Don’t Read This Blog Post
Whatever you do, don't read this blog post.
While you're at it, do your best NOT to think about a giant, fuzzy polar bear. Standing on a tiny little iceberg. Floating in the ocean. Drinking a bottle of Coke.
You can't do it? (At least most of you can't.) Most of you probably pictured a polar bear... and even if you couldn't you thought about what that polar bear, standing on the iceberg, drinking a Coke, would look like.
Your subconscious cannot process negatives. If you have a sales letter with phrases like, "Don't delay" ... guess what... people are going to think about delaying BEFORE they can think about what the opposite of that means.
Jason and I are both marketing nerds but he is definitely way more of a copywriting nerd than I am. When the four of us were in Hawaii having dinner, he blurted out, "By now, you must be wondering..."
Great copywriting phrase. Not only does it make people think "by now" ... it makes sure they read the copy before that sentence. It focuses the selling on "them" and reminds your prospect that you are thinking of them.
In that same conversation we also nailed the fact that the subconscious can't process negatives. So, something you can do today in 5 minutes or less is: open up the sales letter for your most popular product... search for negative words like not, don't, can't, cannot, couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't, stop... and rewrite them quickly.
I'm definitely not over agonizing over sales copy, but this is a quick way to increase conversions.
The other day somebody bought one of my high ticket ($97) and we talked a little bit back at forth over e-mail. His signature link led to a killer non Internet Marketing niche squeeze page with a walk-on video, great headlines, perfect heatmap positioning... all the right stuff.
The walk-on video did a very good job of convincing me to opt-in and I was about to, just out of curiosity. But one of the very last sentences in the video was: "There's no reason you shouldn't sign up."
Oops... I processed the phrase, "You shouldn't sign up" ... didn't feel quite right, and left the page seconds later.
Want to know something funny? In my Fast Food Copywriting sales letter, I used to have the word "not" in the copy 14 times, "don't" 7 times, and "can't" 3 times. I just spent 60 seconds editing them all out. I never said I was perfect, just that I can write average sales copy very quickly.
Can you take a second to check your own sales copy, and see how many "nots" "don'ts" ... "nevers"... and other negative words you have in your sales copy? (A quick way is to paste your sales copy into a text file and replace the word " not " (not including the quotes but including the spaces) with nothingness just to see how many results show up.
You're probably too embarrassed by that number to post below, aren't you?
Filed in: Copywriting
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Robert,
Can you make more specific examples
like “before” and “after”?
Frederico
There wouldn’t be much point in that Frederico… it’s not that big of a difference. I just changed the bullet points and headlines that said it’s not something, and rewrote it. Here’s a couple of examples…
Before:
After:
And another…
Before:
After:
Not a huge change but those are things that sound ok when you first write them, but re-reading the “before” versions puts the bad images in my mind that writing copy is work and takes several weeks.
I left a few of the “nots” in the copy just because they seemed to work somehow. For example: “My Personal Formula for Copywriting: Why Fast Food Copywriting Is A Formula, Not A Skill, And Why Anyone Can Master It” … I don’t have a problem with people visualize copywriting either as a skill or as a formula.
Well, since I’ve never written a word of copy for a sales letter, this particular post doesn’t hit me very hard. Still, it’s a good reminder that negative thinking is counterproductive, no matter what the area. Good advice, and thanks, Robert.
Gene
What’s stopping you from putting out your first sales letter, Eugene? You’re right, this is an advanced copywriting technique.
It’s something to do after you’ve cranked out that simple copy and you want to give it a 1 percent or 2 percent boost… BUT it’s something that only takes a couple of minutes and almost always works.
Don’t have those words in my web vocab. I agree that anything but positive is a downer for biz. keep up the good work, Robert! JM
Great points! I counted them up on my website and I have a little work to do: 1 Stop, 3 Not, 1 Don’t, 1 Never, 3 Avoid, 1 Can’t.
Good post, Robert. I need to take a close look at my copy across all my sites and see where I need to make changes. No sense in leaving money on the table.
Great Tips Robert! Once again, you add value to my mix. I’ve recently gotten on board w/ Joe Vitale’s HYPNOTIC Marketing 7 Step Stuff. Amazing what the sub-mind can do!
Great article, as always Robert. Let me throw in my 3 cents worth. 😉
I wrote about this many times in the past.
As my friend and copywriter, Rachel McAlpine, often says, “Avoid using negative words — say what it is, not what it isn’t.” I agree.
