Imagine being served a fancy restaurant entrée within 23 seconds of ordering.

What would you think?

You'd likely question its quality and feel you overpaid for a precooked dish.

This is the Labor Illusion in action.

Customers perceive services as more valuable when they see the effort put into them, even if that labor doesn't necessarily improve the outcome.

This even applies to digital products and services.

For example, Kayak (a flight search tool) found users were more likely to convert if search results rolled in more slowly, giving the impression of a thorough, exhaustive search. 

Pretty counterintuitive since we'd typically think faster = better.

You can also leverage the labor illusion in your content

People will take your content more seriously and value it more when you lead with the amount of work it took to create it:

Naturally, this makes people think: 

"If this took 16 hours to make, it's worth 5 minutes of my time to read."

So it hooks them in. And then they value it more.

In short, experiment with showing users the amount of time and effort that goes into your content to increase its perceived value. 

If you'd like to dive deeper into this hook type (the Credibility one), and 11 other hook types, join our free 14-day email course, Un-ignorable Hooks. Learn how top creators grab your attention and keep it—without being clickbaity.

I spent dozens of hours studying hooks to make this course 😉

When we started the Growth Newsletter we didn't realize they'd become "the cool thing."

It seems like everyone’s got their own newsletter these days—and we get it! When you're building an audience, you want to get them off social and into a newsletter. It lets you have a direct relationship with them.

Anyway, if you’ve got a newsletter but are struggling to grow your subs, here’s a cool idea.

Newsletter referral programs can be tricky to incentivize correctly. Unless people love you, they probably don't want your swag. You also don't want to cannibalize your paid products. And some percentage of people will just try to game it.

One cool thing that Chenell does for her own newsletter, Growth in Reverse, is she regularly features folks in a Community Spotlight section (it was the inspiration for our own!).

In it, she highlights the newsletters of people who have referred at least 10 subscribers to her newsletter (and she makes sure they aren't all spam ones before she does).

It's a perfect win-win.

Her newsletter breaks down how creators grew to 50k subscribers. So her audience is made up of people with newsletters. They can easily plug her newsletter into theirs—and they are actively trying to find ways to grow their own.

This same tactic might be good to test on your own. OR you can use this as inspiration for a creative win-win way to incentivize people with a referral program.

Would you believe Tesla if they claimed they created the Car of the Year?

Definitely not. They're biased.

But if a reputable (or reputable-seeming) third party said it, maybe you would, right?

That's why Savannah created her own Facebook page called Savvy Finds. She's done a ton of tests where she runs her clients ads through their own page, and through Savvy Finds. 

The result? The ads that ran through Savvy Finds were nearly always the winner.

This technique is especially clever for agencies since it allows her to use client money to increase the reach of her page (which will naturally get likes/followers)—which builds an asset that becomes a competitive advantage for her agency.

If you spend a lot on social ads, consider testing this approach. Even minor improvements in conversion rates can make a significant difference—especially when you're paying for eyeballs.

Say you’re in the market for some biker shorts.  

You find the perfect ones: 

But drat, they’re sold out in the macadamia color! So you hurry up and order them in red, before those sell out too.

When you see sold-out options/models, you’re more likely to buy whatever’s left (assuming you weren’t looking for a super-specific version).

Why? The "sold out" label acts like social proof. It tells you that the product is desirable and high quality. 

And it adds time pressure. If you want it, you better buy it before it sells out too.

But there’s a caveat: Seeing too many sold-out products reduces the likelihood of a purchase. Shoppers expect a certain amount of freedom of choice. We’ll jump ship if we think that freedom is being threatened.

Two important takeaways:

1. Don’t immediately remove sold-out product options from display. Keeping them may make people perceive your product as being higher quality.
2. But don’t display sold-out products if they make up more than 30% of your inventory. Between 10-30% is a good range of sold-out products to feature.

The first number we see becomes our point of comparison for future numbers—known as the anchoring bias.

For example, if someone says their service costs $5,000 per month and up, you're anchored to the number $5,000. If they then give you a quote of $25,000 per month, you're gonna have sticker shock—even if you're being offered way more value than the $5k/mo package. 

Snickers grew sales by 38% simply by adding an anchor (the number 18) to their ad:

By including that number, Snickers suggested that 18 chocolate bars was a typical amount to have in your freezer. If you ordered fewer than that, you were being positively virtuous.

As in Tactic #1, the specificity here makes it easier to picture the items in your life. I know what 18 Snickers bars in my freezer look like. And now that I can picture them, I realize that that’s where they ought to be.

