The Psychology of
Copywriting

Services feel more valuable in the present tense.

After inspecting a home, a contractor might say:

• Past: Faucet looked good.
• Present: Faucet looks good.

Each sentence activates a different mental image:

• Faucet looked good. Work is completed.
• Faucet looks good. Work is still happening. Even now.

In one study, people believed that John painted more houses when they read an ongoing action (John was painting houses) instead of a completed action (John painted houses; Matlock, 2011).

Ongoing frames depict a mental image of the labor:

It also happens with customer reviews.

Researchers analyzed 2 million Amazon reviews, and they confirmed that reviews get more helpful votes when they're framed in the present tense (Fang & Maglio, 2024).

• ...was great. Benefits have stopped.
• ...will be great. Benefits haven't happened yet.
• ...is great. Benefits are still happening.

Takeaways:

• Check Your Service-Related Copy. When possible, frame completed actions in the present. Check service reports, sales calls, outreach messages, and customer support.

• Fang, D., & Maglio, S. J. (2024). Time perspective and helpfulness: Are communicators more persuasive in the past, present, or future tense? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 110, 104544.
• Matlock, T. (2011). The conceptual motivation of aspect. Motivation in Grammar and the Lexicon, 27, 133.

Don’t think of a pink elephant.

Well, your brain needs to activate a pink elephant to understand the previous sentence.

Same with sales copy. Our product:

• Doesn’t leak.
• Has no BPA.
• Won’t scratch your car.

Negative frames depict the absence of something, yet customers need to imagine these negative events to understand the meaning (see Béna et al., 2023).

Therefore, write sentences that depict pleasant events.

• Negative: Won’t damage skin.
• Positive: Soft and gentle on skin.

Alternatively, morph negative words into positive frames:

• Leak-proof
• BPA-free
• Scratch-free

“Doesn’t leak” generates an image of something leaking, but “leak-proof” generates an image of durable material.

Caveats

• Negations Are Okay. Negative frames contain ideas with a negative valence (e.g, damage, leaking, scratching), but regular negations (e.g., prices have never been lower) can be persuasive (Pezzuti & Leonhardt, 2023).

• Béna, J., Mauclet, A., & Corneille, O. (2023). Does co-occurrence information influence evaluations beyond relational meaning? An investigation using self-reported and mouse-tracking.... Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(4), 968.
• Pezzuti, T., & Leonhardt, J. M. (2023). What’s not to like? Negations in brand messages increase consumer engagement. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 51(3), 675-694.

Copy should flow seamlessly.

How can you tell whether copy is flowing? Read it aloud.

Copy is read through inner speech: You speak these words in your mind (Yao & Scheepers, 2015).

Thus, copy that is hard to say will be hard to read.

Add variety too (e.g., different words, sentence lengths). Eating the same food becomes repetitive and boring without variety (Rolls et al., 1981). Copy is no different.

What to Diversify

• Starting Phonemes. I found a patio set on Target that described “sling-style seating” and “space-saving storage" which are tongue twisters. Alliteration can be persuasive in branding and advertising, but it can be a detriment in long-form copy. People are slower to read sentences with repeated sounds: The sparrow snatched the spider swiftly off the ceiling (McCutchen et al., 1991).
• Ending Phonemes. Likewise, replace “sling seating” with "sling chairs."
• Adjoining Phonemes. It's hard to read “chairs sling” because of the adjoining “s” phoneme.
• Word Length. It's hard to read many small words (e.g., free you up to do the things you love).
• Sentence Length. Read these short sentences. The writing might seem fine. Heck, it might seem engaging. But soon you’ll notice something. This writing is becoming repetitive. Your brain wants a change. It's bored with short sentences. It wants a long sentence. So let’s add a long sentence. Notice how this new sentence feels refreshing and invigorating because of its lengthy prose; it feels like a breath of fresh air that your brain has been seeking.
• Emotional Content. Movies and written copy are more successful when they shift unpredictably between different emotions (Berger et al., 2021).
• Bold and Italics. Especially on emotional words—like exciting or frustrating. Readers internally speak these words with stronger emotionality, intensifying their engagement (Yao & Scheepers, 2015).

