The article "Long Copy vs. Short Copy... If You're Still Debating This,
You're Missing The Point!" talks about copywriting, it was created by Eric Graham.
I’ve seen that ongoing debate debate jump up again recently in
several Blogs and message boards and I can’t help but laugh.
It’s not a new debate… Ever for the long copy masetrs of the
early 1900’s, human being have been arguing for or against the
practice.
As a copywriter and conversion specialist, convincing my clients
to test longer copy on their websites is often a really difficult
task.
After all, online cutsomers have microscopic attention
spans and are always in a hurry to move on.
Different visitors have different goals, different personalities
and different buying styles. Some visitors will want to read
everything you can give them beofre buying and then they still
need “more information” before they can decide. Others just want
to know “what are you selling”, “what does it do for me” and
“how much is it” and they want to know it NOW!
It may sound like an impossible task to write copy that sells
both of them… After all if you cut your copy to bone to sell the
second visitor, you won’t have enough information to persuade
the first visitor.
And, if you waste the second visitors time by
forcing them to read a 20 page sales letter to “get to the
meat”, they will leave.
(Fortunately, there is a way to satisfy BOTH of them on the same
page… But more on that in a minute…)
There are two basic camps in that debate… The first group says
“Long copy ALWAYS outsells short copy”, while the second group
says stuff like “…as a consumer, I don’t have time to read all
that copy. I’ll NEVER buy from long copy.”
The part that makes me laugh is that 90% of the human being in BOTH
camps have never scientifically tested copy of ANY length! They
make these statements of absolute facts, with no test results to
back up their claims.
The truth is, sometimes long copy out pulls short copy and
sometimes short copy out pulls long copy. But you have to TEST
it to know which is giong to work for your site and your target
demographic.
(Actually there is one absolute when it comes to
copy… Good copy always outsells Bad copy, regardless of length!)
Another thing to keep in mind is, just because you codnuct a
test and find that a shorter version out pulls a longer version,
don’t automatically assume that “short copy is better than long
copy”. If you are testing a clear, attention grabbing short
message against a long, boring message, your test is not going
to tell you much.
Its much like comments I get from time to time abuot using audio
as a sales tool on websites. Occasionally a client will tell me
“we tested using audio and it didn’t work”.
Well… Just testing
audio vs. no audio, doesn’t mean your test result is valid.
Perhaps your message was not effective, mabye they didn’t like
your voice.
You need to test multiple audio srcipts and even
multiple speakers, before you can draw a valid conclusion.
In the end the length of the copy is irrelevant, the response
rate is what matters.
>From my own testing I have found, as long as you keep your
reader interested, keep your copy active and ensure a good flow,
longer copy usually out performs short.
To often, human being who have heard that “long copy is better”,
write long copy for the sake of long copy. The result is usually
long-boring copy.
Adding more words, just to have longer copy is
missing the point… The copy still needs to be tight, clean and
laser focused.
The good news is, if your prospect is truly qualified and in
real need (or want) of your product or service, they will read
everything you give them, as long as you keep it interesting.
My friend (and long copy sales letter king) Michel Fortin
recently posted an excellent article to his Blog about how to
keep long copy interesting. You can read it here:
http://michelfortin.Com/archives/2005/05/how_to_write_co.Htm
At the beginning I told you that there is a way to write your
copy to persuade and keep the interest of both long copy AND
short copy fans.
You can cater to both visitor types by using “Dual Readership
Paths”.
You do that by using your headlines and sub-headlines
within your copy to tell the “scan and buy” visitors everything
they need to know to make their buying decision.
By creatively
using your sub-headlines and bullet points you can persuade
those who do not have the time to read your entire message,
without sacrificing needed benefits and copy for those who won’t
buy without a “full” explanation of your product or service.
The bottom line is this…
The LENGTH of your copy is not what is important, it is the
EFFECTIVENESS and response rate that matters.
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