Maxwell Maltz, who wrote the bestseller “Psycho-Cybernetics,” states that the brain is a goal-seeking organ. It needs a goal in order to function.
For example, if I told you to NOT think of a white carnation, you will have hard time since your brain needs a goal. It will naturally picture what it is supposed to avoid. The mind needs a reference point. A visual equivalent.
On the other hand, if I asked you to think of a pink carnation instead of a white one, you will think of a pink carnation. (And you won’t think of a white one!) I gave your mind a goal rather than taking one away from it.
By stating what something isn’t can be counterproductive since it is still directing the mind, albeit in the opposite way. If I told you that dental work is painless for example, you’ll still focus on the word “pain” in the word “pain-less.”
Here are some examples of using positive words.
Instead of saying “inexpensive,” say “economical.” Instead of saying “painless,” say there’s little or no “discomfort.” And instead of saying this software is “error-free,” say it’s “stable.”
Hope this helps!
Robert,
I can see what you mean now 100%.
Thanks for the extra explanation.
Frederico
Very good point Michel… actually as soon as I saw how many “nots” my own sales letter had earlier… I ran over to one of your sales letters, I think it was Success Chef… zero “nots” to be found.
Similar deal with TheCopyDoctor… that had a few “nots” but they were gentle nots like “These people I’ve interviewed are not just friends… they are well-known respected copywriters.”
Yep, power words! There are so many words we don’t even think are negative or over-used… such as “buy now.”
Another copywriter recommended to me a few months ago that I remove the word “buy” and replace them with words like invest, download, get access, etc.
Great article, Robert… and its nice to see Michel Fortin chime in with some more excellent points.
There is one exception to the “not” rule… and that’s when you’re positioning your product against the competition. You can use a “not” statement to imply that your product is better than another, without overtly stating it.
For example… if you’re selling a money-making opportunity, you can say something like “This has nothing to do with MLM.” Or to make it even stronger, “This is NOT some MLM scheme that requires you to bug your family and friends to death. This is…”
There’s a subtle distinction here, and you do have to be careful how you use it. You’re deliberately using the “not” statement to get the reader to think about an undesirable alternative, which puts your product in a better light. It’s a positioning tactic which can be very effective.
I absolutely agree that you should never use negative words in command statements and NEVER in a call to action.
Once again, great post!
Hey,
If you want to fully understand how the mind works, take some time and study hypnosis. Knowing the rules of the mind = easily writing good copy.
Steve
Thank you Robert. This is one of the best blog posts I’ve read in a while. Concise and to the point. Valuable information.
I try to get rid of “but” in my copy as well. It negates what comes before the “but”.
>>”not” in the copy 14 times, “don’t” 7 times, and “can’t” 3 times. I just spent 60 seconds editing them all out.
Soooooo Robert…
…will you let us know the increase of the conversion rate?
Dying to discover that. 🙂
Robert,
We are such nerds. What great dinner conversations we have.
Steve hit it right on the head. I learned this by studying hypnosis.
You should use it in every walk of life. Next time you want to tell someone to remember, instead of saying “Don’t forget to email me later” you say “remember to email me later”.
Otherwise you’re putting in the suggestion in the mind to “forget to email me later”.
It all comes down to this: your words create pictures in the minds of your prospect. You want them those pictures to ALL be favorable.
“Don’t delay…” is a terrible phrase because it runs the risk of them picturing in their mind “delaying”. Or it puts that word in their head.
Always try to keep good words and good pictures in their heads. And the easiest way to do that is what Robert suggest — avoid negative phrases.
There are exceptions. One of my favorite is “this is NOT some magic bullet”. If done right, it can link your product to a picture of a magic bullet. Same thing with “This will NOT make your rich overnight.” Puts that picture in their head of becoming rich over night.
The phrase “By now you must be wondering” is also great. First, it uses what hypnotists call a phonological ambiguity. By now or “Buy Now”? And “you must be wondering” is a direct command to get them to wonder about whatever you’re going to say next.
That’s so cool Michel popped in because Robert and I were talking on the phone and Robert said he checked out Michel’s letters and found that they were completely absent of the negative statements.
Now whatever you do, DON’T take this technique and put it to work in your life!
-Jason
Yep Jason, I have been careful about what language I use in everyday life too… but ONLY about certain keywords.
“Learn” is a big word I have been trying to avoid, even in a new e-book I just finished during the last precious minutes of my lunch break at work.
