How to write copy that even tired users can understand at a glance?

Imagine there are two men on the dating market:

A man, with a leg length of 1 meter, is in good health and can run 1600 meters at a pace of 2m30s...

Man B has long legs like Lee Min Ho, is in good health, and has a personal running record that can catch up with the Guinness 1-mile record in 1954...

Which man is more popular with women?

Without a doubt, it must be man B.

But in fact, the conditions of A and B are exactly the same.

Imagine that when we write advertising copy , article titles , or event copy, we describe a good product with "Lee Min Ho's long legs" as "1-meter short legs" (most people's intuitive reaction when seeing 1-meter long legs is to imagine the other person as a dwarf). This will be fatal to both traffic conversion rate and brand building.

Professional copywriters probably understand that no matter what type of copywriting, the ultimate goal is to "change user attitudes" or "motivate users to take action" :

For example, they prefer a certain brand, or think that a certain product is more trustworthy, has better performance, and is more high-end (attitude change) . When necessary, they can give priority to and buy their own products (triggering action)

Then, a large number of professional copywriters can quickly construct the following thinking path in their minds :

And put all efforts into "attracting attention" and "awakening emotions" in order to "change attitudes" and "promote action" .

Yes, the above thinking path is not a big problem in theory, but it makes a theoretical mistake:

It assumes that the real Chinese copywriting audience is in an ideal state of being "alert and energetic".

However, in this high-pressure, fast-paced society, most of the time, users are more likely to think:

In this situation where users are tired and cognitively overloaded, even if the copy can attract attention, if the content itself cannot be cognitively digested (remembered) by users, everything that follows will be in vain.

Without the crucial link of "cognitive digestion", the information conveyed by our copywriting can only enter the "memory" of the user's mind at best and be fleeting.

So, what kind of text can make the brain easy and smooth to interpret?

Even the most tired users can easily understand it and truly save the value conveyed by the copy in the mental "hard drive".

This requires us to understand the brain's primitive instinctive cognitive patterns, and we only need to express it according to the brain's cognitive patterns, so that even a drowsy brain can perceive fluently and understand easily.

So, what are the brain’s “low-energy” and smooth cognitive preferences?

Cognitive preference 1: Why is it so tiring for the brain to interpret abstract language such as adjectives?

If you observe babies who have just learned to read, you will find that when they look at the words in picture books, they always read aloud word by word instead of "reading silently" like us. When young children do this, they are not showing off their "literacy" or displaying their "baby voice" to win our favor.

The reason why they need to "make sounds" is that in the stage of learning characters, we humans have to use the medium of "sound" to link "characters" with their "actual meanings" in the brain's cognition.

This is true even for us adults, but we are so used to it that we ignore the subtle process of translating text into sound and then into vision in our brain.

If you don't believe me, look at this word: lemon

Do you find it difficult to force the pronunciation of "ningmeng" out of your mind and not have the visual image of "classic lemon" come to mind?

Then why are humans, who are so smart, so inefficient when it comes to learning "text" (requiring two "translation" processes)?

The reason is simple:

Compared with the 10 million years of human evolution, the history of human "writing" is only a few thousand years at best, and the history of popularizing writing among ordinary people in China is only a few decades.

In such a short period of time, there is simply not enough time for our brains to "evolve" an "adapter" that can directly interpret "written" language.

At this point in the discussion, one of the “low-energy brain” cognitive modes can be revealed: visualization .

After all, humans have been communicating with each other through body language, facial expressions, and sounds for tens of millions of years, which has shaped our brains to be extremely sensitive to "visual" language and easy to awaken.

For example, if you casually pick up the proverbs in various ancient cultures around the world that have been passed down for thousands of years, you will find that they are almost all "visual" languages.

If you don’t believe it, would you believe it if I said the following three sentences could be passed down through the ages?

“Don’t do stupid things that will result in you putting in a lot of effort but end up with nothing.”

"We can't force others to do something they are unwilling to do, because this will easily lead to more harm than good."

"Yang Guifei is so voluptuous and beautiful, her clothes and smile are so pretty"

But if we change these words into another expression:

“A basket full of water is useless”

“A forced melon is not sweet”

"The clouds are like clothes, the flowers are like faces, the spring breeze blows over the threshold and the flowers are gorgeous"

As a result, it has been passed down to this day.