When I was fresh out of university, I worked at a coffee shop called Second Cup. This Canadian chain trained its staff in a simple but effective sales technique: 

"Make one specific, contextual cross-sell suggestion."

For example, if it was first thing in the morning and someone ordered a coffee to go, I might’ve asked them, "Would you like a blueberry muffin to go with your coffee?"

Or if it was 9pm and a couple ordered drinks, the barista might follow it up with, "How about a slice of cheesecake to go with that?"

Most of the time, people would say yes, effectively doubling the order value.

Specific suggestions were far more effective than generic ones like, "Would you like anything else?" To those, people automatically replied, "No, just gimme what I ordered." 

A specific suggestion, on the other hand, made them picture the item and start craving it.

This is what makes cross-sells on Amazon and other retail sites work so well.

Amazon’s "Featured items you may like" and "What do customers buy after viewing this item?" sections make you go, "Hmmm, maybe I do need that nice-looking bag for this camera I'm buying." You can picture using the two items together.

Cross-selling can bump up order values at checkout too: 

Try out specific suggestions in your sales funnels and conversations to boost average order values.

As a species, we crave belonging. That’s why we often look to others for cues on what to do when we’re in an unfamiliar situation. We follow the herd when it suits us.

This instinct to conform is what makes descriptive norms so powerful. They tell us how the majority of people act in that situation.

In one experiment, more hotel guests reused their towels after seeing a message with a descriptive norm (“75% of guests use their towels more than once”) than after seeing an environmental appeal (“Help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay”).

Here's how to use descriptive norms in your emails, ads, landing pages, and so on:

• “Most clients reserve $1,500-2,000+ for their ad budget.” (ex: ads agency)
• “Over 2 million people have a 365+ day streak!” (ex: Duolingo)
• “63% of our customers bundle [product A] with [product B].” (ex: ecomm)
• “The majority of users complete this section in under 10 minutes.” (ex: onboarding)

Important: Descriptive norms work best when they show large numbers of people doing the behavior you want them to do. Descriptive norms backfire if you highlight the behavior you don't want them to do. Consider this sign about towel use:

Why it fails: It's telling you that the norm is to use multiple towels. Why would you defy the norm and only use one? It may seem unfair or that you're getting less by only using one.

But what if only a minority of people are doing the behavior you want?

Try using dynamic norms instead. These describe how a growing number of people are doing the behavior you want to increase. For an example, take a look at New York City’s GreeNYC campaign ("more and more New Yorkers"):

The most important factors in ad performance:

1. Great brand/product.
2. Kicka** creatives. 

It has less to do with targeting and optimization (and let's be honest, AI does most of that these days), and more to do with an intriguing product and creative and captivating ads.

Here are 7 ways to improve your ad creatives:

#1. Show the outcome

Start your ad with the desired end result of using your product; then in the second frame, introduce the product. This will increase video watch time as people will want to know how to get the result.

#2. Close-up‍

Start your ad with a very close-up shot of the product. 

Get people wondering... What is that? They'll stop because they want to figure it out.

#3. Lean into the Negativity Bias

Start the ad explaining why you are NEVER using the alternative to your product again.

It triggers an "Oh sh*t, am I doing it wrong?" and they'll want to know what they should be doing instead.

#4. Good lighting, good sound

The quality of the camera matters way less than a nice natural light source or a killer lighting setup.

Microphone quality and good music/sound effects are much more important than video quality.

#5. Leverage trends and seasons

People like it when content feels relevant and timely. If they're in the mindset of Christmas, or setting New Year's resolutions, or planning their Valentine's Day date, leverage that in your ads and content.

#6. Don't trigger "this is an ad"

Get creative to avoid setting off the alarm bells in people's heads that they're looking at an ad.

Make it look as natural as possible. Don't include music or pop-up captions for the first second or two—once they're hooked, you can bring them in.

Include a screenshare of someone texting a recommendation to their friend.

#7. Be different

You'll never stand out if you do the same thing that everyone else is doing. Be completely illogical.

Instead of focusing on your features, try including a photo of a cute bunny. It might just work.

The 6 tactics above may work today, but tomorrow they may not. The brands that win are the ones that can consistently come up with interesting and novel ideas.

A single ad campaign can be talked about for years. Think Budweiser's "wazzup" or Apple's "Think Different" or "Mac vs PC."

But that won't happen if you do what everyone else is doing.

Most people only use Twitter for a few minutes here and there per day, sometimes per week.

One way to ensure people see your tweets is just by tweeting A LOT. 

If you haven't heard of Dan Go, he goes by "@FitFounder."

His first tweet was April 10th, 2020. More than 84k tweets later and he has 500k followers (as well as 200k on LinkedIn, 450k on Instagram, and 80k newsletter subscribers).

