For as long as I’ve been writing copy for clients, I’ve heard about the great long copy/short copy debate.
Long copy out sells short copy…
The more you tell, the more you sell…
You’ve probably heard the same types of things.
I even remember a blog post recently that said the debate was so beaten to death it wasn’t even worth talking about… because the data clearly showed that long copy outpulls short copy.
But I’ve got some data too. And my data shows that “the more you tell, the more you sell…” simply isn’t true 100% of the time.
I’m just coming off a test where long copy didn’t outpull short copy.
The traffic was cold web traffic.
And the results were dead even.
The numbers were even, but I’d say that the short copy was the winner. (I mention the reason why in point #2 below.)
I’m not talking about a test using 100 eyeballs… Thousands of folks saw these pages.
And the results were eerily close…
Now this is just one test, of course. But the results are a good reminder of a few business principles that keep coming up again and again in the work I do with clients and in my own businesses.
1. Copy is not king. Copy is NOT the most important piece of the puzzle in business. I’ll take a starving crowd any day… and a great offer to put in front of them. If you’ve got both of those, then we can argue about the importance of copy.
2. Never take anyone’s word for anything. Especially folks who are confident they “know” the best way to do things. By doing so, you might just be overlooking what could be a huge opportunity for profit in your business. In this case, the short copy was faster to produce, cheaper to produce and worked just as well. From a business owner’s perspective, that’s a winning combination.
3. Stop listening to what the gurus and business books are saying and start experiencing the truth for yourself. I only care what’s true for my products, in my market, in my business at one particular time.
In the end, you’ll realize that your truth isn’t necessarily the same truth as someone else’s.
I only care what works… for me. Sounds harsh, but does it really make sense any other way?
No related posts.