Shout or conversation. . which works best

Reading an email from a marketing group I belong to reminded me of an advert for Cillit Bang on British TV some time ago. I don’t think it was originally filmed for the UK market because the presenter was shouting at the top of his voice. That has now changed - it’s more of a conversational style advert and I no longer get the urge to switch it off.

And I’ve noticed a few other advertisers have changed their approach from the ‘in your face’ to a more gentle, reserved style.

The email, sent by Tony Attwood of Hamilton House Mailings, was on the same theme. Here’s what Tony said:

When faced with a potential customer most of us are able to speak in a fairly normal, friendly manner about the benefits of our product, how well it is going, why people buy it, and so on. We smile, look the customer in the eye (although not too much as to make them feel uncomfortable) and by and large aim to come across as a friendly sort of person who it is good to do business with.

What we don’t do is…

a) Bore the customer to death with talk about when our company was formed, the fact that we are a small family business or a vast plc, and the like

b) use some sort of convoluted double speak such as “This award winning bit of software….”

c) shout “NEW!” or “DISCOUNT!” in the customer’s ear.

In short, when we meet someone we talk to them in a fairly nice, normal way.

So my question is; why don’t we do that when selling by email or direct mail or on the phone?

I don’t know why, but I do know that when emails and direct mail pieces are written in normal language their response rate goes up. When written in the artificial language of selling, (”This award winning software…”) the sales level goes down.

Tony Attwood of Hamilton House Mailings plc.
www.hamilton-house.com
or phone 01536 399 000

How friendly and ‘normal’ is your letter or email? If someone read it out loud would you get the impression of a friendly, informative, focused on you - the reader - type of message? Or is it more of a circus ringmaster announcement?

If response to your sales message is not as high as you’d like maybe it is time to review your approach. Perhaps try a more ’softly-softly’ approach - or at least test it against what you are doing at the moment.

~ Carol Bentley