Therefore, when we need to write copy that can easily attract users' attention and enable users to easily read the content into their "brains", we should avoid using ordinary "adjectives" and "abstract" language.

For example, Li Shaojia found that many mobile phone advertisements have similar words:

“It’s not just a mobile phone, it’s also a fine work of art”

Does our brain feel like drinking plain water when reading?

So how should we think if we want to change this plain copy into "visual language"?

Let’s think about it, what might happen if we hold a mobile phone with an extremely good-looking appearance in real life? (For example, people will be curious and take a second look) What things will make people associate good-looking mobile phones (such as Apple products)?

Following this line of thought, we can make the copywriting full of visualization:

“The only embarrassing thing is that someone will ask you if there is a new iPhone model.”

Image from tim-gouw

I believe that anyone who sees this sentence will immediately understand that the appearance design of this mobile phone must be unique.

Many of us say that "story thinking" is so important, but we don't know that the reason why "stories" are easy for people to read is largely because story-telling language is a visual language.

Therefore, no matter how good the copywriting or the plot is, it will be useless if it does not have visual language.

Of course, if you want to improve your copywriting skills, the easiest way is to read more literary works. Those literary masters are all masters of visual language.

Well, as smart as you are, you might ask, since the history of writing is very short and it makes it difficult for us to understand it easily, are there other emerging things that are difficult for our brain to interpret?

have.

Currency and all large numerical units of measurement.

Cognitive Preference 2: Why the Brain is Insensitive to Large Numbers and Units of Measurement

Similar to the situation with writing, the history of currency is only a few thousand years, accounting for 0.01% of human history. Similarly, in the ancient gathering and hunting era, productivity was low, and the entire tribe was lucky to hunt a few roasted suckling pigs within a period of time. Humans did not need to measure large numbers of hundreds or thousands.

This is why our brains have a hard time “gauging the size of” both large numbers and single monetary values.

For example, after the college entrance examination, a group of candidates are about to fill in their applications and want to know the size of their favorite university. However, the official figure usually says: it covers an area of ​​820,000 square meters. In fact, it is useless for those students to look at it.

But if we express it another way, saying that the area is equivalent to the size of 100 football fields, people will understand it well.

Since it is difficult for us to read out the "actual size of money or numbers", when our copy needs to reflect the advantages of performance, parameters, funds, etc., how should we express it so that users can understand it smoothly?

The answer can still be found in ancient history:

People tend to use "comparison" to evaluate the value, which is a simple and efficient survival evaluation rule in nature.

For example, Mr. Chen's daughter is getting married, and Xiao Zhang and Xiao Li each carry a wild boar as a betrothal gift. Neither party needs to report how heavy the wild boar is. Mr. Chen can instantly tell that Xiao Li is more sincere by putting the two wild boars together.

Similarly, even wild animals use body size to assess the strength of their enemies, which usually leads to accurate decisions.

For example, a proud cat would never confront a tiger head-on—even though they have never actually fought.

This is why supermarkets or shopping malls like to put a lot of price tags like: original price 369, current price 199, so that consumers can better judge the value of the goods (and feel that the discounted price is very favorable).

Otherwise, a mat priced at 199, do you think it is expensive or cheap? No feeling.

Therefore, when we write copy, we try to find an "anchor" as a reference and then highlight the advantages of our own products.

Unfortunately, many copywriters still do what they want, and are complacent about showing off their "high skills":

For example, to show that the power bank has a large capacity: "Super large capacity, 80000mha"

Or, to reflect the thinness of the notebook: "Breakthrough in thinness, 11.2 mm, 0.87 kg"

But for the general consumers, they don’t understand how advanced and rare your technology is. You are 11.2 mm or 21.2 mm, sorry, how thin is it?

But if it is changed to:

"Super large capacity, enough power for 7 days of outdoor adventures"

Image from denys-nevozhai

As for the thin and light feature of the notebook, can we write about it like this?

"Break through the thinness, the thickness of a magazine, the weight of a book"

Although the revised copy may not satisfy the pride of your technical colleagues, it can enter the minds of consumers without any obstacles and have a real impact on decision-making.

This intuitive habit of human beings to rely heavily on "comparison" to measure the value of things is more deeply rooted than we think.

