Technique: Involve the consumer
Involving the reader in the buying process makes your copy as effective as Leo Messi scoring free kicks.
"Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well."
That's what ad legend David Ogilvy used to say. If you aspire to improve your writing skills, skip the usual books. Learn from the old-school masters of copywriting.
Joe Sugarman is one of them. Joe became famous selling electronic gadgets through long, wordy ads in publications like the Wall Street Journal, New Yorker or Playboy.
That's how he built a successful mail-order business called JS&A.
One of the copywriting techniques Joe used often was called "involvement device".
This means using something that involves the consumer in the buying process.
Here's an example. Joe had to promote the Franklin Spelling Computer. This was a neat little device that helped correct your spelling. Joe examines the product and thinks to himself, "This is priced too high".
But Joe couldn't drop the price. He knew that would piss off the manufacturer.
Then Joe has an eureka moment, "Why don't I try to use an involvement device as a method of lowering the price?"
So Joe writes an ad and runs it in The Wall Street Journal.
Joe writes the ad with several misspelled words. On purpose.
The ad had a simple concept. Joe told his readers to circle the misspelled words and return the marked-up ad.
For each misspelled words found, you'd get $2 off the price of the computer. Orders poured in like water... being poured.
Joe even received phone calls from people he hadn't heard from in yeeeeeeears. “Joe, I want you to know, I spent the last hour and a half trying to find all the words and I don’t even intend on buying your damn computer. I normally don’t read the entire Wall Street Journal for that length of time.”
1. Advertising and direct mail copy that involves the reader can be surprisingly effective. Because it involves the reader in the buying process.
Whenever possible try to add an involvement device as part of the ad.
It can make your ad as effective as Leo Messi scoring free kicks.
Real-World example: One of Reader's Digest's most successful direct mail campaigns EVER was a brilliant campaign created by Walter Weintz.
Walter said, "Let’s put a penny or two on all Reader’s Digest mailings."
So Reader's Digest mailed 50 million families two shiny new pennies with a letter. The letter encouraged recipients to keep one penny. And mail back the other penny along with $2 for twelve issues of The Reader's Digest.
This mailing, along with other similar direct mail campaigns helped Reader's Digest increase their circulation from 4.5 million in 1948 to over 12 million in 1959.
2. Involvement devices are very effective attention grabbers. They can 2X, 3X, 4X or 5X the time readers spend reading your copy.
And the longer the reader spends reading your copy, the more likely he or she is to open their wallet and buy.
You can use involvement devices both online and offline.
Examples of offline involvement devices? Stamps, stickers, postcards, vouchers, coins, or any object you ask readers to peel off, tear off or mail back.
Anything works, as long as it gives them a tactile experience to feel more involved in the buying process.
Examples of online involvement devices?
One of my favorite examples was this little website called Expensive.Chat:
Spend money to chat with strangers who spend money to chat with strangers. One penny per letter.
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