The Power Of Words In… a Customer Survey?
By Anna Johnson on December 18th, 2008I was on the New York Times’ website today when up came a pop-up window containing an invitation to take part in a survey. Reading through the copy in the invitation, I was struck by the clever inclusion of one particular sentence.
See if you can guess which sentence it is, and, as you read the copy, be conscious of your natural emotional response to what you read…
Here’s the copy:
‘You’re opinion is very important to us.
Would you be interested in participating in a short survey sponsored by a major financial company? Thanks in advance for your help. Your participation will make a difference.
If you accept by clicking on the ‘Yes’ button below, you will be directed to the survey.
YES!
I want to participate in the survey.’
Did you pick it?
The sentence was: ‘Your participation will make a difference.’
What was your initial feeling when you read that sentence? When I read it I instantly went into ‘good Samaritan’ mode i.e. by partipating in the survey I had a chance to make a positive difference in the world.
Never mind that the survey was for some financial company… or that I had no clue what difference my feedback would make. For all I knew, the difference would be to provide one more vote in favor of a blue background over a red background!
Including the words ‘make a difference’ was arguably calculated to create a sense of obligation on the part of the reader, based on the shared meaning and emotion vested into those words, which have evolved over time.
As you can see, words can be VERY powerful. We may not always know how they impact our audience – that’s why we test – but when it comes to copywriting, it’s definitely wise to ‘choose your words carefully.’