Learning implies work, or going to school (which most people hate), so instead of saying learn I always say something like discover, uncover, or find out… because I want to remove that from my vocabulary.
Yep, those are like some of the nots I left on the Fast Food Copywriting page because there was no harm in keeping them. For example:
“I’m Not A Fantastic Copywriter, But You Should Know I Wrote This Entire Sales Letter… In Under Two Hours.”
“All the while hoping your copywriter doesn’t hike up his fees for the extra time spent.”
A sales letter I threw together a couple of years ago has this headlne:
“I Am SORRY! I Cannot Show You How to Make $8,147.92 in 27 Minutes!”
Well, I can tell you I’m not perfect and sometimes I do let a few of them slip in, here and there. (Gosh knows I write like I speak, and often I say negatives, too.)
BUT that’s why editing and testing is soooo important. 😉
Speaking of “buts”…
I agree. One of the most negative words we use is the word “but.” “Buts” can turn any message, which in essence may be positive, into a negative.
Plus, a statement followed by the word “but” subtly communicates that, what was said up to that point was a lie and what follows is now the truth.
It’s the proverbial “other shoe dropping.”
When I first learned about this technique, I realized that it made me remember when a former girlfriend back in high school dumped me.
She said to me: “Michel, you’re a really nice guy and I really like going out with you, BUT…”
(Bummer.)
I didn’t care if she thought I was nice. And I knew that it was only meant to soften the blow — but it was still a blow, nonetheless.
So use “and” and then focus on the positive instead.
For example, you’re a website designer. Instead of saying to your client, “It’s a great website but expensive,” say “it’s a great website AND worth every cent.”
Or instead of, “it’s a great website, BUT it’s going to take a month to create it,” say “it’s a great website AND we will get it up and running in just a month.”
Big difference.
I love this stuff. Thanks, Robert! I just want to throw one more thought into the ring: Joe Vitale uses the word “Stop” effectively. He’s very intentional about it, and I’ve played around with it but haven’t done any testing.
Basically, what he does is get the reader cruising along, reading his copy (while being hypnotized). Then suddenly, he’ll start a new paragraph with one word: STOP.
The next paragraph will tell the reader to go back over what he just said and really take it in, really understand the levels of meaning in the concept he’s teaching or selling.
It feels like he’s putting his hand up in front of my eyes to get my attention and focus on him. To bring my focus back to what he’s saying. To be more awake & conscious.
Any thoughts about this technique?
Liz
Hello from beautiful Montana:
Wow! Someone suggested your site on Facebook (oh yeah Ron Capps) because I am struggling with writing copy.
I can write a whole book, but a sales letter is another thing.
Thanks,
Judy H. Wright aka Auntie Artichoke, family relationship coach and author
http://www.ArtichokePress.com
I have to say that this is one of the most informative posts I have ever read and I will be taking action on it right away. It’s strange how the mind works. Is it natural or because of conditioning? Makes you think doesn’t it?
This is so important for article writers to know and remember and use! Thanks for such a terrific and positive post. It is true even in our everyday lives, the language we use is powerful and can produce results we aspire to.
I have been trying to reduce how often I use “but” because that seems to negate the part of the sentence that comes before it. So something like “yet” or “also” seems more neutral or affirming.
Hi Robert,
Thanks for this great eye-opening post!
This is something I do not even have to take a note for, it will always stay in my grey mass between my ears!
Regards Marcel
Hi,
One tip I got from Carl Galletti was to replace the word “but” and “yet”
in my copy by the word “and”.
It will not cover all cases, of course, but it can be used on
many ocasions to create better copy flow.
Hum…
Let me rephrase above the word “but”!
It will not cover all cases and can used on many ocasions
to create better copy flow.
Makes sense?
Frederico
Frederico,
It will not cover all cases, HOWEVER, it can be used on many occasions to create better copy flow 🙂
Alex
Great post
I can almost imagine a time in the future, say a few weeks from now writing a salesletter and looking back thinking that this information really made a huge difference in making the conversions go through the roof.
Thats another nlp trick there, talk about a time in the future where the prospect is looking back into the past and seeing the purchase decision as a life altering moment.
Elliot, you have that right on. A good nlp technique that I have overlooked. Thanks for sharing it here.
Robert,
STOP!
do NOT think of posting to your blog once a week or less.. it is NOT the way to keep me reading… BUT do release some new products already!
😀