"Stuffed: What does the day after Thanksgiving have to do with great copywriting? Plenty" by David Garfinkel
He's an ex-Marine and a college dropout. He was the Dave Barry of an earlier generation; on October 20 he turned 79 . In the liberal suburban Washington, DC-area household where I spent my first 18 years, columnist Art Buchwald was a hero.
He's still a hero of mine. I don't buy his politics but I love his sense of humor. And I greedily lust after his track record.
In 1952 (or 1953, depending on who you want to believe), Mr. Buchwald wrote a very silly (and well worth tracking down) column called "Explaining Thanksgiving to the French." It concludes:
And so, on the fourth Thursday in November, American families sit down at a large table brimming with tasty dishes, and for the only time during the year eat better than the French do.
True? Maybe; maybe not. One thing's for sure: On Turkey Day we definitely eat more than French do, no matter how many courses their feast is!
As I was filling myself up with turkey and trimmings yesterday, I couldn't help but think how what we do to our stomachs on Thanksgiving is exactly the same thing expert copywriters do to create home-run sales promotions. That is...
... we stuff our offers with appetizing value. Almost to the point of bursting.
This is exactly what Jim Edwards and I did when we put together eBook Secrets Exposed: How to Make Massive Amounts of Money with Your Own eBook (Whether You Wrote It Or Not!)
As you can imagine, there's so much information you need to know, to successfully create and market an ebook. Several libraries could be filled with other books that have only tackled one portion of the topics we covered.
What we decided to do was create bonuses - five of them, in fact - over and above the 191 pages of no-fat how-to material that went into the main book. The five extra bonuses we created come with the book.
But we still had more information, and we made a strategic marketing decision -- a very good one, it turned out -- to send people four additional unadvertised bonuses, at the rate of one a week, for four weeks.
That's a little like overloading the groaning board and still leaving unexpected surprises in the kitchen, don't you agree?
Now you might think this is slicing the salami too thin, but I would beg to differ. The way people absorb information -- even speed learners and Photo Readers -- is one topic at a time.
And we were not merely dispensing knowledge, but actually laying out action plans and supplementing them with detailed directions, suggestions and illustrations every step of the way. So we knew that even the fastest learners (and most prodigious action-takers) could only take in, and do, so much at any given time.
Are you starting to see how we actually delivered more value by adding nine bonuses to our main product (which, by itself, covered more than enough topics to get the most detail-oriented ebook publisher on his or her way and into the black)?
Yes, we "stuffed" our offer... and then we added extra trimmings and dessert, unannounced. Bonus bonuses, as it were.
It's worked pretty well. In Las Vegas two weeks ago I was having dinner with a friend who I didn't realize was also a customer of Jim's and mine. She told me how amazed she was that we kept "piling on the value" week after week, after she thought she'd gotten all she had paid for.
And just yesterday, a gentleman in South Africa bought a copy of the book online. People keep buying it. Does our stuffing strategy have anything to do with it?
I think it does. I can't prove it. But I've seen more examples that confirm it than examples to the contrary.
What's your experience been? As a buyer or a seller? Does cramming more value into an offer create additional sales, and make a customer feel more satisfied?
I'd love for you to leave a comment.
Here's my reasoning as to why it makes sense to break massive amounts of value into smaller components... bundle the components together into a single offer... and then highlight the value of each component in your copy:
It fits right into the habitual behavior of your customers, and how they are already used to measuring pleasure and worth.
Look at how people "consume" at the most basic level: One bite at a time.
Just the way they would enjoy an overflowing Thanksgiving table in America. Or a full 7-course meal in France.
Let me know what you think.
David Garfinkel is one of the best copywriters on the internet and was a speaker at Armand Morin's Big Seminar Series and Carl Galletti's Internet Marketing Super Conference. You can learn more about his books and training courses by clicking the links below.
David Garfinkel is founder of the World Copywriting institute and is considered by many people to be the best teacher of copywriting in the world. The stated mission of the World Copywriting Institute is to “eradicate copywriting illiteracy in the world.” Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the world’s best selling series of marketing books, Guerrilla Marketing, says, “David Garfinkel is the best copywriter I know.” Sign up for David’s free World Copywriting Newsletter. and you get a free one-hour downloadable teleseminar on copywriting. Also visit David’s World Copywriting Blog:
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