This time we’re going to talk about what Joe Vitale calls “the most powerful psychological tool any Hypnotic Writer can use.”

Joe Sugarman says it is “the one major psychological reason that makes direct marketing so successful today” and he’s sold millions of BluBlocker sunglasses using this technique.

He’s also said that in 1973 he sold thousands upon thousands of (at the time revolutionary) pocket calculators using the technique.

What appeals to us in many deep, visceral levels so much that it’s been used in virtually all of the most successful direct response marketing campaigns online and off?

What has its roots in our primitive needs to find food and make better tools?

Well, that is what we’ll be looking at today.

Yes, I mean…

Curiosity

Yep, good old fashioned curiosity is the copywriter’s bosom buddy.

What is Curiosity?

I looked it up and found this definition for curiosity:

1. A desire to know or learn.
2. A desire to know about people or things that do not concern one; nosiness.
3. An object that arouses interest, as by being novel or extraordinary: kept the carved bone and displayed it as a curiosity.
4. A strange or odd aspect.

That really sums it up and, anyway, you know what curiosity is because you were curious enough to continue reading to find out what I was talking about

Anyway, as I’ve said before, great copywriting is like putting together a puzzle and curiosity is an important corner piece.

Why is Curiosity Important?

Basically it’s important because everyone wants to understand things they don’t know that they think will be valuable to them.

If someone knows something you don’t and you think it would be good for you to know it then you want to know it. The more valuable you think it will be the more you want to know it.

For example:

• If I know how to write sales copy that converts at 10% and sales letters are important to you then you want to know too.
• If I know how to drive a golf ball 400 yards and golf is important to you then you want to know too.
• If I know how to make triple the average tips waiting tables and you wait tables to you want to know what I know.
• If I know how to [fill in the blank] and it is important to you then you want to know too.

Curiosity is an extremely powerful force of motivation; this need to know gives us power and superiority over those who don’t know so the more you know the more power you potentially have.

It’s how we were built in order to survive and it is still one of the driving factors in the human experience (ever have a 2 year old!) and plays a huge factor in successful sales campaigns.

How to Use Curiosity?

P.T. Barnum was THE master at creating curiosity.

He was famous for his side shows acts which he developed (and marketed) so that they created more than curiosity, they create an urgent sense of curiosity.

There are many ways to use curiosity in your sales copy but one of the, if not the, best way to use curiosity is the “secret”.

Look at some of the most successful headlines in history:

• How To Win Friends And Influence People
• Do You Make These Mistakes In English?
• Why Some People Almost Always Make Money In The Stock Market
• How I Made A Fortune With A “Fool Idea”
• Do You Do Any Of These Ten Embarrassing Things?
• They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano — But When I Started To Play!
• It’s A Shame For You Not To Make Good Money — When These Men Do It So Easily
• What Everybody Ought To Know…About This Stock And Bond Business

Each at least hints at a secret, from the secret of how to influence people to the secret of succeeding in the stock market.

Bottom Line/Personal had a great headline that made lots of sales and it was based on a secret it was “What Never… Ever to Eat on an Airplane!”

Makes you curious doesn’t it!

Here’s another examples of using curiosity in a headline; this is another of the most successful headlines of all time:

Amazing Secret Discovered By One-Legged Golfer
Adds 50 Yards To Your Drives, Eliminates Hooks And
Slices… And Can Slash Up to 10 Strokes From Your Game
Almost Overnight!

Can you see curiosity in it?

I’m sure you can, because a real prospect (a golfer) would be really curious to know the secret of the one-legged golfer!

Secrets torment and tantalize, they start small and chip away resistance until a person just has to know. The person feels like they’ve got to know the secret; like the secret that helped the one legged golfer and they imagine how it would help them!

Of course, secrets aren’t just for headlines.

You can build an entire story in your sales page around a secret; it can be everything from a conspiracy to a forecast.

You just need to arouse curiosity by hiding or obscuring something that the prospect wants to know and that can only be found out by the prospect doing what you want them to do.

Just leave out a few critical facts and you’ve got that curiosity starting.

