The Important Rule Of Belief

Yesterday we had a discussion at our conference table regarding the enormous number of e-mails and web site promotions we get … all badly crafted … promising the world if we purchased the product or service being promoted.

In today’s skeptical, over-marketed world, with our search for more powerful claims, we can forget too easily one very important copywriting rule:

Never make your claim bigger than your proof. Then, always join the claim and proof at the hip in your headline. This allows you to never trumpet one without the other. If you remember this rule, there is no more powerful or consistent way to explode your response. Surround your claims right up front with stronger, bolder proof and watch your response soar. Why? Because you have created belief. This is particularly true if you are building content copy for your website.

The famous copywriter, Gary Bencivenga says, “Whenever you face the question: ‘Which of these headlines or main themes will likely outpull the other?’ One of the most reliable ways to know in advance, without spending a dime or precious time on testing, is to ask: ‘Which headline offers the more compelling proof?’

Your prospects are not morons. They are as savvy as you. They can spot sales hype miles away. Hype your copy and they will stop reading your e-mails and web pages right away. This is why the smartest, most reliable way to get a prospect to read your message and respond is not to crank up the volume on your promise. That just makes it look like a bigger pile of hype and disbelief.

With this in mind, take the following two headlines … which one promises the reader more proof?

Headline (A.) Tension Headache?

Headline (B.) When Doctors Have Tension Headaches, What Do They Do?

When John Caples tested these two headlines, headline “B” won by a fat and happy 71%

Gary is so right …. He says, remember this always:

Almost everyone in the world, in every field of endeavor, is desperately searching for someone to believe in. Belief is today’s most overlooked, most powerful key to boosting response in any medium.

To learn more about copywriting's important rules of belief, go to:
http://netwriting.sitesell.com/harsonhill.html