In addition to money and units of measurement, even with many "emotional scales", we rely more on comparison rather than "objective evaluation".

For example, personality traits, appearance, physique, etc.

So we often hear some embarrassing blind date stories:

The two parties on the blind date didn't like each other, but the two people who accompanied each other to the blind date fell in love with each other... In order to avoid a dull moment, people always like to find some "good at talking" friends to accompany them. As a result, the shy and taciturn blind date participants perfectly set off the "humor and wit" of the two people accompanying them.

Well, some friends may ask, if I am operating a new product and there are no similar competing products on the market, and I cannot use the word "comparison", how can I express it so that users can easily understand it?

Cognitive preference three: The brain’s first reaction to identifying new things is to label them

Perhaps influenced by some big brand advertisements, we often see some incredible copywriting in reality:

Wedding photography or clothing? Don't confuse your brain

In fact, for a new product that is not well-known, the first concept we need to convey to users should be:

Who am I (category) and what can I do.

Instead of trying to be pretentious right from the start and putting on an international "brand blockbuster", even if the situation created by your copy touches the user's heart, it will be in vain.

For example, Li Shaojia saw a piece of copywriting on the subway a while ago:

A subway advertising copy

The copy itself is very thoughtful and takes advantage of Mother's Day , which is very eye-catching, but... as a user, will I associate this copy with the product ( maternal and child services) in any way?

Obviously not. They can’t even gain user recognition, let alone identification or even influence user decision-making.

Many people think that so-called professional copywriting must be eye-catching, sensational, heartfelt, and high-end. This is completely putting the cart before the horse and a pedantic concept that lacks thinking.

The premise of professional copywriting is to lock the content you want to convey firmly into the user’s mental hard drive .

PS: International brands launch some vague and high-sounding advertisements in order to resonate with the "ideology" of potential users, which is not without value. It is meaningless to follow the trend of non-brands. Li Shaojia will launch a special discussion on brands later.

So, for a new product, how can you make it easy for users to understand what the product is and at the same time understand the highlights you want to convey?

Two words: Tell users which “category” the product belongs to.

We all know that the brain is an organ that loves to be lazy.

For example, we only need to know that "watermelon" is an edible fruit, and there is no need to further identify flat watermelons, round watermelons, watermelons with stripes, and watermelons without stripes.

Not only do we need to classify "species", we also use classification thinking for "relationships".

Back in the wild ages, when our ancestors first interacted with a stranger, they would quickly make initial assumptions about that person:

"Enemy" or "trustworthy companion" or "temporary partner" or "potential object of consideration (if opposite sex)"

"Category" is almost our default mode for understanding and learning everything new. Unfortunately, this is rarely emphasized in any business article.

Once we are told the category of a new thing, the characteristic memory of the "category" can quickly lower the brain's cognitive threshold and generate initial "expectations".

For example, if I tell you that a green ball you have never seen before is a fruit or a toy, your imagination of it will be completely different.

“Category” allows the brain to easily identify “what is what”, while “expectation” can be used as a starting point to showcase the highlights of the product.

There are many products (or brands) nowadays that are almost impossible to identify just by looking at the name:

For example, Douban , Himalaya , Duoduo , Meituan , iQiyi , Gudong , Maimai, Kuaishou , Xianyu... When you see these names for the first time, don’t tell me you know what they are.

Ironically, today’s new brands still blindly imitate the copywriting strategies of big brands. for example:

Is it a headphone product or a mobile phone?

When the brain is troubled, the only thing it will do is forget.

For example, the public account "Less Work" is also an abstract noun in terms of its name, right?

If the subway group suddenly has a change of heart one day and offers me a week of free advertising, how should I write my copy?

If I were to follow the famous Economist’s lead, the copy would probably look like this:

“I never watch ‘Work less overtime’” — said a middle-aged unemployed graduate from a prestigious university.

"Unemployment" and "graduate from a prestigious university" are typical conflicts that can attract a certain amount of attention and evoke certain emotions.

But what does “less overtime” mean? The slogan of the trade union? Or the Women's Federation? Users will just be puzzled when they see it.

So this copy makes the same mistake as the previous one about “maternal and infant products”. What’s the point of attracting attention and arousing emotions?