• Maybe you talk about the solution to their problem but you don’t tell them what the solution is.
• Maybe you talk about the results they can have but you don’t tell them exactly how to achieve those results.
• Maybe you hint at valuable information but don’t actually divulge it.
• Maybe you have a “rags-to-riches” story but how the “riches” were achieved isn’t spelled out.

You can see that they all pique the prospects curiosity by promising to tell secrets, directly or indirectly, that they know but that most people don’t know.

In headlines, there are some proven and powerful techniques for planting the curiosity seed and they work well in the rest of the sales letter also, here are some of them:

• Use a “how to” which tells them how you can show them how to do something they want.
• Make a big, bold promise and back it up with a big, bold guarantee.
• Ask a question they don’t know but want to.
• Make an outrageous statement and promise to show how or prove it.

It really isn’t more than that, just hold that tasty carrot out so they know what they’ll get (the strong benefits) and let it do its work until they’ll follow you just to get the carrot (the secret of how to get the benefits); both together are important.

Just don’t forget that call to action

The Seeds of Curiosity

As far as I know this was coined by Joe Sugarman, at least he’s the first person I heard who named it.

It is a create way to use a sort of “mini-curiosity” to keep people reading from one paragraph and section to the next.

You see this a lot on TV and in good sales copy.

How it works is that at the end of a paragraph you add a short sentence that gets the reader to want to read the next paragraph. Joe has some good examples so I’ll just use them:

• But there’s more.
• So read on.
• But I didn’t stop there.
• Let me explain.
• Now here comes the good part.
• And here’s why.

These are sort of subconscious cues that spark a person’s curiosity just enough to read the next paragraph.

Don’t you just want to know the explanation or what the “good part” is?

Anyway, don’t over do it but it’s a great way to use little bits of curiosity to get people to keep reading your sales copy and that should improve your conversions.

Conclusion

Curiosity, the “most powerful psychological tool” and “the one major psychological reason that makes direct marketing so successful today”.

Sounds pretty important, doesn’t it?

Well, it is!

Curiosity is creating an “itch” that just must be scratched.

It’s such a powerful motivator because of the perceived advantage it gives the person who satisfies their curiosity; they believe it will give them power and superiority whether it is making more money, having a better love life, hitting longer golf shots, or having more successful children.

To use it, you tantalize the prospect with benefits and that you know how to get those benefits.

You weave a “spell” of curiosity so that their innate desire compels them to do what you want (buy, sign up, etc.) just to get the answer.

Promising to divulge “secrets” is a great way to do that.

How do you use curiosity?

Do you have any examples you really like of using curiosity?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Talk soon,

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://www.8-8-8Sale.com
http://www.MusicForInternetMarketers.com
http://www.SecretsOfGoogleAdWords.com
http://www.MadMondaySale.com
http://www.2ForTuesdaySale.com

O.Y. Don’t forget to retweet this! Use the button on the page or Tweet this:
What’s the Copywriter’s Most Powerful Psychological Tool http://bit.ly/1ZVDTd (via @DavidHusnian)

O.O.Y. In case you’re interested, here is where you can get Sugarman’s Copywriting book and Joe Vitale’s Hypnotic Writing book.

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This post from: Street Guide to Copywriting. To read more post like this, head over to Street Guide to Copywriting

What’s the Copywriter’s Most Powerful Psychological Tool

Great copywriting is like putting together a puzzle where each piece trigger that emotional or leads the reader down a nicely paved path toward your ultimate goal.

We’ve talked about many of the pieces in the past and will talk about many in the future.

So we’re going to look at two more “puzzle pieces” that are actually pretty fun to use (hey, I don’t get out much

The first is one that psychologically prepares the prospect to easily purchase what you want to sell at the price you want them to pay.

It’s “devilishly” subtle and works great when done right.

You see it a lot both on the Internet and off it, but lately Internet Marketers have so abused it that is some niches it doesn’t work as well; it still works but you just have to do it better.

What am I talking about?

Contrast and Compare

Contrast is when you compare one thing to the other to make the perceived differences much greater and make the one you want them to choose look even better than it did.

