What is advertising? part 5

Incorporating Proof and Believability
When your prospect reads your ad, you want to make sure he
believes any claims you make about your product or service. Because
if there’s any doubt in his mind, he won’t bite, no matter how sweet
the deal. In fact, the “too good to be true” mentality will virtually
guarantee a lost sale…even if it is all true.
So what can you do to increase the perception of believability?
Because after all, it’s the perception you need to address up front.
But of course you also must make sure your copy is accurate and
truthful.
Here are some tried and tested methods that will help:
• If you’re dealing with existing customers who already know you
deliver as promised, emphasize that trust. Don’t leave it up to
them to figure it out. Make them stop, cock their heads, and
say, “Oh, yeah. The ABC Company has never done me wrong
before. I can trust them.”
• Include testimonials of satisfied customers. Be sure to put full
names and locations, where possible. Remember, “A.S.” is a lot

less believable than “Andy Sherman, Voorhees, NJ.” If you can
also include a picture of the customer and/or a professional
title, that’s even better. It doesn’t matter that your testimonials
aren’t from somebody famous or that your prospect does not
know these people personally. If you have enough compelling
testimonials, and they’re believable, you’re much better off
than not including them at all.
• Pepper your copy with facts and research findings to support
your claims. Be sure to credit all sources, even if the fact is
common knowledge, because a neutral source goes a long way
towards credibility.
• For a direct mail letter or certain space ads where the copy is in
the form of a letter from a specific individual, including a
picture of that person helps. But unlike “traditional” real estate
letters and other similar ads, I’d put the picture at the end near
your signature, or midway through the copy, rather than at the
top where it will detract from your headline. And…if your sales
letter is from a specific individual, be sure to include his
credentials to establish him as an expert in his field (relating to
your product or service, of course).
• If applicable, cite any awards or third-party reviews the product
or service has received.
• If you’ve sold a lot of widgets, tell them. It’s the old “10 million
people can’t be wrong” adage (they can be, but your prospect
will likely take your side on the matter).
• Include a GREAT return policy and stand by it! This is just good
business policy. Many times, offering a double refund
guarantee for certain products will result in higher profits. Yes,
you’ll dish out more refunds, but if you sell three times as many
widgets as before, and only have to refund twice as much as
before, it may be worth it, depending on your offer and return
on investment. Crunch the numbers and see what makes
sense. More importantly, test! Make them think, “Gee, they

wouldn’t be so generous with returns if they didn’t stand
behind their product!”
• If you can swing it, adding a celebrity endorsement will always
help to establish credibility. Heck, if ‘ol honest Abe Lincoln
recommended your product and backs up your claims, it must
be true! Ok, you get the idea, though.
• When it makes sense, use 3rd party testimonials. What are 3rd
party testimonials? Here’s some examples from some Web site
copy I wrote when there weren’t many customer testimonials
available yet:
“Spyware, without question, is on an exponential
rise over the last six months.”
- Alfred Huger, Senior Director of Engineering,
Symantec Security Response (maker of Norton
security software)
“Simply clicking on a banner ad can install
spyware.”
- Dave Methvin, Chief Technology Officer, PC Pitstop
A deployment method is to “trick users into
consenting to a software download they think they
absolutely need”
- Paul Bryan, Director, Security And Technology Unit,
Microsoft
Do you see what I did?
I took quotes from experts in their respective fields and turned
them to my side. But…be sure to get their consent or
permission from the copyright holder if there’s ever any
question about copyrighted materials as your source.
Note that I also pushed an emotional hot button: fear.

It’s been proven that people will generally do more to avoid
pain than to obtain pleasure. So why not use that tidbit of info
to your advantage?
• Reveal a flaw about your product. This helps alleviate the “too
good to be true” syndrome. You reveal a flaw that isn’t really a
flaw. Or reveal a flaw that is minor, just to show that you’re
being “up front” about your product’s shortcomings.
Example:
“You’re probably thinking right now that this tennis racket is a
miracle worker—and it is. But I must tell you that it has one
little…shortcoming.
My racket takes about 2 weeks to get used to. In fact, when you first
start using it, your game will actually get worse. But if you can just
ride it out, you’ll see a tremendous improvement in your volleys, net
play, serves, …” And so on.
There’s a tendency to think, with all of the ads that we are
bombarded with today that every advertiser is always putting
his best foot forward, so to speak. And I think that line of
reasoning is accurate, to a point.
But isn’t it refreshing when someone stands out from the crowd
and is honest? In other words, your reader will start to
subconsciously believe that you are revealing all of the flaws,
even though your best foot still stands forward.
• Use “lift notes.” These are a brief note or letter from a person
of authority. Not necessary a celebrity, although that can add
credibility, too. A person of authority is someone well
recognized in their field (which is related to your product) that
they are qualified to talk about. Lift notes may be distributed as
inserts, a separate page altogether, or even as part of the copy

itself. As always, test!
• If you are limiting the offer with a deadline “order by” date, be
sure the deadline is real and does not change. Deadline dates
that change every day are sure to reduce credibility. The
prospect will suspect, “if his deadline date keeps changing, he’s
not telling the truth about it…I wonder what else he’s not
telling the truth about.”
• Avoid baseless “hype.” I discussed that in my previous tip.
Enough said.