Sometimes this can be the best advice!

Sometimes this can be the best advice!

A ###% higher conversion rate…

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’ve made a few edits here, after writing, because I only want to share numbers publicly that the copywriter himself shared publicly.  However, I still do want to celebrate the win for this copywriter — and I assure you it’s even more impressive when you know the actual numbers!

Rainmaker, I got an email a bit back from Ken McCarthy, the godfather of internet marketing and the man behind the famous System Seminar, where most of today’s gurus got their game…

(Interesting that the Digital Marketer “Traffic & Conversion Summit” is basically named after the core of Ken’s internet marketing model.  Coincidence?  I think not.)

He told me one of the guys who’d gone through his copywriting training had just beat the old acquisition control at The Motley Fool by #X.  That’s # orders with this new promo, for every 1 order the old one was making.  That is an off-the-charts win.

Now, I had a hunch about who this copywriter might be, because I know a lot of folks in the industry.  The guy I was thinking of was a surfer dude turned financial copywriter who I’d had dinner with at The Titans of Direct Response.

Well, it was exactly who I thought it was…

And when I hit up his Facebook page, I saw a post where he said, “I officially account for more than 25% of all Motley Fool customer acquisitions.”  Wow!

And so I reached out.  I wanted to know what this magic promo was…

When he sent me a link and I clicked to see this promo, I was kind of surprised!

Now, if you’ve been studying financial copy for a while, you’ve probably seen some of the bigger promos in the space.  The End of America.  The Aftershock Survival Summit.  And so on.

And these promos that are generating so much revenue just feel so BIG.

Big ideas.  Big production, if you look at the Aftershock table interview video.  Long, too.  Both clock in at around an hour, meaning around 10,000 words.

In contrast, this Motley Fool promo seems small.  It’s about 3,700 words.  Text on page.  No video.  Simple design.  Simple promises.  Nothing about it screams “killer control.”

And it’s from a company that perfected all of the “The Death Of…” promos that were pretty big in scope and idea.

And yet, it’s killing it.

I started studying this promo, and I could only come up with one word to describe it…

“Simple.”

It’s a simple idea.  A simple promise.

The headline: “What Every American Wishes They Knew Before Filing For Social Security.”

The promise in the subhead: “Including… the 17-minute secret that removes the guesswork and makes it easy to earn as much as $15,978 in additional benefits every year.”

It opens: “Dear Friend,” — and here I thought that simple opening was dead!

The first line: “Everybody loves easy money.”  What an opener!

And it goes on line after line, paragraph after paragraph, page after page, giving dimension to the promise that you’ll learn what you need to do to collect more from Social Security.

Again, it’s so simple.

Just think of all the financial newsletters who focus on complex presentations of the latest stock tip to lure in new customers hoping to have a better retirement…  And here Motley Fool — one of the most respected financial publishers online today — is talking about how to apply for Social Security?!  But isn’t that too simple?!

It keeps coming at that same promise, from a dozen different angles.

Specific tips for getting more.  Stories and testimonials from people who’ve gotten more.  Explanation of the guide and how it will help you get more.  Answering common questions many filers have about getting more.

A simple message, around a simple promise.  And a simple offer, to get what’s promised.

I just keep marveling at the simplicity!

This is a very high compliment for this copywriter.  But when I read classic Gary Bencivenga copy, it has the same simplicity.  No complicated “secrets.”  No bells and whistles.  Just a very simple, direct message that hits right at the heart of the market.

Most novice copywriters would look at this and write it off.

If I were to just show it to you, with no context and having not told you that it beat the control so handily…  You’d likely think it had no chance of being a huge winner.  (At least I would have!)

And yet it did.

Sometimes we need to remember just how powerful the simple can be.

When you get the message and the promise and the offer right, you don’t need fancy tricks to sell.  You just need to speak your truth, and your market will come to you.

In fact, if there’s one thing I see many greener copywriters do when they try to write “big” direct response copy, it’s to make it too complicated.  They over-write and over-sell.  And in doing so, the message falls flat.

Don’t fret — I’ve been guilty of it, too.

So, here’s your breakthrough for the day…

The next time you sit down to write a piece of copy (be it content, sales copy, etc.) ask yourself…

“If I focus on expressing this in the simplest possible way, will it achieve my goals?”

If the answer is yes, do that.

You may surprise yourself with how effective it can be!

Yours for bigger breakthroughs,

Roy Furr

Editor, Breakthrough Marketing Secrets