Related Applications

• Sequence Words in Alphabetical Order. Customers preferred the slogan Bufferil eases pain because each word was positioned in alphabetical order. Something felt right (King & Auschaitrakul, 2020)

• Berger, J., Kim, Y. D., & Meyer, R. (2021). What makes content engaging? How emotional dynamics shape success. Journal of Consumer Research, 48(2), 235-250.
• King, D., & Auschaitrakul, S. (2020). Symbolic sequence effects on consumers’ judgments of truth for brand claims. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 30(2), 304-313.
• McCutchen, D., Bell, L. C., France, I. M., & Perfetti, C. A. (1991). Phoneme-specific interference in reading: The tongue-twister effect revisited. Reading Research Quarterly, 87-103.
• Rolls, B. J., Rolls, E. T., Rowe, E. A., & Sweeney, K. (1981). Sensory specific satiety in man. Physiology & behavior, 27(1), 137-142.
• Yao, B., & Scheepers, C. (2015). Inner voice experiences during processing of direct and indirect speech. Explicit and implicit prosody in sentence processing: Studies in honor of Janet Dean Fodor, 287-307.

Are emojis persuasive?

They can be. AirBnb hosts increase their bookings when they include smiling emojis in messages (Shuqair et al., 2024).

But you need to be careful.

Emojis Should Be

• Supplemental. Don't replace copy (e.g., it's so 😂). You should be to remove emojis without reducing comprehension (e.g., it's so funny 😂). Indeed, supplemental emojis get more likes, retweets, clicks, and purchases (Maiberger et al., 2023).
• End of Sentences. Use them as a supplement conclusion. Keep this in mind 🧠.
• Facial. Smiling faces activate contagion — viewers are triggered to smile because their facial muscles become activated. Indeed, anthropomorphized emojis induce more engagement (Shuqair et al., 2024).
• Positive. Facial emojis activate whichever emotion is depicted. Researchers confirmed this effect in a text exchange with AirBnb hosts. Compared to no emojis: Happy emojis increased satisfaction while confirming the booking, whereas sad emojis decreased satisfaction while mentioning a delay (Shuqair et al., 2024). No emojis are better than sad emojis.

Other Applications

• Use Many Emojis to Grab Attention. Based on 200k AirBnB listings, new sellers increase their bookings when they insert multiple emojis in their listings because they stand out (Orazi et al., 2023). But the emojis needed to be supplemental; substitutive emojis reduced conversions.
• Don't Mix Emojis and GIFs. Including both reduced app subscriptions and usage because the UI looked cluttered (Bashirzadeh et al., 2022).

• Bashirzadeh, Y., Mai, R., & Faure, C. (2022). How rich is too rich? Visual design elements in digital marketing communications. International journal of research in marketing, 39(1), 58-76.
• Maiberger, T., Schindler, D. & Koschate-Fischer, N. Let’s face it: When and how facial emojis increase the persuasiveness of electronic word of mouth. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. (2023).
• Orazi, D. C., Ranjan, B., & Cheng, Y. (2023). Non-face emojis in digital marketing: Effects, contingencies, and strategic recommendations. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 51(3), 570-597.
• Shuqair, S., Pinto, D. C., Herter, M. M., & Mattila, A. (2024). Emojis as heuristic cues: The multifaceted role of emojis in online service interactions. Journal of Consumer Behaviour.

Do you know what zal means? Me neither.

Researchers found that meaningless descriptions (e.g., zal fried chicken) reduced sales. These products seemed more expensive, yet worse in quality (Baskin, & Liu, 2021).

It’s not just zal. Marketers sprinkle impressive words (e.g., industrial, disruptive, esoteric) in their copy, yet these words remain meaningless to many customers.

Exceptions might exist, but you could probably remove these words from your materials:

• Beverage: full-bodied
• Restaurant: artisanal
• Furniture: industrial
• Tech: disruptive
• Fashion: esoteric
• Beauty: opulent
• Household: eco-friendly
• Luxury: avant-garde

• Baskin, E., & Liu, P. J. (2021). Meaningless descriptors increase price judgments and decrease quality judgments. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 31(2), 283-300.

Linguistic traits convey meaning.

For example, prices seem numerically larger if the font size is larger (Coulter & Coulter, 2005). You think: Hmm, something feels big, It must be the price.

Same with copywriting. Read this sentence from a coffee brewer:

• ...effortlessly simple to use - just add fresh water to the reservoir, pop in your favorite pod, press the brew button and enjoy fresh brewed, delicious coffee in minutes.

The message? Brewing coffee is simple.

The problem? This sentence is long and complex.

Instead, try this version:

• ...effortlessly simple to use: Just add water, pop in your favorite pod, and press the brew button. Enjoy fresh brewed, delicious coffee in minutes.

To convey a quick and simple process, you need a sentence that – itself – is quick and simple.