But you never want to do an apples-to-apples comparison because that brings you down to the lowest common denominator and, to be honest, it may make you look bad; it don’t mean your offer is actually bad but it may appear bad and it isn’t the value of the deal it is the perception of the value of the deal that is important.

Always compare apples-to-oranges.

Selling a $97 dollar e-book, don’t compare it to the $27 e-book (or even the $97 e-book) compare it to the $997 home study course.

Selling a $997 home study course, compare it to the $1,997 (plus expense for travel, food and lodging) 3-day seminar.

Selling a $1,997 3-day seminar, compare it to the $9,997 coaching program.

Heck, if you’re selling that $97 e-book compare it to the home study course, the 3-day seminar and the coaching program.

By the time you get to $97 they’ll be thinking what a great bargain they’re getting.

A great example of this I heard about from Yanik Silver.

Some company was selling a book.

They had a premium version in a special custom case that was signed by the author for over a thousand bucks.

They had something like a “corporate” version that sold for hundreds and they had the one they really wanted to sell – just a regular book – for about $25.

After hearing about the higher priced versions they were thinking how much they saved by buying the cheapest one not “what am I getting for my $25?”

I can hear the thoughts now.

“Do I really need that special case and author’s signature or should I pocket those many hundreds of dollars?”

“Do I need … or should I save that couple of hundred bucks and just get the regular book?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Man, I’ll save over $1,000, I’m taking these guys to the cleaners!”

And now you’ve got the sale you wanted to get at the price you wanted to get and, as a bonus, you actually do get some sales for the higher priced versions.

Contrast and compare is also great for doing down sells; you’ve probably seen those.

You go to a sales page and try to go off it and a window pops up and says, “hey I’ll give you the same deal except this one or two things for half the price.”

So now the prospect is not thinking about spending that $47 they’re thinking how they’re getting almost the $97 offer for less than half price.

Can you say buy, buy, buy? Those things convert like crazy.

Whatever apple you are selling you can find one or more oranges to compare it to. You can even compare it to a peach and a pear and a banana!

Conclusion

Contrast and compare, it works, and gives you another piece of the puzzle.

In essence, you find something that is similar enough (both “fruits”) that you can compare favorably to in one or more specific and desirable ways – is less expensive, works faster, gets better results, is more popular, whatever.

Then you present the “orange” and compare and contrast it to your “better apple”.

This has always improved conversions and likely always will.

Next time we’ll look at another of the C’s of great copywriting, one where you drive your prospects wild

How do you use contrast and compare?

Got any great example of using it, either yours or someone else’s?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Talk soon,

David

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://www.8-8-8Sale.com
http://www.MusicForInternetMarketers.com
http://www.SecretsOfGoogleAdWords.com
http://www.MadMondaySale.com
http://www.2ForTuesdaySale.com

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Apples-to-Oranges, Using Contrast and Compare to Make More Cash

“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end”

Essentially, what this means is that once someone has started down a path it is much easier to continue down the path than to change to a new path.

There have been psychological studies showing this to be true, even if there is no rational reason to continue, even if there are reasons not to continue.

In fact, my mother did just that. She started down a career path that she didn’t like due to circumstances and necessity when she was young and stayed in that career for decades long after the necessity passed; in fact, she is still in that career while admitting she has always hated it.

That’s a large scale example but I used it to show the point Da Vinci was making in a big way.

Fortunately for us, it is true even in small things and can be used to turn your conversions from simmering to boiling.

It’s all about what is called…

Commitment and Consistency

Psychologists have found that we have a desire, bordering on obsession, to be consistent with what we have done in the past; or at least appear to be consistent. Some call it one of the prime motivators of human behavior.

Once a person has made a choice, that is, a commitment, they are hell-bent on being consistent with that choice; this is caused by internal and external pressures and often causes us to act in ways that are harmful (remember my mother).

Now matter how tentative or concerned someone is about making a decision, after that decision is made they become, at least for some period of time, significantly more confident in it.

There are many theories of why this is true and in many aspects of life commitment and consistency is very valuable (don’t you want it from your friends, family co-workers, etc.); in fact, think of what things would be like without, it actually be hard to trust or rely on anyone because you’d never know what they would do or say.