On average, that's ~74 tweets every day. But he peaked at ~350 tweets per day. 

(Note: Twitter considers a comment/reply to be a tweet, not just original content.)

Chenell found that in the first several months, Dan's follower count was directly correlated to his total number of tweets:

Sure, not every tweet crushed.

But they didn't need to. Even if each one only got 100 impressions, that'd still add up to 35k impressions per day. And of course, many of them got way more than that.

Dan grew by outworking everyone else on Twitter.

It's honestly hard to find creators with more tweets than him. Sure there are accounts with a lot more, but they're mostly companies or automated.

Even Jack Dorsey (the founder and former CEO of Twitter), has a measly 29k, and he's been tweeting since day 0.

Dan is one of the most active Twitter users of the past 3 years.

Sometimes you can win just by being the most active.

I've always been skeptical that giving away free swag was an effective tactic.

But it definitely can be if you have the right strategy. 

Take it from InVision, which used swag to amplify its brand’s reputation. Customers loved to post their swag packages on social (creating a viral loop) and were also more likely to give feedback when asked—which is normally hard to get.

Get more from your swag by following these best practices:

• Gift swag at your "aha!" moment. For InVision, that was after users had completed simple onboarding activities like creating a project.
• Choose memorable items that relate to your product/service. Since it’s a design company, InVision’s free swag included custom stickers, pins, postcards, and envelopes. Users who upgraded to a paid subscription got even more—a sketchbook and gel pen. Other examples: A company in the music space could gift headphones, while a meditation/sleep app could gift eye masks.‍
• Use an attractive design. Don’t just default to your logo. Giving away logo-branded swag is like asking a consumer to be a walking billboard for your company. Instead, commission a design that ties back to your company. (Here’s InVision’s.) Your logo can still be included, but it should be secondary. Exception: If your merch doesn’t have much creative real estate, like headphones, just your logo is fine.‍
• Include a handwritten note. Early on, InVision’s swag packages included a handwritten message signed by the company’s CEO. This added a personal touch.‍
• Go over the top. Airtable gave branded Airpods to people at YC companies and key accounts. People would proudly sport them at the office and think fondly of Airtable every time they used them—I know because I've had a pair for 4 years.

Done well, swag can actually bring in new customers.

In fact, when InVision started a weekly Twitter contest giving away their shirts, it got messages from people wanting to buy the shirt without entering the contest. InVision’s team told them to sign up for the software’s professional plan and screenshot the invoice as proof.

Since users usually stuck around for a bit, that meant a few months of revenue for a shirt that only cost $15—not to mention they became walking billboards.

Justin's mention of Anaphora was a great example of the Frequency Bias: When you learn about something obscure, then immediately start seeing it everywhere, falsely thinking it's becoming more common.

I didn't hear about this phenomenon until I started researching my own post about literary devices, then BAM! There it was the next morning. Figured it would be a nice segue.

Here are five more literary devices you can use to make your writing more engaging.

For each, we'll modify the phrase: "The founder is stressed."

#1. Tricolon

A series of 3 parallel words, phrases, or clauses to enhance rhythm and create emphasis.

"The founder is stressed, strained, stretched."

Tip: This is also another literary device “Asyndeton” that leaves out conjunctions (and/or).

#2. Paradox

A statement that contradicts itself but still seems true.

"The founder is a calm storm."

The above can be interpreted as the founder being stressed (storm) yet maintaining composure (calm)—saying a lot in few words.

#3 Catachresis (don't ask me to pronounce this one)

Purposefully using a word incorrectly, for effect. 

"The founder drinks from the well of stress."

Works well to invoke a mental image.

#4 Paraprosdokian (nor this one)

The latter part causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part.

"The founder is stressed—an understatement equivalent to calling the ocean a puddle."

Done right this can be fun and playful.

#5. Pleonasm

Use of more words than necessary to convey meaning and emphasis.

"The founder is stressed, full of stress, a picture of stress."

This is also a tricolon as it repeats the idea 3 times, and asyndeton as it lacks conjunctions.

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For a few more, and prettier design, here's the carousel version.

Justin Welsh's one-person business is pacing toward $2M+ in revenue in 2023.

He's one of the most impressive copywriters and systems thinkers I've seen.

He shared one of his copywriting formulas recently that he calls "VFCA." He used it in the following tweet:

The VFCA framework is: 

V: Visceral Opener

“I escaped the rat race…”

To stand out in a world of infinite content, use strong language to elicit a strong response.