Same with other traits. Want to portray:

• A variety of features? Insert a variety of words.
• Consistent quality? Repeat the same phrase.
• Fun experience? Insert words that are fun to say (e.g., hullabaloo, bamboozle).

• Coulter, K. S., & Coulter, R. A. (2005). Size does matter: The effects of magnitude representation congruency on price perceptions and purchase likelihood. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(1), 64-76.

Your copy should have linguistic continuity.

Customers imagine a series of mental images:

...subjects try to integrate each incoming sentence into a single coherent mental model (Ehrlich & Johnson-Laird, 1982, p. 296).

Write your copy to maintain this seamless flow of imagery.

End Sentences With a Concrete Image

Avoid ending sentences with prepositions:

• Don't Say: What time are you leaving at?
• Say: When are you leaving?

Prepositions often imply that an object is appearing next, so the abrupt ending feels jarring.

Begin Sentences With the Previous Object

Read these sentences:

• The knife is in front of the pot. The glass is behind the dish. The pot is on the left of the glass.

Confusing, right? But you can ease the readability by swapping the last two sentences:

• The knife is in front of the pot. The pot is on the left of the glass. The glass is behind the dish.

Start sentences with the ending idea from the previous sentence so that you maintain an unbroken flow of imagery (Ehrlich & Johnson-Laird, 1982).

Bind Sentences With Connective Words

Readers want coherence markers:

• Additive: and, or
• Temporal: then, next
• Adversative: but, though
• Causal: because, so

Causal markers like because and so are especially persuasive. Customers often read on autopilot, searching for any words that signal justification even if the underlying reason is weak (Langer et al., 1978).

Adhere to the Same Subject

Sometimes I'll catch myself intermingling subjects:

• Customers are influenced by...
• We are influenced by...
• You are influenced by...

But these small adjustments change the key protagonist in mental images.

• Kamalski, J. (2007). Coherence Marking, Comprehension and Persuasion on the processing and representations of discourse (Doctoral dissertation, Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics).
• Langer, E. J., Blank, A., & Chanowitz, B. (1978). The mindlessness of ostensibly thoughtful action: The role of" placebic" information in interpersonal interaction. Journal of personality and social psychology, 36(6), 635.

Customers group nearby objects.

Two nearby objects can fuse into a single object.

Same with words.

Customers don’t translate individual words into a mental image. They translate clusters of words.

For example, a "small $5 fee" seems cheaper than a "$5 fee" because customers infuse the idea of smallness into the price (Rick et al., 2008).

Same with positive descriptions:

• Customers find that the chair is comfortable.
• Customers find the chair comfortable.

The chair seems more comfortable in the second version because of this spatial proximity (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980).

How to Apply

• Place Assurances Near Calls-to-Action. Buttons trigger simulations of the action. In other words, users imagine performing these actions to gauge how they feel — if they feel good, they click. Well, nearby statements can intensify these mental images. Add positive statements like: Instant Access, 100% Secure, 30-Day Guarantee.
• Move Negative Words to Be Further Away. Negative frames describe an absence of something negative: Our cream won't damage skin. But your brand will suffer because it's now placed near a negatively valenced word (e.g.,. damage; Béna et al., 2023). Perhaps healthy food packaging should also separate any negative descriptors (e.g., fat free, low sodium; see Mai & Hoffmann, 2015).

• Béna, J., Mauclet, A., & Corneille, O. (2023). Does co-occurrence information influence evaluations beyond relational meaning?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(4), 968.
• Coulter, K. S., & Coulter, R. A. (2005). Size does matter: The effects of magnitude representation congruency on price perceptions and purchase likelihood. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(1), 64-76.
• Rick, S. I., Cryder, C. E., & Loewenstein, G. (2008). Tightwads and spendthrifts. Journal of consumer research, 34(6), 767-782.
• Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). The metaphorical structure of the human conceptual system. Cognitive science, 4(2), 195-208.
• Mai, R., & Hoffmann, S. (2015). How to combat the unhealthy= tasty intuition: The influencing role of health consciousness. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 34(1), 63-83.

Most behaviors involve a motor action.

If you want customers to perform a behavior, activate the muscles involved in this behavior.

In one study, participants were asked to turn a knob once they understood a sentence. They turned the knob faster when this knob rotation (e.g., counter-clockwise) matched the rotation depicted in a sentence (e.g., Katie opened a water bottle) because these muscles became activated (Zwaan & Taylor, 2006).