Then according to the "category" idea, I can improve it like this (example):

The public account "Less Work" has one article per week. It is operated scientifically and gives you goosebumps every time you read it.

There are several classification keywords such as "public account", "operation" and "workplace". No matter how busy the user is, just a glance will tell him that this is a public account that talks about operations and workplace knowledge .

The visual language, comparison ideas, and classification ideas mentioned above are all about lowering the cognitive threshold when users are passive. So, as smart as you are, you should come up with a bold hypothesis:

If we can somehow make users transform from a "passive" construction state to an "active" construction state, wouldn't it be easier for the copy to be conveyed into the user's mind?

That's right.

So, how do we get users to change from being passive to being active?

Cognitive Preference 4: Change your perspective to the user's perspective

Our cognition of the world is based on the "self" (self-concept). It is conceivable that if we want users to interpret the copy as easily as sliding down a slide, we must transform the "self-perspective" language into the "user perspective" language.

For the same reason, for most people, their intuitive habit when writing is based on "self-perspective", and the content expressed in this way is often difficult to attract the user's "attention".

After all, on a deeper level, no one in this world cares about things that "have nothing to do with me".

Yet, today, we still see copywriting that always starts from its own perspective but never considers the user’s perspective:

An IT company: Rated as a "key software enterprise in the national planning layout" for five consecutive years

A certain brand of mobile phone: quad-camera 3D photography, secure encryption chip

A certain brand of notebook: exquisite and simple body design, anti-glare high-definition screen

…

These features are so proud of by manufacturers, but in the eyes of users, it’s just one sentence: who TM cares (what does it have to do with me?)

So, how should we write copy from the “user perspective”?

The secret is just one sentence: What personal pain point of the user does the product originally intend to solve, and in what situations does this problem occur most frequently? Then express the situation using visual language (using comparison and classification ideas in combination with actual conditions).

For example, the advertising copy for a certain brand of pillow is:

Latex pillow from Thailand, jelly-like texture

This is another typical self-perspective copywriting. What's wrong with Thai latex? Does it have a durian scent?

After further understanding, I realized that the core of this pillow is "comfortable sleep".

So from the user's perspective, what problems may poor sleep cause? Physical fatigue, lack of concentration, accelerated aging, etc.

Therefore, if the core target users of the product are women, we can start thinking about the copywriting from the issue that users care about most - "affecting appearance":

"A good night's sleep will restore your baby-like skin" (example)

If the target users are men, then what they care about most is usually work achievements, so your copy can be switched to:

“It’s just noon and the day’s work is already done. Latex pillow, the definition of deep sleep” (example)

Summarize

A capable professional will do everything with a clear purpose, and copywriting is no exception.

The ultimate goals of any copywriting are nothing more than two :

Change the attitude towards something in the user's mind (e.g. from nothing to something good to something obsessed with);

Encourage users to take certain actions (such as purchase, attention);

But when we rack our brains to think of ways to attract users' attention and arouse their emotions, but never work hard to make the copy "cognitively smooth and easy to digest", then no matter how good the copy is, it is very likely that it will just wander around in the "memory" of the user's mind, without leaving any trace on the "hard drive".

In other words, in terms of the ultimate goal of copywriting - "changing attitudes and prompting actions", it has completely failed.

If we want to improve the "cognitive fluency" of our copywriting, we must follow the primitive cognitive instincts formed during millions of years of evolution:

1. Use "visual language" instead of abstract language, adjectives, etc.

For example, when describing a girl, don’t use “beautiful”, but rather “wherever she goes, men, women, young and old all turn around to take a second look”

2. Use "comparison" to highlight something instead of quantifiers or numbers

For example, when promoting a sale, don’t say “Special price 166” but “Original price 699, special price 166 today”

3. Use “classification language” to quickly warm up the user’s brain and generate expectations for new products

For example, if you promote a new product called “Peng Peng”, you must first inform users that this is a children’s toy rather than a dating product, so that users can immediately understand how to evaluate the pros and cons of your product.

4. Change your intuitive way of expression. The only way to impress users is to think from the "user's perspective"

Don't emphasize how great your product is, but tell users how much benefit this great product can bring to them.

Yes, the above is what few people understand: cognitive fluency, a must for good copywriting.

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

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