Instead of:

1. "I left my job" say "I escaped the rat race."
2. "Most companies could onboard employees better" say "Most companies suck at onboarding." (credit: Wes Kao)
3. "A lot of Twitter users think LinkedIn is lame" say "Twitter hates LinkedIn."

F: Fresh Perspective

"My secret sauce is not playing status games"

People browse social media seeking dopamine hits and novelty. Anything but the same old, same old. A fresh perspective provides that.

In Justin's case, he's hoping to make people feel relieved, hopeful, and emotionally invested in his decision not to play "status games."

C: Challenge

"I don't:..."

Justin challenges the conventional definition of success. His goal was to connect with like-minded people who reject the common narrative and build affinity with them. 

He highlights his own personal values while attracting his community by slinging mud at a shared enemy.

A: Anaphora

Repetition of "I don't want" and "I want"

Lastly, Justin uses a literary device called Anaphora—repetition of the beginning part of successive sentences—to emphasize his message and create a sense of progression. 

The message—"I want X" or "I don't want Y"—gets stronger with each repetition.

With mobile commerce sales hitting $387 billion in the US last year, nailing the mobile buying experience is key.

So make your product-page CTAs sticky.

That way, it's easier for shoppers to add to cart—no scrolling back and forth to find what they’re looking for.

The luxury brand Baume & Mercier saw clicks on its “Add to Cart” button rise by 78% after making this change.

Consider the difference between these product pages from Sephora and Missha:

Let’s look at Missha first. Once someone has scrolled down to learn more about Missha’s product, they have to scroll back up to find the “Add to Cart” button again and make a purchase.

Meanwhile, someone shopping on Sephora’s mobile site has constant access to the “Add to Basket” button. They even have the option to adjust the quantity they want.

Once someone has decided that they're ready to buy, let them take action immediately. Every bit of thought and effort could make them change their mind.

This tactic can 2x the likelihood that someone says "yes" to your requests.

And it's hilariously simple. At the end of your request, just add:‍

"...but you are free to accept or refuse."‍

Studies have shown that adding those words can significantly increase the chances of a "yes."

For instance, in one study, strangers were asked to give someone money for bus fare. They gave twice the amount when those words were part of the request. 

Why do they matter so much?

We hate being told what to do. In contrast, we like to feel understood, respected, and in control.

Paradoxically, acknowledging a person's right to choose is enough of a nudge to increase the likelihood that they do what you want them to do.

Brains are weird.

So give people choice by using either the above phrase or a less-formal variation of it. Some places you can do that: 

• "But it's totally up to you"
• "It's your choice"
• "Take it or leave it"

Ever realize you’ve been browsing Instagram or TikTok for over an hour?

Or find yourself checking them whenever you’re bored? (ie 50 times per day)

That’s because those companies have developed the perfect system to get you completely hooked.

They've nailed the Hook Model, a concept from Nir Eyal. It's a four-step process to get people to use a product habitually.

The four steps are: Trigger → Action → Variable Reward → Investment

SaaS products that benefit from frequent use stand to gain a lot from the Hooked model.

Just make sure to use it ethically :). These are the same tools that companies use to get people addicted to gambling. So use them for good to get them addicted to things that benefit their lives.

If you want to hear Nir Eyal speak more about it, check out our interview with him.

Don't you hate it when you hit a site and you're immediately asked for your email address just so you can access the content?

A lot of companies still think that gating all of their content is the only way to grow their list and get leads.

This is generally a terrible experience. You're being asked to give something up before getting any value. It makes users feel “disempowered and disrespected.”

So consider ungating your content. Visitors will be more likely to share it with their colleagues or on social media, and will have a much better opinion of you and your brand.

One case in point: After removing lead capture forms from its site, the agency Aha Media Group saw its page views jump up by 143%. Newsletter signups grew by 55%, and its social media follower growth by 45%.

(This will only become more true with AI and the proliferation of content.)

Some tips and considerations for ungating:

1. Try giving before asking. For example, we make our playbooks open to the public. But our playbook pages also include an optional subscribe form. Anyone who’s enjoyed our playbooks will be more inclined to give up their info to find out about future ones.We've also toyed with making the first half ungated and the back half gated.‍
2. Add "content upgrades." Ungate your content but include embedded forms that offer some complimentary piece of content you can only get via email. This can be email-based mini courses, templates, or ebooks.‍
3. Add a timed modal. If someone has been on your page for several minutes and has scrolled down a decent amount, you can assume they've probably been reading and are engaged. At that point, you can trigger a modal popup asking for them to subscribe. Even better if it's with a content upgrade.

Most cold emails are terrible.

