Neurocopywriting: the science beyond your blog article
How Neuroscience scientifically supports copywriters to improve article performance and grab reader-users’ attention
Do you like writing or do it professionally? Do you publish periodically, even independently? Well. Surely you will be united by a terror that grips anyone who tries to write articles: the attention span of readers-users.
Don’t worry, it’s normal. We live in times where the span of attention is always lower and on the Web, we are immersed in the ocean of content produced every second, of all kinds. Just scroll the Instagram feed at any time of the day to realize that the amount of information around is huge and out of our control. The so-called online world is so saturated with content that we can no longer recognize those that are relevant to us or not.
However, for those who by job (and not) writes, the attention of the users remains a tough nut to crack, as well as create quality and relevant content; This is because if we read an article written badly or too complex it is likely that we will seek elsewhere the solution to the problem we were looking for.
Here then comes the rescue of neuromarketing: we are not talking about tricks by demagogues but a (relatively) recent discipline that applies knowledge in the field of neuroscience to analyze the behavior and choices of users. A branch of neuroeconomics, neuromarketing has soon expanded into different fields of marketing, to study deeply the actions that a user performs on the Web(for example through the analysis of the behavior of an individual within a website or on a social platform). Among the different fields also copywriting responded to the appeal, in a version that unofficially we can define neurocopywriting. Basically, neurocopywriting is the application of neuroscience to copywriting.
Through the use of different scientific tools, it is possible to observe the behavior of users when reading a text and therefore understand its performance: which words trigger certain brain reactions and which types of layout and formatting favor whether or not they stress the user.
So, without going into detail (at the bottom of the article you find the necessary sources if you are interested), through the application of neuroscientific studies, we can improve the performance of our articles. The suggestions that you will see in the next few lines affect different practices and choices that help copywriters (web copywriters, content writers, blog writers, and so on) in writing high-performance, memorable, and more readable articles. It is likely that some of these suggestions you have already seen or are the daily business of your work; if so, repetita iuvant!
Nevertheless, we must remember one thing, of primary importance: the (real) quality of the contents. Tips and advice can help and facilitate our work but if the content is not of value itself and doesn’t respond to a real need of users, likely, that it does not have real value content.
Before we start
In the following lines, you will find references to “System 1” (or “Brain 1”). This term refers to the studies of Daniel Kahneman who developed a pattern that sees our brain into two “compartments”: the System or Brain 1, closer to our animal part: lazy, operates quickly and automatically with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control. It’s responsible for about 96 percent of our daily decisions; and System 2, slower and more thoughtful: which directs attention to demanding mental activities that require focus, like complex calculations. The cases presented below refer almost exclusively to System (Brain) 1. If you are interested in further details in the notes below you will find the necessary resources.
Let’s see then some suggestions!
#1 USE SPEAKING TITLES AND SUBTITLES
As we saw before, the attention span of users is increasingly reduced: some estimate it in 8 seconds while in other parts we don’t discuss about attention span, but about considering span: that would explain why we can’t watch out for more than eight seconds but play video games for hours. That is why we must respond to the doubts of our users when they seek the solution to their problems online. This is possible by using “speaking” titles and subtitles: which describe and summarize the content of the text and facilitate the scanning of the page, allowing the user to identify at first glance the sections of the article that may actually be of interest.
Remember that our brain is basically lazy and seeks a quick response to problems (to prevent the consumption of excessive cognitive energy); providing it in the title and subtitle could be the first element to increase its considering span.
#2 DISPOSE OF THE CONTENT IN DESCENDING ORDER
For readers, the first paragraphs are more important. Moreover, when we open an article we tend to be more relaxed and therefore more focused. So, if you have the possibility, balance the contents of your article by placing the most important information at the beginning.
#3 THE SYSTEM 1 BRAIN CAN REMEMBER THE ELEMENTS MORE EASILY AT THE BEGINNING AND AT THE END AND THE LAST THINGS IT PERCEIVED
System 1, our least reflective and most energy-saving part, remembers more easily the information present at the beginning and end of a narrative structure and the last thing it perceived. In the first case, it is the primacy effect, while in the second it is the recency effect. Therefore, it is good to repeat the initial promise at the end of a message and give particular emphasis to the conclusions. If the content allows it, rely on the bullet points list (if the information exceeds four/five points it may not be the best solution, but always better than a wall of text!).
#4 QUANTIFIABLE NUMBERS AND DATA HAVE MORE GRIP THAN PERCENTAGES
The human being is naturally suspicious and led to a concrete language. System 1 prefers, in addition to comparisons and comparisons, numbers, data, and accuracy. These elements, however, must be further subdivided: between a number and its equivalent percentage try to give priority to the first. The advice here is to use statistics for negative information/news and numbers for positive information.
#5 WHERE YOU CAN USE INFOGRAPHICS
What? A copywriting article and you’re talking about infographics? Yeah, that’s right. The information is stored more efficiently if in support of the article there are infographics, in particular, if they summarize the content. In addition, the association between text and images facilitates the learning of complex concepts.
#6 FRAME AND COPY: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LOSS AVERSION
Framing is how information is presented and how it affects our decisions. In copywriting it is fundamental. One effective way is to use the users’ aversion to loss: people are motivated to act out of the fear of a loss in the hope of obtaining a gain. So if we’re writing to offer a product or service, it’s important to focus on the benefits that they bring, but also stress the losses related to not buying that product/service.
#7 USE METAPHORS
At the base of the greatest stories and backbone of storytelling, metaphor is one of the figures of speech that must necessarily be part of the copywriter toolbox. Use them mainly for abstract concepts: they help the reader to orient himself, see them in better-known terms, and guide him in understanding.
So here are seven tips from neuroscience studies applied to copywriting. As stated in the previous paragraphs, such advice or good practices are not worth much if the basis is not content of value and that is of real interest to your audience.
Here are some interesting resources:
- Thinking, fast and slow, Daniel Kahneman, 2011
- Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein
- Neurocowebcopywriting website