Using Commitment and Consistency

That’s what it is but how can it help you increase your conversions?

It’s really “easy” if you think about it.

Remember that once a decision is made, no matter how small, the next one will be easier to make in a consistent manner and it gets easier and easier.

So, just get a commitment, or series of commitments, and your prospects are more likely to remain consistent with those choices and decisions.

What’s interesting and useful to you is that the commitment can be small and not always even directly related to the ultimate goal.

What you want to do is to turn a lead into a prospect and a prospect into a customer.

So you need to get the lead to make some commitment to you and the path you want them to take; that is, the path to being a customer.

How to Get a Commitment

The first step in the process is finding something where you can get an easy commitment from the person.

I remember reading in Cialdini’s Influence book about how the Communist Chinese successfully did this with Korean War prisoners and it really hit home.

I may not have all the facts right but it went something like this…

The prisoners would be asked to make a very small “commitment”, for example, they’d be asked if America was “perfect”.

Now, most people will say, “no America isn’t perfect.”

They may have difference reasons for thinking why it isn’t perfect and they many people even might think or say “but it better than the alternatives.”

In that one small answer, the commitment was made.

Then they’d be asked for something that wasn’t perfect and so it would go slowly.

Eventually they’d be asked to write a list of the things they’d already said and then the list would be talked about in “discussion groups” and eventually it was broadcast to both prisoners and to soldiers still fighting throughout Korea.

Now the person was a collaborator and many of the prisoners made subtle, subconscious changes into their mindset and do actual acts of collaboration.

The percentage of people who did this was astonishingly high particularly for trained soldiers who were just supposed to stick to name, rank and serial number.

It really shows you the power of commitment and consistency and how you can use it to help you get more sales.

To start you need to get even a trivial commitment or agreement from the lead or prospect to get them to make a decision in your favor and subtly change their self-image in relation to you.

Then get increasingly larger commitments that are internally consistent with their previous decisions until they make the final commitment and purchase.

You can do that same thing on your sales and squeeze pages.

Start, like the Chinese, by asking a series of questions that you know people will answer in the way you want, particularly a positive answer.

Maybe it is a “do you want” type question of some kind “do you want more money”, do you want to lose weight”, etc.

When they answer yes, now you have that seed of a commitment and they have started the habit of answering yes.

Sprinkle these types of questions throughout, making them increasingly specific towards your goal and adding to their commitment (and their desire to be consistent).

What I and others do is to create a plan and included in that plan are questions and statements that lead to a commitment.

Then consistency kicks in as the person become more and more committed.

It’s not hard but does take some practice to get it right.

Try it, you bank account will thank you for it!

Conclusion

Commitment and consistency are innate human behaviors that are consistent through time and culture.

They can be used to drastically increase your conversion rates.

The key is to get a small, essentially trivial, commitment from the person reading your sales copy and slowly build on that by getting further commitments from them that are consistent with the ones already made.

Eventually you lead the person to make the decision you want them to make.

How do you use commitment and consistency?

How does it use you?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Talk soon,

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://www.8-8-8Sale.com
http://www.MusicForInternetMarketers.com
http://www.SecretsOfGoogleAdWords.com
http://www.MadMondaySale.com
http://www.2ForTuesdaySale.com

O.Y. Don’t forget to retweet this! Use the button on the page or Tweet this:

Get a Commitment, Get a  Sale – The Power of Commitment and Consistency http://bit.ly/QK00Y (via @DavidHusnian)

O.O.Y. There is a lot more to this commitment and consistency stuff but I am trying to be consistent with my commitment not to write huge blog posts so sign up for my free copywriting course to learn more.

O.O.O.Y. Cialdini’s Influence book has a chapter about commitment and consistency; it’s one of his 6 rules of influence. It’s an interesting book if you want to learn more about how to influence people and how people influence you. Get it at http://StreetGuideToCopywriting.com/Recommends/CialdinisInfluence

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This post from: Street Guide to Copywriting. To read more post like this, head over to Street Guide to Copywriting

Get a Commitment, Get a Sale – The Power of Commitment and Consistency