How to Apply

• Tell Users to "Click" or "Tap" Buttons. These verbs activate relevant muscles, easing the perceived ability to click or tap.
• Tell Customers to "Walk" In. Retail signage often says "we're open" to entice nearby patrons, but a more direct "We're open — walk in" should pull more patrons.
• Include Hand Graphics. Add these graphics on tip jars, donation bins, vending machines, or any medium where customers insert money. Customers feel ownership of these hands (Luangrath et al., 2022).

• Show Graspable Cues Near Writing Tasks. Want customers to write something? Based on 7,000+ interactions, shoppers were 3x more likely to write their information for a loyalty program when the tabletop poster showed a vegetable peeler with the handle on the right, which primed the motor action of writing for right-handed shoppers (the majority of the population; Maille et al., 2020).

• Insert Textures Near Buttons. Customers can't imagine the feeling of a button, but they can imagine this bumpy texture. And they misattribute this ease of touching with a desire to touch

• Luangrath, A. W., Peck, J., Hedgcock, W., & Xu, Y. (2022). Observing product touch: The vicarious haptic effect in digital marketing and virtual reality. Journal of Marketing Research, 59(2), 306-326.
• Maille, V., Morrin, M., & Reynolds-McIlnay, R. (2020). On the other hand…: Enhancing promotional effectiveness with haptic cues. Journal of Marketing Research, 57(1), 100-117.
• Zwaan, R. A., & Taylor, L. J. (2006). Seeing, acting, understanding: motor resonance in language comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135(1), 1.

Buttons shouldn't impact a purchase.

But they do.

Customers evaluate purchase decisions by imagining two scenarios:

• Consuming a product (outcome)
• Acquiring a product (process)

Easy-to-click buttons can strengthen process simulations. Customers can easily imagine themselves completing the next step, blaming this vivid imagery on their desire to complete the next step.

Place Buttons In These Locations

• Bottom. Bottom locations feel physically closer to us. That's why purchase buttons on iPhones are located at the bottom of the device. Interestingly, though, it depends on height. In a pilot study, I confirmed that short people prefer buttons at the bottom of a screen, while tall people prefer buttons at the top of a screen.
• Right. My pilot studies confirmed that right-handers prefer buttons on the right, while left-handers prefer buttons on the left. Right-handers comprise most of the population, so these locations will usually convert better. That's why product pages typically place buy buttons toward the right side of desktop viewports.
• Foreground. Insert something behind buttons so they look physically closer.

Reading triggers inner speech.

You speak these words in your mind (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015).

Since buttons represent a 1st person declaration, they should produce inner speech that feels natural. Otherwise, something will feel wrong. And users will blame this negative emotion on the requested action.

How to Apply

• Mimic Their Tone of Voice. Avoid cutesy text (e.g., Count Me In) and exclamations (e.g., Buy Now!).
• Mention the Immediate Next Step. The text Buy on Amazon can feel weird because this step isn't immediate. After clicking this button, users would still need to read the product details and evaluate the purchase. The text View on Amazon feels more natural and less effortful.

Caveats

• Measure Conversions in Later Stages. Even though Buy on Amazon might reduce click-through rates, this text could increase conversions in later stages by extracting more commitment. Clicking this button will spark a battle of cognitive dissonance that requires users to reject this commitment to the purchase.

People distribute resources equally:

…[for] decision tasks in which people are called on to allocate a scarce resource (e.g., money, choices, belief) over a fixed set of possibilities (e.g., investment opportunities, consumption options, events)…they are biased toward even allocation. (Fox, Bardolet, & Lieb, 2005, p. 338) Investing $10,000?

If your options are stocks and mutual funds, you are biased toward equal dispersion—$5,000 in stocks, while $5,000 in mutual funds.

But now, you see a third option: Treasury bonds. Your dispersion will be further diluted—$3,333 in stocks; $3,333 in mutual funds; $3,333 in bonds.

The same effect occurs when pulling resources.

Suppose that you see two trays of food:

• Healthy
• Unhealthy

You are biased to pull an equal amount of food from each category.

But aha, we can influence this choice by partitioning the “healthy” category into multiple categories:

• Healthy—Vegetables
• Healthy—Fruit
• Unhealthy

The “healthy” category now comprises a larger percentage of the group. Less food will be chosen from the “unhealthy” category.

• Fox, C. R., Bardolet, D., & Lieb, D. (2005). Partition dependence in decision analysis, resource allocation, and consumer choice. In Experimental business research (pp. 229-251). Springer, Boston, MA.

