The Easiest Way to Make Your Video Ads Better

Plus: Does DRTV have a new name?

My article on common mistakes video advertisers make got me thinking: What if I had to choose just one thing that could make any direct-selling video ad better?

Since the goal of such ads is performance, my candidates would be:

1. A new offer. Last week, I wrote about the dramatic impact a BOGO offer had on a client’s struggling campaign. That’s just one idea. Another is testing different bonus items (i.e. ‘gifts with purchase’). While less popular these days, these so-called “premiums” can yield surprising improvements in results. In fact, I’ve seen a change of bonus more than double response.

2. A new hook. I wrote about this in the “common mistakes” piece (see Boring Openings), but it’s worth re-emphasizing here. If your ad isn’t cutting through the clutter and grabbing attention, your prospects will never know how great your product is, and they’ll never get to see that amazing offer you crafted.

3. More ways to order. Advertisers often let biases distort their decision-making process. I’ve heard many say that people don’t watch TV anymore. (Fact: The average adult will spend nearly three hours watching traditional TV in 2024, according to Statista.) I’ve had clients tell me they don’t bother with phone numbers anymore since everyone shops online. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, they’ve told me QR codes don’t work. In recent tests, roughly 1/3 of our direct sales came by phone and up to 15% of sales came via QR code. My advice? Don’t let preconceived notions determine what you are willing to try. You never know. Adding a new ordering method (or bringing back an old one) could deliver the sales boost you need.

4. More time to order. I also wrote about this in “common mistakes” (see Ignoring SOPs). The main point is that prospects, especially older ones, need distraction-free time at the end of an ad to take the critical action you want them to take. That could be writing down order information, dialing a number or Googling a website. It could even mean pulling out their iPhone to hover over your QR code and hit the link to your site.

OK, so that’s four options. Which of these would I choose as the one? Call me old-school, but I’m going to go with the first one. I still believe what I was originally taught by the godfather of ‘As Seen on TV,’ AJ Khubani. He said that only a new offer can dramatically impact a CPO.¹ While the other candidates can yield significant improvements, only offers can 2X or 3X your results.

Now, let’s go one step further. Let’s assume you’ve dialed in your offer, developed a killer opening viewers can’t resist, tried every order method possible and are allowing plenty of time for prospects to act at the end of your commercial. What else can you do?

My answer: Make your ad easier to process.

I’ve touched on this a little by explaining the concept of cognitive load. Here’s how you can reduce it in a video ad:

1. De-clutter scenes. A simple example of scene clutter is split-screens, triptychs or quads. These can create cognitive overload because the eye doesn’t know where to look or what to focus on. Each scene in a commercial is only seconds long, so splitting scenes all but guarantees the viewer will miss something. It’s physically impossible to look at multiple things at the same time.²

2. Ensure titles match the VO. This may sound odd at first, but you can test it out on yourself: It’s impossible to read words and hear different words at the same time. If a voice-over is saying one thing and the text on screen is saying another, you will only ‘hear’ one or the other. Either you’ll ignore the audible voice and ‘listen’ to the voice in your head as you read, or you’ll ignore the text on screen and listen to the audible voice. Why create that dilemma at all? If your titles always match what the VO is saying, the viewer will ‘hear’ two voices speaking in unison — making your selling message all the more powerful.³

3. Use less words (especially modifiers). There’s no point in having your ad say your product is “the fastest, easiest, most affordable, innovative way to slice bread” (or whatever). The human brain cannot possibly process all of those modifiers, at least not in a way where the meaning sinks in. Pick one or two adjectives or adverbs at most. Similarly, use the same sort of short, declarative writing in audio copy that you would use in print copy. Watching an ad is not an immersive experience. You aren’t writing for a podcast or audio book.

That’s my vote and my advice. Many of you reading this are video veterans and experts in your own right. What do you think? Drop me an email or hit the button below.

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News(letters) You Can Use 📰

According to the latest edition of Stacked Marketer, the new preferred term for DRTV advertising is: T-commerce.

