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[Raymond Fong Company: Numis Network Contribution Level: 3]

Hello all the way from Cairns, Australia! I am sitting here in a internet cafe and thought I'd pop in really quick to share something I read today that was quite interesting.

It's from Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz.

"...This is the reason that you cannot always use the most powerful claim in your headline. Or even the very problem that your product solves. Because without supporting evidence already existing in the mind of your porspect to prepare him for the headline claim, he just won't believe it. Either he'll believe that it's exaggerated or false, or he just won't believe it applies to him. In either case, too many of your prospects turn away without reading on, and your ad fails.

This fact - that your most powerful claim does not always make your most powerful headline - is a paradox that many cop writers still cannot accept."

This was in the section on "belief" as in, you cannot violate your reader's belief system or he will be gone faster than you can say "buy!"

I am still digesting this one as I've heard well... quite the contrary. What are your thoughts?

Raymond Fong

[JonMarc Wright Company: Usana Health Sciences, Inc. Contribution Level: 3]

Guess it depends on how powerful your claims are Raymond!

Seriously though, if you think about it, I would imagine it would vary based heavily on your target market. In some cases you might want to get rid of the skeptics in a hurry, in which case not following this advice could be one way to do it. In any case, many headlining techniques that you use to get one person are going to cause another to leave your site.

That is why in Marketing it is crucial to clearly define who you are trying to be talking to so you can tailor your headlines, subheadings, content and graphics (talking about the web) to them specifically.

jM

[Gila Beckermann Company: Empower Network, LLC Contribution Level: 2]

Headline is important, but more important is to show the BENEFITS of the products, services etc.
We all learn by trials and errors I assume. Greetings to wonderful Cairns. I was there once and took a diving trip at the Great Barrier Reef.
Greetings from San Francisco, CA
Gisela

[Leonardo Saraceni Contribution Level: 3]

I can't totally agree with that, but it definitely has its effect.

When you claim "miracles" on your headline, you do attract more curiousity. Whether that curiosity will convert depends on the actual content you're delivering; however, when you address the subject in a less objective way, "saving" the best for last, your readers will have gone past the "curiosity" stage and will be more likely to have a serious opinion formed by the time they get to - let's say - the Opt-in form or the "buy now" button.

This is another of those "Shotgun vs Sniper" dilemmas, the way I see it. Great objective headlines will bring more traffic, and sorting the skeptics shouldn't be an issue. You would definitely reach a greater audience, but not a really targeted audience.

Again, it depends on what you're selling: something you'd buy impulsively, definitely go for the big headline; if you're looking for a business partner, a serious builder, I'd go for the slow-delivery one.

[Paul Schmitz Company: Empower Network, LLC Contribution Level: 2]

I totally agree with the article, Raymond. Usually, when I see something that obvious, I tend to stay away from it. Everyone seems to have to have to "unbeatable product" or the "ultimate guide to success." But tell me, what would get more traffic, that, or something totally obscure like "They Stole My Apple Pie!!!"

Maybe I'm wrong, but I would think the latter. That would almost force the reader to go to it, because they have no idea what it's talking about, unless they do.

This is just my opinion though.

[Elwood Crane Contribution Level: 5]

That is really a great thought Raymond. I am going to spend some time pondering it. i think it fits into my unveil it slowly practice.

Thank you for your writings I have enjoyed them.

LIVE YOUR DREAMS...and along the way help others achieve theirs.

[Raymond Fong Company: Numis Network Contribution Level: 3]

Yeah, I think this one goes beyond just "copywriting". I mean, take a step back for a second.

In life, if you violate someone's belief system, you lose all credibility within that context (period). It doesn't matter if you are "right" or "wrong", to that person, his/her belief is the ONLY possibility. Therefore, there is no other way for that person to function.

Taken from that perspective, it makes perfect sense that should you violate that person's "truth", that person will not, CANnot, continue to have that discussion with you. Or if he/she does continue that discussion, it would be for the purpose of proving your wrong.

With that in mind, you can imagine if your headline is hard for someone to digest, that person's knee-jerk reaction would be to say "helllzzzz no!" and proceed to formulate every single reason why they disagree or why what you claim is "impossible".

This setups an uphill battle for the rest of your salespage...

So then I suppose you want to start with something that pushes the envelope just a tad, enough to be intriguing and makes the person go "hmm, could it be...?" without them saying the helllzzz no phrase in their heads.

Their curiosity of whether you/they are right or wrong pushes them to keep reading. And that's when you hit them left and right with "evidence" and build up your credibility. And with that you can rais the stakes higher and higher - ultimately to your "unbelievable" claim that just might become believable now.

My .02. Time to go split test it

Raymond Fong

[Kevin Dervin Contribution Level: 1]

My view is that your best bet is to still follow basic principles of marketing and human nature.

The role of the headline is to GRAB ATTENTION and get your target audience to want to read on.

People will pay attention to messages that they can relate to most completely. And what people can generally relate to most completely is the problems, issues and challenges they dealing with. They already have all the supporting evidence that they need because they're feeling the effects of the problem or challenge.

When you make some kind of a claim, you may be talking about a future that they simply can't wrap their mind around. If they've been struggling for years and never "Put $20K Into Your Your Pocket Every Month Automatically!", then how can they see how this could be possible for them?

It's the whole concept of getting invited into their world instead of trying overhype them into your world (or at least the one you're representing).

Now, just having blabbed all of that... Raymond, you're right. Split testing is and always will be the best policy. Whatever approach is getting the best response, that's what you go with (until you find something better).

Although, I have to admit... I had never thought of split testing the "They Stole My Apple Pie!!!" headline.

All my Best!
Kevin

Very interesting Raymond,I guess you can kind of relate this to the hard sell concept "everybody wants to buy but nobody wants to be sold" and if it sounds to good to be true it probably isn't.

I've always been taught that your headline is the most important aspect of your article but you make some great points here definitely something to think about.

[Bob Firestone Contribution Level: 2]

It can be a tight rope when writing a headline. You do need to be sensational to gain attention and get the person to read it. I see where people go overboard and the claims do become beyond belief. In copywriting courses I have done there was a focus on making the extraordinary claims specific. The more specific the more credible. It seems to work a lot of the time.