Comments on: “Do Not Read This Blog Post” http://www.meryl.net/2007/10/do-not-read-this-blog-post/ Content on writing, tech, business, marketing, web design. Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:57:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Jeff Sexton http://www.meryl.net/2007/10/do-not-read-this-blog-post/#comment-502959 Jeff Sexton Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:36:26 +0000 http://meryl.net/2007/10/23/do-not-read-this-blog-post/#comment-502959 <p>That's for the trackback, Meryl. Just had a couple of quick comments for you that I thought you and your listeners might like:</p> <p>1) You're right that negative, or at least slightly negative, reviews add credibility to the positive ones, I haven't seen examples of this in testimonials (though I'm not downing the idea). The difference between reviews and testimonials are that anyone can leave a review, but you have presumably asked for and selected your testimonials. So...if you want to add some credibility enhancing negativity to testimonials you might either:</p> <p>a) Call them reviews and install a form where clients can leave unsolicited reviews</p> <p>b) Call them testimonials and instead of looking to get a negative testimonial, look to get a testimonial that starts out negative or doubtful and then turns positive. I.E. "I had my doubts about Meryl - she was so expensive and her ideas were crazy - but we hired her, used her crazy ideas, and business went up by 50%! We love you, Meryl"</p> <p>By addressing the objections at the start of the testimonial, the happy ending is that much more powerfully persuasive.</p> <p>2)The Negativity that works in headlines has to do with our brains "hardwired" inclination to look for problems. But rather than me blabbing about this, I'll just direct you to the single best primer on headlines I've ever come across: Sean D'Souza's Psycho Headlines. It's a free PDF he offers when you sign up for his newsletter over at Psychotactics.com. Great stuff.</p> <p>-Jeff</p> That’s for the trackback, Meryl. Just had a couple of quick comments for you that I thought you and your listeners might like:

1) You’re right that negative, or at least slightly negative, reviews add credibility to the positive ones, I haven’t seen examples of this in testimonials (though I’m not downing the idea). The difference between reviews and testimonials are that anyone can leave a review, but you have presumably asked for and selected your testimonials. So…if you want to add some credibility enhancing negativity to testimonials you might either:

a) Call them reviews and install a form where clients can leave unsolicited reviews

b) Call them testimonials and instead of looking to get a negative testimonial, look to get a testimonial that starts out negative or doubtful and then turns positive. I.E. “I had my doubts about Meryl - she was so expensive and her ideas were crazy - but we hired her, used her crazy ideas, and business went up by 50%! We love you, Meryl”

By addressing the objections at the start of the testimonial, the happy ending is that much more powerfully persuasive.

2)The Negativity that works in headlines has to do with our brains “hardwired” inclination to look for problems. But rather than me blabbing about this, I’ll just direct you to the single best primer on headlines I’ve ever come across: Sean D’Souza’s Psycho Headlines. It’s a free PDF he offers when you sign up for his newsletter over at Psychotactics.com. Great stuff.

-Jeff

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