Purchase buttons should look pretty.

When customers view a button, they contemplate the decision: Hmm, should I click?

A pretty button can activate positive emotions that become attributed to the decision: Hmm, something feels right. I must want to click.

Rejections are different. You don't want clicks. Follow the opposite advice and reduce the fluency of these options.

How to Apply

• Make Them Ugly. Weird fonts, wide spacing, or unbalanced designs. Customers blame this disfluency on the decision: Hmm, my gut is telling me to click the other option.
• Insert Unnatural Phrasing. Customers read button text inside their head; it's called inner speech. If it sounds natural — something they would typically say — they are more likely to click. But you want the opposite. Try replacing "No Thanks" with "Postpone the Decision."
• Insert Mean Phrasing. "No thanks" is common, yet polite and natural. Try a blunt "No."

Be careful with empty space.

Even though it can optimize visual layouts, it can also reduce persuasion.

Across 7 studies, messages were less persuasive when they were surrounded by empty space (Kwan, Dai, & Wyer, 2017).

Empty space is most harmful below arguments. Readers infer that you were unable to fill this space with additional reasons, so your message seems less credible.

"a communicator who intends to convey a strong opinion is likely to use all of the space available to elaborate his or her position, whereas a communicator who is less confident... may leave space unused." (Kwan, Dai, & Wyer Jr, 2017, p. 450)

Plus, it triggers an anchoring effect. Your benefits might "feel smaller" if they consume a small fraction of available space.

Try shrinking this canvas so that customers receive 100% of potential benefits.

• Kwan, C. M., Dai, X., & Wyer Jr, R. S. (2017). Contextual influences on message persuasion: The effect of empty space. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(2), 448-464.

Consider a clothing store.

If a customer is trying a shirt, a salesperson could say:

• THAT looks great!
• That TOP looks great!
• That SHIRT looks great!
• That GREEN T-SHIRT looks great!

Each subsequent example instills a more concrete image.

And this imagery is persuasive. Customers imagine themselves using your product, so this imagery intensifies their emotional response because they can simulate the benefits.

Find and replace any vague placeholders in your copy too.

• Vague: This service can…
• Concrete: This makeover can…

Or consider support messages.

You might hear: I can’t add a new product to your order. But you can cancel the current order, then add a new item.

This specialist should be customizing the message: I can’t add those jeans to your order. But you can cancel the shoes, then add the jeans.

Tailored responses are more persuasive (Packard & Berger, 2021).

• Packard, G., & Berger, J. (2021). How concrete language shapes customer satisfaction. Journal of Consumer Research, 47(5), 787-806.

There's a recent finding called the mere newness preference (Jie & Li, 2022).

How does it work? 

Well, I just called it a “recent” finding. Based on this mere newness, you think the study is more important. Even though it could be garbage.

Researchers argue that it stems from evolution:

“Over millennia of evolution, humans have developed a taste for fresh foods due to their greater nutrition content and disgust toward decaying foods due to their possibility for illness.” (Jie & Li, 2022, p. 2)

I suspect that it's also proximity: Since you live in the present, new products feel subconsciously closer to you:

A study from 20 years ago might seem boring, while a new study – even if it were the same finding – would seem relevant and impactful because it’s closer to you.

Practical Techniques:

• Choose the Most Recent Framing. Whether it's the production date, release date, purchase date, etc.
• Indicate When Products Are New. Customers want fresh cars at a dealership over identical cars that have been sitting on the lot, even if nobody has driven them. 
• Mention New Arrivals. Products seem more appealing if customers know they arrived in a recent shipment.
• Offer Limited Editions. These products are inherently new.
• Highlight Product Updates. This knowledge numbs the pain from rising prices
• Reframe Scarcity. Mentioning scarcity (e.g., “only 2 left”) could backfire if these products are viewed as the oldest units in a batch. Try the opposite (“newly arrived 2 days ago”). Instead of motivating customers to buy leftover options that nobody wanted, motivate them to buy fresh options that won’t stay fresh much longer. 

It works outside of ecommerce too:

• Jie, Y., & Li, Y. (2022). Chronological cues and consumers’ preference for mere newness. Journal of Retailing, 98(3), 527-541.

Visualization is motivating.

Help readers simulate how they'd feel using your product, revealing their desire and motivation to buy.

