5 tips for transforming scanners into readers

Customers and prospects are busy and buried in advertising messages. As writers, you and I are fortunate to snag a few seconds of their time as they scan our subject lines and glance at our outer envelope teaser copy.

That's why it's important to write (and approve) copy/content with the scanner in mind. No matter which channel you're writing for — no matter how long or short the copy — our copy is much more likely to get scanned than read word-for-word. That's why I recommend following these scanner-friendly writing tips:

1. Heat It Up With Hot Spots
How do you capture a scanner's interest? It's all in how you use hot spots. Hot spots are where your potential reader's eye goes first. Some are innate — natural landing places such as headlines where the eye has been trained to go. Others are created purposely to attract attention such a bursts and sidebars. Wherever the eye goes, you want to use these hot spots to present important information, including product benefits and such offer elements as deadlines and discounts.

As a catalog writer, I quickly learned the scanner's eye went from the product photo to the price, then to the product headline and then, MAYBE, to my spellbinding product copy.

2. First and Last Are Both Big Winners
Once the eye settles in a hot spot (e.g., upper-left corner, violator, button, headline, first sentence in a paragraph, etc.), it looks at the first word first. That's why direct response writers frequently use active verbs (order, send, buy, increase, subscribe, join, cut, slash, etc.) as starters. They jumpstart momentum and keep the eye moving.

The eye also likes to settle on the last word in a headline or paragraph, which is why you don't want to bury your phone number or URL link in the middle of a sentence or paragraph. Put it at the end and it will be easier for your customer to refer to later.

3. Effective Eye Flow Isn't An Accident
Effective eye flow is created by the writer and designer working together to ensure that, wherever the scanner's eye lands, it continues moving and increases reader involvement. What fuels eye flow? It can be a combination of factors, including individual words, type font and size, images, color, and the relative positioning of graphic and copy elements.Want to learn more about eye flow? Do a search for eye tracking studies that describe eye flow as it applies to print and the Web.

4. 1+1=3
Patrick Fultz, a favorite colleague who is a seasoned direct response designer, uses this equation to explain the value of having your designer and writer team up from the get-go. Fultz says, "Writers and designers generate control-beating results when they work as a team from the start, not just as they cross the finish line." This also holds true when you want your copy and design to entice scanners to read more.

A writer's rough layout can help the designer understand general copy flow, but good designers actually read the copy (!), then use images, graphics, type and color to keep the eye moving through the sales message to the call-to-action. And they suggest copy elements such a violators or footers when they see they're missing.

5. More Tricks Of The Trade
What else can you do to grab a scanner's attention?

• Use involvement devices, such as scratch-offs, zip strips, buttons and scannable QR codes.
• Stop the eye with unexpected images, subject lines or outer envelope teasers.
• Show numbers as numerals not words for quicker and easier scanning.
• Choose images with people in them. People like to look at people — in print and on the Web.
• Use photo captions. Scanners look for them to find out ... "What am I looking at and why is it important?"

To get in the practice of writing and editing for scanners, try this: Visit a Web page or open a mailing or email you didn't write, design or approve. Scan it as a customer would. Where did your eye go first? Is the information in the hot spots powerful enough to keep you engaged? What else attracted your eye? How was your eye flow affected by the elements discussed above?

Try applying these tips, then report back. 

How do you motivate a procrastinator?

You can kick start response in any channel by adding urgency to your marketing message. Building urgency is an effective response-driver when it’s used appropriately and provides real value.

Here are some urgency-building tips for writers of email, direct mail, landing pages, websites and mobile advertising.

Create a window of opportunity. Establish a hard deadline. Specifics are always more convincing. Examples: Monday, November 25, 2013 or Midnight 11/25/13.

Promote it. Put your deadline in the subject line or make it part of your outer envelope teaser: 3 days ‘til Thanksgiving—SAVE 35% NOW! Don’t be shy about where you place it or how many times you repeat it. You never know where a scanner’s eye will land first.

Include a benefit. Build credibility and customer satisfaction by providing a benefit for taking action. Example: FREE SHIPPING when you order by midnight or ORDER NOW & SAVE-- prices increase January 1, 2014.

Give it a name. Early Bird deadlines reward those who act quickly with discounts or premiums. Pre-release deals do the same. In both cases, you are providing fence-sitters with a reason to get off the fence and act now instead of waiting until later.

Test how you say it. Because a deadline is so powerful, it pays to test how you package it:

• Respond in 10 days
• First 50 to respond receive a free ________
• Please respond by next Thursday
• Act now – respond by November 25, 2013
• Offer ends 11/25/13
• Preferred Customer discount good thru December 31, 2013.
• Time-Sensitive: Please reply by 11/25/13

What have I got to lose? Link your deadline to an appealing free bonus: Respond by November 1^st-- receive a Surprise FREE Gift ($10 value).

Increase demand, promote scarcity. Create urgency with limited offers – limited time, limited edition, limited seating, limited quantities. This technique has been used to sell everything from Honeybell fruit to airline seating, sterling silver jewelry, reproduction art, and more.

Capitalize on email’s in-the-moment urgency. Here’s a classic email example with singular focus from Banana Republic. Subject line: 3 hours only! 40% off + FREE Shipping Every Day. Or how about the Banana Republic email I found waiting in my IN box at 6:30 this morning. It was sent at 2:23 AM with the subject line: Save 40% now until the break of dawn. Opened, the email revealed: 40% off your purchase now until 9 AM – After 9 AM, Save 35%. Exclusively Online. Today Only, 10/15. No Code Needed.

Call it a close-out. Are you closing out a store, department or product line? A close-out sale implies the ultimate in urgency. When inventory is gone, it’s gone for good.

Some deadlines are inherent … take holidays, for example. Check your marketing calendar and create offers punctuated by appropriate holidays.

Issue an ultimatum. Catalogers have long used the LAST CHANCE mantra to encourage inactive customers to buy now or forever lose their right to receive another catalog. A word of caution – never tell a reader this is his or her last chance unless you really mean it.

Words of encouragement. Build momentum and encourage action by using words and phrases such as hurry, don’t wait, act now, don’t delay, please respond promptly, today is the final day, this offer can’t be repeated … you get the idea.

Faux urgency. It’s no surprise that it’s best to provide genuine reasons for your reader to take prompt action. As with any relationship, your customers don’t like to feel fooled.

Sold out. MYHABIT.com is a master at creating urgency by placing the two words SOLD OUT over items no longer available.SOLD OUT reinforces that others are actively shopping the MYHABIT sales event and if you see something you like, you’d better buy it now. I speak from experience.