Effective cold emails share these characteristics:

1. Concise. People will archive an email at the sight of a wall of text. Keep it to 80-120 words and 5-7 sentences. If you have a hard time editing to shorten it, use ChatGPT or Notion AI.‍
2. Targeted. After getting a cold email for a newsletter sponsorship tool, I signed up immediately. Why? Because it was the solution to the exact problem I was facing—and they knew I likely was because they did their research and saw we have sponsors. Do your research and make sure you're emailing the right people.‍
3. Personable. Be informal and open. Don't be stiff or formal.‍
4. Authentic. You can flatter recipients a little bit, but don’t claim to be “blown away by their work” if you haven’t read it. You should be able to back up everything you say.‍‍
5. Focused. Stick to only one goal. Is it a call? A referral? A demo? Define your goal before sending your email. This will inform your CTA.‍
6. Original. Stand the f*ck out. Avoid all the cliches like "I hope this email finds you well" or "quick question."‍
7. Clear. Don't include anything that your reader might not understand. Assume they don't know about your company unless you know they do. Don't include references that they might not get. Be crystal clear.

Do these 7 things and you'll drastically increase response rates.

To make it even easier, use ChatGPT or Notion AI for help with copywriting. Ask them to make your email shorter, more casual, and remove any jargon.

To increase response rates even more, make it a warm email. 

For his birthday, MrBeast got 12,491,044 new followers on Instagram in 72 hours.

Hell of a b-day gift if you ask me.

He didn't do it with Instagram Ads. Instead, he did a giveaway of $10,000 to 5 winners:

Around 20M people liked and commented. Meaning around 20M people added the post to their stories as well—which feels a lot more organic since it's normally where your friends just post photos/videos about their daily life. 

On top of that—you had to follow him to actually claim your prize. 

In short: $50,000 to acquire 12.5M new followers or $0.004 per follower. To contextualize that, Twitter recommends a target CPA of $2 per new follower for their Follower Ads.

(Note: The post was eventually taken down because you need to explicitly declare that the giveaway is not endorsed or run by Instagram itself. Keep that in mind!)

No matter how well you understand psychology, you're affected by it. Here are five psych principles to leverage in your marketing campaigns:

1. Halo Effect

What it is: The tendency to attribute positive qualities to someone (or a brand) based on a favorable first impression or single positive trait.

Example: Patagonia is known for its commitment to sustainability, ethical manufacturing, and corporate social responsibility. So consumers feel good about shopping there, since they believe they're supporting a brand that contributes to the greater good.

2. Primacy Effect

What it is: People are more likely to remember and give greater importance to information at the beginning of a sequence.

Example: When a salesperson starts their pitch with a product's most impressive benefits, that info is what's top of mind for customers.

3. Negativity Bias

What it is: The tendency to give more weight to negative experiences than positive ones, leading to pessimism and risk aversion.

Example: A cybersecurity firm talks about the horrors of being hacked in one ad, and the cozy feeling of security in another. According to the negativity bias, the first ad would leave a stronger impression.

4. Framing Effect

What it is: People's decisions and perceptions are influenced by the way information is presented to them.

Example: A subscription-based service highlights the cost per day instead of the monthly price, making it seem more affordable.

5. Priming Effect

What: Exposure to a stimulus influences a person's thoughts, feelings, or behaviors in response to a subsequent, related stimulus.

Example: A nonprofit uses emotionally charged language and images in their fundraising campaign, eliciting empathy and increasing the likelihood of donations.

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Like these? Check out seven more.

People seek groundedness—in their daily lives, and when they shop.

• Place: We like buying locally. Near our homes and communities.
• People: We like knowing who we’re buying from. And relating to those people.
• Past: We like things that connect us to the past, like traditional production methods.

A Journal of Marketing study that brought groundedness into the realm of marketing (rather than its typical domains, philosophy and psych) uncovered some notable findings in the process.

• People who are more affected by digitization, urbanization, and disruptive events seek groundedness more. Including:
• People who are on their computers a lot for work
• People who live in big cities
• People who felt more affected by the pandemic
• Groundedness increases willingness-to-pay. In one experiment, consumers were willing to pay a ~60% premium for a product that provided more groundedness.
• Our need for groundedness might increase during birthdays and holidays, and it might even be higher during colder seasons. More research is needed to validate those points, but if they’re true, they could mean it's worth adjusting seasonal campaigns to focus more on the who and the where, not the what.

Takeaway:

In your messaging, consider ways to build connections to place, people, and the past. Particularly if your customers work from home or in big cities.  

That might mean emphasizing your product’s local origin, going with a more traditional design, finding local distribution channels, talking about who your founders are and what they value, or even having your team focus on building their personal brands.