T-commerce (television commerce) has actually been around for a while.

Back in the day, it looked like dialing a number in an infomercial. Today, it might be scanning an on-screen QR code with your phone.

I’m guessing the “E-commerce” people thought this one up. However, it’s pretty much their world these days. We’re just living in it.

I’ve been playing around with my own new terms to describe where the DR industry could be heading. See if you think one of these will catch on:

• DRTT (Direct Response TikTok)

• DRYT (Direct Response YouTube)

I also like ‘Seen on Social’ as a candidate to replace ‘As Seen on TV.’ Not sure who came up with that one, but it isn’t mine.

What are your ideas?

By the way, the main point of the Stacked Marketer writeup was to differentiate between “shoppable TV” ads and the aforementioned “T-commerce” ads. The authors write:

The difference basically comes down to this:

If a customer can buy something with their TV remote, that’s shoppable TV.

This method of buying allows you to directly count how many sales you’re getting from TV because the customer doesn’t need to take any extra steps.

If a customer has to use their phone, it’s no longer shoppable TV.

I also found this interesting:

Despite what companies like Disney and Roku might tell you, most people don’t want to be interrupted when they’re watching TV.

… Especially by brands trying to get them to hand over cash.

And so far, it’s not clear that the “buy with your phone” format is going down well with consumers.

That obviously wasn’t true of traditional DRTV, so either viewer behavior has significantly changed or shoppable TV widgets and QR codes still aren’t able to deliver what 800 numbers and Web addresses were once able to deliver.

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Another two-fer! In the latest edition of the brilliant Adam Mastroianni’s Substack Experimental History, he recounts some recent “underrated ideas in psychology.” One of them involves experiments that revealed something I’ve long suspected:

[C]onversations are surprisingly robust to nonsense. People respond to some mix of what you actually said and what they expected you to say, and sometimes their expectations can be so strong that your words don’t matter at all; they’ve pre-filled the blanks for you.

My experience with this phenomenon has been in the sense of ‘your reputation precedes you.’ Thankfully, my reputation is pretty good, so I’ve had this work in a positive sense. That is, I’ve had the odd experience (on multiple occasions) where I said something I knew was wrong or even incoherent, and yet the person to which I said it immediately turned it into something brilliant.

Perhaps you can relate. Such instances are typically followed by that awkward moment when you stammer, “Uh, yeah! That’s exactly what I meant!”

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Top Dog made it official yesterday:

As part of the commitment to bringing classic and effective solutions to households worldwide, Top Dog Direct has partnered with the estate of Billy Mays to revive the energy, enthusiasm, and effectiveness that made him a household name…

Starting with the relaunch of Mighty Mendit, celebrating its 15-year anniversary, and the relaunch of Mighty Putty, celebrating its 18-year anniversary, the line of Mighty Products revolutionized the way consumers approached home improvement and repair. By reintroducing these products, along with other celebrated items coming soon, Top Dog Direct aims to continue its legacy of providing customers with practical, reliable, and easy-to-use solutions.

I first shared this news with premium subscribers back in February.

You can read the full press release here.

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Borrow My Brain 🧠

If you have an ad you want to make better and aren’t sure where to begin, you’re in luck: The SciMark Video Doctor is in. Send me your ad, and I’ll diagnose it and present possible ‘cures.’ As of right now, I’m pricing this service at $199 a pop and giving premium subscribers a 50% discount. Simply email me at jordan@scimark.com to get started.

Not a premium subscriber? Click below to upgrade and get all the perks plus this new discount.

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1. CPO stands for cost per order, which is the DRTV version of a CPA (cost per acquisition).

2. I’m not saying you should never use these techniques. I use split-screens for comparing and contrasting (e.g. before-and-afters), and triptychs and quads for recapping scenes I’ve already shown or when I can call out each ‘square’ individually.

3. The great Rosser Reeves, a 1960s ad man who may have been the inspiration for Don Draper, conveyed a similar principle is his book, Reality In Advertising. He listed just three basics for TV advertising. No. 1 was “lock the video to the audio.”