But today, more often than not, these same words and super-sized claims instantly trigger rejection. The problem is, words like FREE and NEW and the big-claim style of advertising they reflect, have been so overused, they have become bright red flags that instantly scream to your prospects, throw me away!

As proof, if I were to send you an e-mail with the words "new" and "free," I must misspell them, or your spam filter may bounce my message.

Best proof: just ask yourself, do you get overly excited when you encounter an e-mail or direct mail package trumpeting free or new or some fantastic claim to make you rich, change your life overnight or grow body parts bigger than you ever dreamed?

Of course not.

You have heard such claims too many times. Your own exquisitely sensitive mental spam filter rejects all such messages instantly, as you think to yourself, YEAH, SURE.

And those, Top Gun, are the two most powerful and influential words in advertising today. Yeah, sure.

They are the near-universal response of a too-busy world awash in marketing.

These two words are merciless tyrants, mass murderers of response, because they are exactly the words your harried prospects think every time they must slog through the daily, ever-rising tide of advertising claims.

Get rich quick! Yeah, sure (toss it).

Lose weight fast! Yeah, sure (toss it).

Make $1,000 a week stuffing envelopes! Yeah, sure (toss it).

Elect me and I will make the world safe, cut your taxes and give everyone universal health care. Yeah, sure.

And so on, including almost all of the big-promise messages you were taught to trumpet by the direct response scriptures.

A Simple Secret for Exploding Your Response

As a result, the vast majority of B level copywriters spend most of their days dreaming up ways to pump up ever-bigger claims … which is why their mailings are almost always beaten easily by the tiny handful of “A” level copywriters who know this simple secret of successful selling in an over-marketed world …

Never make your claim bigger than your proof. And always join your claim and your proof at the hip in your headlines, so that you never trumpet one without the other.

There is no more powerful nor consistent way to explode your response. Surround your claims with stronger, bolder proof and watch your response soar.

And I am not talking just about testimonials, which do help but have become so overused themselves, they have lost some of their magic. I am talking about every method you can possibly find to bolster your proof and credibility.

There are many ways to do this, as I will teach you in future BULLETS.

One of the easiest ways is simply to avoid like the measles phrases so overused, they instantly trigger the Yeah, Sure response, phrases such as get rich quick … lose weight fast … and, yes, become a millionaire.

Another way is to sandwich your big promise inside an IF …THEN construction in your headline.

When you say IF (followed by a requirement your prospects have to meet), it seems to magically switch off and bypass their Yeah, Sure alarm and usher you right in their front door to sell.

Surprisingly, it even works when you make the requirement easy to meet.

And now you know the winner, headline A:

If you’ve got 20 minutes a month,
I guarantee to work a financial miracle
in your life.

I know, the promise still seems so big and hard to believe. But that is the power of the IF …THEN construction. For some reason, it seems to put the universal Yeah, Sure alarm to sleep, like punching in the alarm code when you enter your home.

The formula: a reasonably easy requirement, followed by a strong promise. Think up ways to use this for your own product.

Of course, be sure to pay off in your body copy why and how the benefit can be achieved by such an easy requirement. And if it is not extremely easy, but only moderately easy, that is even better, as it is more believable. Surprisingly, candor is gloriously effective in boosting response.

Anyway, test this IF…THEN idea sometime soon, measure the results, and you may be startled by how much it out pulls the typical big-promise headline most ads rely on.

In fact, the headline above was so successful for Givens, his publishers asked me if they could adapt it for another of their products, a weight loss newsletter by Richard Simmons. Against a strong control package that had beaten off all comers, they tested this headline, keeping all other elements in the package the same:

(Next to photo of Richard Simmons)
If you’ve got 20 minutes a month,
I guarantee a thinner, healthier you.

It worked like a charm and handily beat the previous champ. (BTW, notice the absence of exclamation marks, the overuse of which increases the aroma of hype and a resulting Yeah, Sure response.)

The Best Example I’ve Ever Seen

The most effective use I have ever seen of this IF …THEN technique was a famous ad for a speedwriting course.

I saw it when I was a copy cub, commuting to Madison Avenue by subway. It was addressed to secretaries and ran for many years. As you were standing there, hanging on your strap and swaying with the motion of the train, you’d read this poster just above eye level. The headline was a sentence handwritten in script across a spiral, steno-type notepad. It read:

F u cn rd ths msg,
u 2 cn dbl yr incm
w spdwrtng.