How to Apply

• Write Concrete Features. Describe cookies in terms of “bags” or “pieces” (rather than “ounces” or “grams”) to help them visualize this experience (Monnier & Thomas, 2022).
• Write Concrete Actions. Stop writing vague tasks in your calendar, like "study" at 2pm. What does ”study” mean? Study chemistry? Memorize notecards? Read a textbook? If an action is harder to imagine, it feels harder to do. Write concrete tasks, like review past exams. Same with calls to action: Replace vague requests (e.g., sign up for an account) with concrete steps (e.g., create a username and password).
• Write Concrete Benefits. What does “easy to use” software mean? Why is it easy? Minimal features? Beautiful interface? Quick onboarding? Automates tasks? Novices can use it? Likewise, what does durable mean? No tearing? Withstands damage? Heavy? Long-lasting? Replace all of these common culprits: quality, powerful, high-performance, fast, reliable, premier, best.
• Fill Sentences With Related Words. Your brain is a web of knowledge — activating one concept will activate related concepts because of spreading activation. For example, reading DEEP, SALTY, FOAM will spread activation toward the related concept SEA (Collins & Loftus, 1975; Topolinski & Strack, 2008). Therefore, try filling sentences with semantically related words. Selling a coffee brewer? Replace "make coffee" with "brew coffee" so that these two words — brew and coffee — merge their activation into a stronger burst, resulting in more vivid imagery.
• Match All Word Meanings. All meanings of a word become activated when read. For example, you might see a "Surprise Me" feature in content platforms (e.g., Netflix, Spotify, TikTok). You expect to see output that is unknown, but you also expect this output to be unusual because both meanings are activated from surprise (Schumacher et al., 2024). Perhaps these results should also be displayed in a sudden and jolting way to align with an additional meaning of startling.
• Arrange Words to Create a Single Meaning. In the following copy for a kitchen bundle, I emphasized a portion that translates into a mental image in which you are spoonfeeding a wall decal: From a microwave oven, coffee maker, mini refrigerator, serveware and utility cart to help you prepare and serve food to wall decals, rugs and letterboards to bring decorative flair to your space, this dorm room kitchen collection ensures your limited space is effectively utilized.

• Monnier, A., & Thomas, M. (2022). Experiential and analytical price evaluations: How experiential product description affects prices. Journal of Consumer Research, 49(4), 574-594.
• Schumacher, A., Goukens, C., Geyskens, K., & Nielsen, J. H. (2024). Revisiting surprise appeals: How surprise labeling curtails consumption. Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Do you ask rhetorical questions?

Like the previous question?

If not, try them. Readers evaluate these messages more carefully:

Rhetorical questions tend to invite a response from the message recipient, overt or otherwise…[This] may increase the certainty of one’s attitudes through an implicit response (Blankenship & Craig, 2006, p. 124)

In fact, these questions can distort reality. Read this sentence:

• If you win the lottery, what would you do?

You just read an IF-THEN statement. Even though the IF portion is hypothetical, winning the lottery now feels more realistic because you imagined this scenario.

Running a giveaway contest? Ask people what they would do if they won the prize or money. This imagery will entice them to participate because they will feel more likely to win.

But this technique can work in any scenario:

• If you [desired behavior], how would…

Examples:

• If you watch this course…
• If you work with our team…
• If you create an account…

. . . if–then statements trigger a mental simulation process in which people suppose the antecedent (if statement) to be true and evaluate the consequent (then statement) in that context . . . evaluating a conditional will heighten belief in its antecedent more than in its consequent (Hadjichristidis et al., 2007, p. 2052).

Or replace if with a stronger hypothetical:

• If is uncertain
• When is certain, but before the event
• After is certain, and after the event has happened (thus most vivid)

Caveats

• Reactance. Don't be pushy or manipulative.
• Leave Something to Be Desired. People who imagined eating candy subsequently ate less candy because they satiated their desire. Perhaps keep uncertainty for inconsequential actions (Morewedge et al., 2010).

• Hadjichristidis, C., Handley, S. J., Sloman, S. A., Evans, J. S. B., Over, D. E., & Stevenson, R. J. (2007). Iffy beliefs: Conditional thinking and belief change. Memory & cognition, 35(8), 2052-2059.
• Morewedge, C. K., Huh, Y. E., & Vosgerau, J. (2010). Thought for food: Imagined consumption reduces actual consumption. Science, 330(6010), 1530-1533.

Everyone is self-interested.

But not always.

Sometimes you can boost persuasion by describing how a specific action could benefit other people.

For example, a hospital influenced more people to wash their hands when they described the benefit toward patients (Grant & Hofmann, 2011).

