Long Copy or Short Copy : Here’s How to Choose
January 7th, 2008 by Vishen Lakhiani Read more about Copywriting, Website OptimizationI was listening to one of Yanik Silver's CDs from his excellent copywriting course today and came across this interesting nugget.
A lot of people still don't understand that long copy tends to usually outperform short copy. They reason that long copy usually turns people off.
This is true. In the study quoted in Yanik's course, the majority of people on a site will drop off after the first 300 words.
So short copy wins?
Not true. The people who do continue past 300 words will usually stay on. There is no more significant drop off again until 3000 words!
But here's the important thing. The most interested buyers are the ones that will stay. That majority that dropped off after 300 words, well you were not going to sell to them anyway. Let them bounce off.
The minority that stayed on past 300 are the hot buyers. And these guys want as much info as you can dish out. So give them the long copy they need.
Long copy trumps short copy.
PS: Yanik Silver's Course is described here.
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About the Author
Vishen is a co-founder of MindValley.
Before MindValley, he was an exec in Silicon Valley and New York for several internet and technology firms. He turned bedroom entrepreneur at 27 and by the time he was 31 had founded 6 web businesses and never had to work a conventional job again.
Check out other posts by Vishen Lakhiani
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Vishen Lakhiani
This is a very interesting set of data. I always find it tough determining how hard to run off luke warm to cold leads. Do I really just want the super hot leads or is there a way to cater to the ones that drop off after 300 words? Is it a fatal flaw for marketers to try and sell to eveyone i.e. maximize traffic, or can we try and do just that and not damage our overall results.
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SMB Security
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