When I figured it out …

… I flt lk a blumn gnys!

So did legions of secretaries who responded to this ad for many years.

Sincere wishes for a good life
and (always!) higher response,

Gary Bencivenga
Guest Editor, The Total Package

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21 Comments »

1. Comment by Jeremy Reeves — July 15, 2008 @ 12:07 pm

   Great post Gary - and I completely agree.

   Everytime I read a sales letter anymore it’s completely filled with exclamation marks and outrageous claims.

   As an average Joe, when I read a sales letter I don’t want to read things like "this guy made $858,230 in 30 days". To me it’s simply unrealistic.

   Can it happen? Yes I’m sure it can and I’m not saying they’re lying.

   However, probably 99.99999% of the time the person who made the ridiculous amount of money had some type of connection that I don’t have - and that’s why they made that money.

   Just like the already huge, muscular guys that are literally paid to eat fatty food for 2 months and gain 30 pounds, then workout like crazy to lose it!

   I want to see something BELIEVABLE.

   And that goes exactly with what you said about proof. To me, proof isn’t saying "this guy made this much" - it’s saying EXACTLY how he made it and how I can do the same thing (i.e. talking about how he had no contacts, no money, etc.)

   Great post!

   Jeremy Reeves
   http://www.controlbeatingcopy.com

2. Comment by Marilyn Zink — July 15, 2008 @ 12:51 pm

   Great post Gary! However, as a former newspaper reporter, I picked headline B as I found it spoke to my gut quicker. It got that curiosity factor going quicker. 
   Maybe headline A is more likely to generate a ‘yeah, sure’ response. After all, how does someone work a financial miracle in your life with only 20 minutes a month?
    I also agree quotation marks and their ilk are over-used too much.
   I think that honesty is a much better approach and one I try to incorporate in my copy.
   Cn u gt tht?Marilyn Zink

3. Comment by Adam — July 15, 2008 @ 1:13 pm

   Marilyn,

      The 20 minutes a month comes from reading Givens’ newsletter. Gary (well, Givens) is basically saying if you follow the recommendations set out in the newsletter – which will take you 20 minutes or so to read – he’ll create a financial miracle for you.

4. Comment by CHUKS — July 15, 2008 @ 1:55 pm

   Hi Gary, I agree with the former newspaper editor. I choose number 2 headline. It was more believable . chuks uwaehia ceo winston dale luxury pen retailer

5. Comment by Adam — July 15, 2008 @ 4:45 pm

   Well, headline B was obviously NOT more believable to the millions of people it was mailed to. Headline A crushed it in responsiveness.

6. Comment by Ann — July 15, 2008 @ 4:51 pm

   Thanks for sharing – and explaining – which split run A/B test headline absolutely smashed the other in a split-run test … and became the new control for years.  Hope this insight helps me do as well on my current project : )

7. Comment by Lara — July 15, 2008 @ 5:31 pm

   Gary,

   Thanks for the info. I love this style of headline for the reason you’ve given: it’s believable for most of us. Thanks again for sharing - I’m tucking this article away for safekeeping!

   Best,

   Lara

8. Comment by Marcelino Latorre — July 15, 2008 @ 5:44 pm

   Thanks for the ammo Gary, as always Im reloading..

9. Comment by Paul — July 15, 2008 @ 8:56 pm

   If you ‘ve got 20 minutes read this post today.  It could make you wealthy tomorrow.

   Powerful information Gary…Wish I could have read it 4 years back.
   Paul

10. Comment by Jeff Davis — July 16, 2008 @ 8:36 am

    Clayton Makepeace, and Gary Bencivenga,

    I think I’ve died, and went to copywriting heaven.

    Gimme more bullets, I love em.

    Best Wishes,
    Jeff Davis
    The RAP Wizard

11. Comment by Joseph — July 16, 2008 @ 9:49 am

    Guys,

    Wouldn’t it have been more powerful to say: "Give me 20 minutes a month" instead of "If you’ve got 20 minutes a month" so that it is more direct, and more powerful rather than starting with the word "If" which is more "wavering" and perhaps weaker?