• Hand hygiene prevents you from catching diseases.
• Hand hygiene prevents patients from catching diseases.

Why It Works

• Blind Optimism. Nobody expects a car accident to happen, so they feel unmotivated to buy something that might prevent one. Therefore, describe how this decision (or lack thereof) could impact other people. Suddenly readers are no longer gambling their own safety – they are gambling the safety of their family and loved ones.
• Emotional Transfer. Mentioning "your family" can transfer positive emotions to the product (Fisher et al., 2023).

How to Apply

• Frame Discounts for a Significant Other. Mention other people who can benefit from your coupon (Fisher et al., 2023). You'll also activate a specific budget (e.g., family budget), narrowing the scope and capability of these funds so they feel less painful to spend (Pomerance & Reinholtz, 2024).

• Grant, A. M., & Hofmann, D. A. (2011). It’s not all about me: Motivating hand hygiene among health care professionals by focusing on patients. Psychological science, 22(12), 1494-1499.
• Fisher, G., McGranaghan, M., Liaukonyte, J., & Wilbur, K. C. (2023). Price promotions, beneficiary framing, and mental accounting. Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 21(2), 147-181.
• Pomerance, J., & Reinholtz, N. (2024). Cut me some slack! How perceptions of financial slack influence pain of payment. Psychology & Marketing, 41(5), 1100-1114.

What is your product benefit?

Some products create an increase or decrease:

• Skin creams reduce wrinkles
• Shampoos increase silkiness
• Air fresheners remove odors

And you might depict a separate change:

• Increase in skin cells
• Increase in blood flow
• Reduction of hormones

Both directions should be consistent even if they're unrelated (Bharti & Sussman, 2024).

Customers preferred:

• An energy supplement that increased a hormone
• A sleep supplement that decreased a hormone

Why It Works

• Processing Fluency. Something feels right, and we blame the product.

How to Apply

• Tweak Your Explanation. Does your cream reduce wrinkles? Describe the reduction of collagen, rather than the increasing turnover of skin cells (Bharti & Sussman, 2024).
• Tweak Your Branding. Does your supplement reduce anxiety by increasing chemicals? Swap your positioning so that it increases calmness.
• Describe an Increase When Possible. Explanations with an increase often converted better. Similar effects occur with size: Bigger seems better, even if size is irrelevant to actual benefits (Silvera et al., 2002).

Related Applications

• Align Directionality of Discounts. Which is better: save 30% or get 30% off? It depends on the directionality of the purchase: Discounts should reduce losses for prevention needs (e.g., save 30% on a first aid kit), but increase gains for acquisition needs (e.g., extra 30% off for bulk purchases; Ramanathan & Dhar, 2010).

• Bharti, S., & Sussman, A. B. (2024). Consumers Prefer Products That Work Using Directionally Consistent Causal Chains. Journal of Consumer Research, ucae066.
• Ramanathan, S., & Dhar, S. K. (2010). The effect of sales promotions on the size and composition of the shopping basket: Regulatory compatibility from framing and temporal restrictions. Journal of Marketing Research, 47(3), 542-552.
• Silvera, D. H., Josephs, R. A., & Giesler, R. B. (2002). Bigger is better: The influence of physical size on aesthetic preference judgments. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 15(3), 189-202.

You’re reading this tactic.

But why? How did you make this decision?

Before clicking, you imagined reading it, using this mental imagery to gauge your desire. Did this imagery feel good? Then you clicked this tactic.

In every decision, you simulate two events:

• Outcome: What happens afterward?
• Process: What steps are required?

Those are the benefits and costs, respectively.

Next, you subtract these emotions to calculate the “net” value of the decision.

For example, should you buy a new suit? You will simulate the outcome (e.g., looking good, getting hired), then compare these positive emotions to the negative emotions of the process (e.g., spending money, spending time to find a suit) resulting in a surplus or deficit.

How to Apply

• Show the Unboxing. Show an image or video of somebody opening a delivery that contains your product. Ease their ability to imagine buying your product: Hmm, do I want to buy this pot? I can picture myself buying it. Therefore, I must want to buy it.

Doesn't 100% feel enticing?

• 100% organic
• 100% guarantee
• 100% effective

And sure, those examples are likely persuasive.

But consider these claims:

• 100% juice
• 100% milk
• 100% tasty

Some marketers inject 100% claims into questionable phrases:

...the term “100%” is sometimes coupled with an otherwise informative attribute (e.g., “juice” or “tasty”) to create a claim that, upon closer inspection, is meaningless—because the concept of perfection is not well defined with respect to the focal attribute (Munichor & Levontin, 2024, p. 720)

Are customers persuaded by these pseudo claims?

