HOW TO PUT PSYCHOLOGY TO WORK
FOR YOU & YOUR ADVERTISING

When youíre writing copy to promote your business, you search for the right words that will encourage customers to buy from you. You know the power of words, but you might not know the psychology of words. The next time you sit down to write, think about How To Put Psychology To Work For You.

Some of the easiest rules of communication are rules of psychology (psychology + communication = salesmanship). We stumble upon these rules by asking ourselves, ìWhy did I react that way?î and then chipping away personal prejudices and other impurities. Whatís left is a shining, valuable rule that benefits communicators by letting us play virtuoso cadenzas on the psychological strings of our targets.

While writing a direct-mail offer, I decided to strengthen the money-back guarantee by changing the risk-free inspection period from 30 days to one month. Then, like Archimedes in the bathtub, I yelled ìEureka!î as the reason for the change hit me ó the Generic Determination Rule: The generic determines reaction more than the number.

The Generic Determination Rule
And what, you ask, does that mean? You can feel relief when you see how what appears to be a pedantic rule is instead one of the most useful weapons in your arsenal.

One month is a longer time than 30 days. Oh, not really; perceived time is the psychological key that can unlock the door of buyer receptivity. What the rule means is that something generic (in this case, month and day) exercises greater control over human reaction than the number associated with it (in this case, one and 30).

Does it work? You bet. Half an hour is a ìlongerî time than 30 minutes. The generics are hours and minutes. The numbers are one and 30: One half-hour . . . 30 minutes. The rule says generics determine reaction more than numbers. That being true, 60 minutes seems to be less time than one hour. (If the television show 60 Minutes were named One Hour, ratings would plummet.)

Similarly, 60 seconds seems to be a shorter span of time than one minute. Twenty-four hours appears to be a shorter span of time than one day. We pay attention to the generic unit ó seconds, minutes, hours or days ó not to the number.

This piece of information is not trivial. You can control the readerís reaction without changing the facts.

If you want to suggest that you process claims in a shorter time, you write ì48 hours;î if you want the time to seem longer, you write ìtwo days.î A seemingly shorter distance is ì5,280 feet;î a longer distance is ìone mile.î A seemingly smaller quantity is ìone pint;î a larger quantity is ìhalf a quart.î There seems to be less weight in ìeight ounces;î there seems to be more weight in ìhalf a pound.î

The Chronology Rule
Letís move up to the second level: Which of these slogans seems to imply a longer period of time: ìEstablished 1981î or ìMore Than 20 Years at This Locationî?

Letís expand the Generic Determination Rule to cover this second-level concept, the Chronology Rule: Does the experiential background of your primary targets include a date within their adult lives? Then numbers of years, months or days appear longer.

Using these two allied rules, we can widen our generic determinations in both directions. If an event is supposed to be recent, it didnít happen three months ago; it happened last April. (ìBack in Aprilî artificially pumps up the time gap). ìI havenít seen you for 10 yearsî suggests a considerably longer gap than ìI havenít seen you since 1990.î

Likewise, ìYouíve had it only since 2000,î will have been less time in 2002 than ìYouíve had it for only two years.î

The Psychology of Tense Selection

Whatís the difference between the following two sentences?

        ìThis sells elsewhere for $100.î (Present tense)

        ìThis sold elsewhere for $100.î (Past tense)

Thereís plenty of difference between the two. Present tense has the power because right now, somebody else is selling this for $100. Past tense loses strength because itís history, not current events.

What do you do if you canít claim a current competitive marketplace at $100? Simple: You split the difference by moving into the present perfect tense: ìThis has sold elsewhere for $100.î

Present perfect
This tense links the immediacy of the present with the factual comfort of the past. Donít worry about terminology or the forgotten sentence parsing of Miss Norwalkís third-grade class. Keep repeating, as I do: Copywriters are communicators, not grammarians. What matters isnít your knowledge of which tense is which; itís your knowledge of how to transform drab fact into the gold of lustrous attraction.

One exception: Use ìsold,î not ìhas soldî or ìhave sold,î when suggesting a break with the past, especially in headline copy: ìThousands Sold at $100!î

Why is ìThis has sold . . .î usually better copy than ìThese have sold . . .î?

ï Exclusivity is one of the Five Great Motivators. Singularity suggests exclusivity; pluralizing makes both what youíre selling and those to whom you sell it anonymous.

ï The singular implicitly suggests quantity limitation. Itís the same impulse-building syndrome that brings crowds to the door half an hour before a store opens: ìOnly 11 at This Price!î

(The reason for the word ìusuallyî in the explanation: When quantity is small, pluralizing emphasizes fewness.)

When writing accomplishment copy, the present perfect tense creates an immediacy you canít achieve with past tense. As an example, here is a piece of copy about miniaturized firearms:

Sr. Alberti created a perfect working replica . . .

This lost the selling hook by turning Sr. Albertiís accomplishment into a historical incident. The work becomes a current event with a single word addition:

Sr. Alberti has created a perfect working replica . . .

Check your copy for lost timing. You can lose the readerís or listenerís interest by wandering through history, and you can yank that interest back into the present by a tense change. Instead of:

The work had a profound effect . . . .

This doesnít have a profound effect. Because it seems to have come and gone before your target individual came onto the scene, you can write:

The work has had a profound effect . . . .

The profundity seems to have continued right up to the moment your words hit the paper.

ìHas hadî can be even more dynamic than ìis havingî because present tense can have a subtle overtone of incompleteness or a changeable circumstance.