    
    

12. Comment by Paul Renner — July 16, 2008 @ 10:36 am

    Thanks Gary

    Now I know another reason why I bought Mike Filsaime’s 7 figure code last year!

    the7figurecode.com

    Yep the headline got me with the If… then idea

    Best wishes

    Paul

13. Comment by Paul Renner — July 16, 2008 @ 10:45 am

    Joseph,

    Re the "Give me 20 minutes a month" vs "If you’ve got 20 minutes a month"

    "Give me" is asking permission of the reader i.e. "taking" the readers time away from him.

    "If you’ve " is ASSUMING the sale and makes the reader ask him/herself if they can spend 20 minutes which most people can do in a 1 month. "If you’ve " is saying I have valuable information but if you want it YOU have to ask me (i.e. read the copy)

    There is an article on Assume the Sale by Tron Jordheim which goes into more detail.

    See: http://www.insideselfstorage.com/articles/531speaking.html

    Hope this helps

    Paul

14. Comment by Annette — July 16, 2008 @ 2:07 pm

    Wonderful Post!!

    We must move on with the times. I don’t know how long this will take us especially in the network marketing industry. This is one of the "tips" one Company Sent out last week.

    "Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. This is a tough one for most people. But it is in your and your downlines’ best interest to use the proven things that got you and your upline to where you are".

    Surely the world is changing drastically. The people who will remain on top are those who are in trend with current realities. As you say, ‘free’ is not as effetive as it used to be.. so what next?

    Thank you for this post. I hope it reaches many especially in my industry.

    Annette
    http://www.AnnetteTush.com

15. Comment by Joseph — July 16, 2008 @ 3:42 pm

    Paul,

    Based on what you’re saying regarding "assume the sale" wouldn’t it make sense to say something like "So you’ve got 20 spare minutes a month? I’ll guarantee you …etc.) instead of "If you’ve got 20 minutes…etc.?

    I’m not quite sure how the "If" makes an assumption on the sale. I always thought the expression was "It’s not if, but when…"

    Interested in your feedback.

    Joseph
    http://www.thesalescrafter.com
    joseph@thesalescrafter.com

16. Comment by Henry — July 16, 2008 @ 8:19 pm

    I think I should try this one out immidiately!  

17. Comment by SharonV — July 17, 2008 @ 10:20 am

    New to copywriting, so I love this site….but I actually picked the second headline as I found that more believable.

    Interesting article.

18. Comment by Paul Renner — July 17, 2008 @ 12:03 pm

    Joseph,

    Re "So" vs "If"

    "So you’ve got 20 spare minutes" can come across as arrogant, while "If you’ve got 20 minutes…" still lets the reader decide.
     
    When you think about it, "if" in this case is being used as a rhetorical question. Same as a car dealer asking if the auto buyer would like it in black or red.  

    If you think about it Joseph, you’ll know I am right

    Paul

19. Comment by Peter R. Sherman — July 17, 2008 @ 1:21 pm

    Hi Gary,

    That was a very interesting post. I would have bet headline 2 would have been the winner. But that shows again how important split testing is. I am curious about the percentage the winner beat off the other one.

    Thanks again.
    Peter R. Sherman
    http://www.QuantumSuccessUnleashed.com/Report.html

20. Comment by Vitaly Grinblat — July 20, 2008 @ 10:02 am

    Hi Gary,

    Great post.

    This truly proves that copywriting and advertising is salesmanship in writing.

    I’ve spent over 10 years in direct sales before entering the wonderful world of copywriting and direct response marketing.

    And whenever I’ve called on prospects, I’ve used this same phrase, "If I can show you ….. ", tailored to my service. 

    Then when I sat down with them, I would again say, "If I can help you improve or show you …." , and it ALWAYS worked like a charm.

    Thanks for reminding me that human nature is the same, whether face to face, in print, or online.

    Best,

    Vitaly Grinblat

21. Comment by Joe C — July 21, 2008 @ 6:37 pm

      Hey Joseph -
    I’m not sure what you’re  debating here?

    …. Is it Your theory, against  ( results given to you by one of the greatest copywriters ever , no less -)  tested "PROVEN" facts, that show why, the words If and Then, work like hell exploding response… and how it out - pulls - EVERYTHING its put up against? 

    So I just want understand what you’re debating?

    BTW… There are NO assumptions, there’s testing and RESULTS…

    Good luck buddy.