Turns out, no. They actively resist them (Munichor & Levontin, 2024).

In fact, they preferred 99% juice to 100% juice.

They even scorned people who bought 100% juice, believing them to be less successful, intelligent, and high status.

Takeaways

• Stick to Relevant Claims. Don't needlessly insert 100%.
• Shift from 100% to 101%. Ironically, this framing — a number that seems even less relevant — can be more persuasive. Customers preferred a hotel with a 101% (vs. 100%) satisfaction guarantee (Munichor & Levontin, 2024). Still unclear why.

• Munichor, N., & Levontin, L. (2024). The effects of pseudo‐relevant 100% claims. Psychology & Marketing, 41(4), 719-733.

Time is categorized into brackets.

Customers prefer a more expensive UberX if it arrives within the same hour (e.g., 1:58pm). Crossing a time bracket (e.g., 2:01pm) feels longer even if the difference is trivial (Donnelly et al., 2022).

Therefore:

• Minimize brackets for negative events (e.g., layovers).
• Maximize brackets for positive events (e.g., lunch break).

Why It Works

• Anchoring. This effect resembles just-below prices in which $4.99 feels cheaper than $5.00. Much like a one-cent difference, a one-minute difference can be deceptively powerful because your brain overemphasizes the unit difference.

How to Apply

• Shipping. Imagine that today is August 23. Free shipping feels worse if the product arrives in September, while expedited shipping feels enticing if the product arrives within the same month of August.

• Store Hours. Perhaps extend store hours from 8:30pm to 9:00pm so that you reach a new time bracket. This extra 30 minutes will feel like 60 minutes.
• Length of Benefits. Access to customer support might end on the final day of a month (e.g., August 31). Why not shift this timeline a single day (e.g., September 1) so that it feels like an extra month.
• See Results By. Frame results within the current time bracket (e.g., end of the month, quarter, or year).
• Meetings. A 45-minute meeting is preferred from 1:00pm to 1:45pm (vs. 1:30pm to 2:15pm). However, meetings seem more productive when they span more time brackets. People estimated they could accomplish more tasks during seemingly larger time windows.

• Life Decisions. Would a 17-year old be tempted to pursue a 2-year degree that finishes in their teens? Would an 18-year-old be less intimidated with a 4-year degree since both programs end in their twenties?

• Donnelly, K., Compiani, G., & Evers, E. R. (2022). Time periods feel longer when they span more category boundaries: Evidence from the lab and the field. Journal of Marketing Research, 59(4), 821-839.

Customers believe that:

150% more than [number] = 150% of [number]

But these variations are different:

• 150% of 100 = 150
• 150% more than 100 = 250

Customers equate these statements, but they differ by a full 100 percent. That’s why it’s called the Off by 100% Bias (Fisher & Mormann, 2022).

Therefore, be careful with percentages that depict a relative change. Suppose that you increased a product’s battery life from 4 hours to 9 hours.

• Don’t say: Battery lasts 125% longer.
• Say: You doubled the battery life.

The latter is technically smaller, but it sounds bigger.

• Fisher, M., & Mormann, M. (2022). The off by 100% bias: the effects of percentage changes greater than 100% on magnitude judgments and consumer choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 49(4), 561-573.

Suppose that today is July 7.

If something is due in 5 days, you could frame this deadline in different ways:

• Duration: "Due in 5 days."
• Date: "Due by July 12."

In a recent study, college students were more likely to begin a writing assignment when they were given a duration (Jeong et al., 2023). It also happened with other contexts (e.g., coupons) and longer durations (e.g., 120 days).

Why? Because we conceptualize time in two ways:

• Moving Observer: We move toward the future.
• Moving Time: The future moves toward us.

Durations are motivating because they activate Moving Time:

We conceptualize "July 12" as stationary, but we conceptualize "5 days" as if it were approaching us. And whenever something is moving toward us, we feel anxious and act sooner (Xu et al., 2023).

Need people to act before July 12? Mention the remaining number of days, and frame this deadline with approaching motion.

• Jeong, Y., Hwang, S., & Suk, K. (2023). Ten days (vs. May 10) make you rush: The effect of time descriptions on task scheduling. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 53(2), 121-133.
• Xu, X., Jia, M., & Chen, R. (2023). Time moving or ego moving? How time metaphors influence perceived temporal distance. Journal of Consumer Psychology.