A Magician's Trick Could Be Sabotaging Your Sales
Researchers revealed this human flaw 30 years ago, yet many still seem unaware
How well do you pay attention? To find out, carefully watch the video below and see how you do.
If you haven’t seen this video before, don’t skip it. Take the time to do the test.
Fascinating, isn’t it? The phenomenon is known as “inattentional blindness.” The video comes from a famous 1999 Harvard study that introduced the concept to the world. I still see it popping up on TV shows today. As author David McRaney explains:
Magicians build careers around inattentional blindness. It takes just a smidgen of misdirection to conceal a change in your visual field. Innattentional blindness is literally looking without seeing. It turns out, your brain isn’t a passive receiver of your eyes. Instead, you actively participate, choosing what to perceive and greatly overestimate in hindsight what you’ve committed to memory.
I like the comparison to the magician’s trick of misdirection. Hold that in mind as you watch this typical CTA from a campaign I found on the most recent DRMetrix report.
I chose this commercial at random, so no offense to whomever created it. When I say it is “typical,” I mean it. Many DR marketers are doing their CTAs this way. But now, considering the problem of inattentional blindness, what do you notice?
That’s right: This format puts the most critical information (how to order) in a relatively ‘blind’ area of the screen and does quite a lot to distract your attention from it. Then, right as the announcer is directing you to find that information and “call now,” the commercial ends!
Younger readers may not remember the debut of “letter-boxing.” I can remember the first time I watched a movie (was it a LaserDisc?!) that featured the format.
I was convinced those big black bars across the top and bottom of the screen would ruin my movie-watching experience. Yet within just a few minutes, they were completely invisible to me. Why? Inattentional blindness. When all the action is happening in the middle of the screen, we quickly become blind to the presence of whatever’s not commanding our attention.
Speaking of the 90s, the same sort of phenomenon was behind an online advertising problem that arose during the early dot-com days. It was called “banner blindness.” Per Wikipedia:
The term banner blindness was coined in 1998 as a result of website usability tests where a majority of the test subjects either consciously or unconsciously ignored information that was presented in banners. The information that was overlooked included both external advertisement banners and internal navigational banners, often called ‘quick links.’
Returning to DRTV, at the end of our commercials there is a particular part of the CTA called an “end tag.” Back in the day, it always had a blue background, so we used to call it the “blue screen.”
Today, this screen usually isn’t blue, but it still features order information in a similar format. If done correctly, the only video playing at this time is silent b-roll recapping highlights of what the viewer has seen before. The only audio is a voice-over announcer reading you the phone number and Web address, which is prominently displayed on the screen. Here’s an example:
The idea is to remove all forms of misdirection, anything that could cause “inattention,” from the screen. In other words, we don’t just ask for the order — we also ensure people have enough distraction-free time to write down whatever they need to complete the sale.
Creators love to argue with me about this part of a commercial. Even with two minutes with which to work, it’s surprisingly difficult to find the time. Now imagine how they react when I tell them their older customers will need at least 12-15 seconds of their time! It’s no wonder they compromise by continuing to build the offer and hit key selling points during the end tag.
I’m not saying every commercial needs to end with a full and proper end tag. I’m not even saying that combining offers and end tags is always a bad idea. (I’ve done it myself on occasion.) What I’m saying is: Let’s be smart about this. The point of our advertising is to make prospects into customers, right? Going to our website or calling our phone number is the first, critical step in that process. So why on earth would anyone put that information in a blind area of the screen and then misdirect the viewer’s attention? It makes no sense, and yet I see it all the time.
Do yourself a favor: Stop passing the ball and point directly at the gorilla.
📢Introducing: SciMark Adviser
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has released a new capability. From the announcement on their website:
We’re rolling out custom versions of ChatGPT that you can create for a specific purpose—called GPTs. GPTs are a new way for anyone to create a tailored version of ChatGPT to be more helpful in their daily life, at specific tasks, at work, or at home—and then share that creation with others …
Anyone can easily build their own GPT—no coding is required. You can make them for yourself, just for your company’s internal use, or for everyone. Creating one is as easy as starting a conversation, giving it instructions and extra knowledge, and picking what it can do, like searching the web, making images or analyzing data.
Earlier this week, I used this new technology to create a GPT called SciMark Adviser. Here is an idea of what it can do from the instructions for my GPT:
SciMark Adviser encapsulates the collective wisdom of the titans of direct marketing. It is well-versed in the philosophies, strategies, and techniques of Albert Lasker, John E. Kennedy, Claude Hopkins, John Caples, David Ogilvy, Lester Wunderman, Alvin Eicoff, Joseph Sugarman, Ron Popeil, Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, Rosser Reeves, Jack Trout, Al Ries, and Robert Cialdini. This GPT can analyze direct marketing materials with a critical eye, applying the best practices and innovative tactics from these experts to optimize the selling power of copywriting and scripts. It provides quotes and teachings from these figures where relevant, ensuring that the advice given is steeped in proven direct marketing principles. When answering questions, SciMark Adviser will draw from this rich knowledge base to offer authoritative and actionable direct marketing insights.
I also fed the GPT my basic formula for scripts that sell, all 10 articles from the series I just completed based on that formula, and about a half-dozen or so of my most successful DRTV scripts. So if the GPT sounds a bit like me, you’ll know why!
Wanna give it a whirl? Use this link. (Note: A ChatGPT subscription is required).
Recent Tests
Suddenly, there’s a lot of testing going on! This week, I report on an innovative new holiday campaign from Emson, the latest Hempvana pain-relief product and Ontel’s attempt to bring back one of its biggest successes of all time.