“But My Customers Are Different”
December 30th, 2006
One of the more favorite phrases I get from new clients (before I have them properly indoctrinated LOL) is what I call the “but my customers are different” syndrome…
Essentially what this involves is the clients misconception about their prospect and customer base, most notably their unfounded belief that their prospects and customers will NOT read long copy or will NOT respond to offers that are a bit on the “sensational” side.
Nothing could be further from the truth- and I can’t think of anything that pisses me off more than a misguided client who actually believes this!
Here’s the reality of the situation:
Your customers are HUMAN BEINGS. All human beings buy products, information and services for the same basic menu of reasons. And they WILL respond to offers that are on the “sensational” side as long as there is TRUTH in the story.
The perfect example is the mailing John Carlton put together for golfers that mailed successfully for 8 years at a 20 to 1 clip on revenue to ad spend with no changes made to it whatsoever.
Golf Digest was worried that the offer was “too sensational” and would “piss off” their customer base and was concerned that their “customers were different” because they thought that golfers were a conservative bunch and a bunch of other unfounded nonsensical beliefs that I care not to get into at the moment.
The headline?
“Amazing Secret Discovered By One-Legged Golfer Adds 50 Yards To Your Drives, Eliminates Hooks and Slices…and Can Slash Up To Ten Strokes From Your Game Almost Overnight!”
This was actually a TRUE story (embellished of course) and the hook was of course the one legged golfer. The morons over at golf digest falsely believed that this headline would “piss off” their customer base and work against them in the long run because their customers were “different” and would not like this (for whatever silly reason they can come up with in their minds).
Instead, this mailed unchanged for 8 years and was one of their most successful campaigns- ever.
So, the question is…
Are your customers different?
Matt
