The rise and rise of TL;DR marketing

 

I don’t get it. Your products save customers millions and make user experiences so much better, yet your opening online messaging fails to articulate a clear, concise or even compelling reason why anyone should buy what it is you’re offering. So why do you think they’ll read on?

There are many reasons why visitors might not dwell on your content. Some you cannot always control, yet there is one critical step that far too many of us overlook that is easily rectified. In fact, once you adopt it, you’ll save yourself a ton of time and probably gain more customers.

I’m talking about ‘TOO MUCH COPY’.

Research has shown that 55% of visitors typically read for 15-20 seconds before they get bored (or disengaged) and move on to something else. That’s not a lot of time to convincingly hook them to stay a little longer. Given that the average Joe reads around 250-300 words per minute, you’re looking at about 75-100 words before they’re gone.

What’s the benefit of padding out your content with industry challenges if your reader’s going to have left before you get to the big reveal that will help solve all of their problems?

Instead, try writing your entire communication in less than 300 words with these 4 simple guidelines:

  1. What is it you are offering (or promising) to do for your customer?
  2. What’s in it for them if they take up the offer?
  3. Who else has invested in (or taken up) the offer and what are they saying about it?
  4. What action do you want your reader to take now that they have this information?

Word Count: 280

Agree/disagree? Speak up!