Firstly, this isnt an attack on the UK or its marketers! Its just an observation I've made and that's the UK market in general are very conservative when it comes to sales messages. Ive noticed this when I promoted the two books I wrote (on my site) to various UK prospects.

Also from customer feedback and obviously various forums I'm participating in. Actually after I tweaked the copy and re-sent it, my response rate shot through the roof. All I did was take out the superaltives and replace them with what I felt was a much more conservative approach.

But I find it ironic the UK doesn't like the 'in your face!' approach when their tabloids are renown for this type of writing style. Read the headline on any given day from any of their major papers and you'll see it at work.

I guess they eat this type of HYPE up because its the media so it must be true (yeah right). Question is, why do they like the hype in the news and not their products/services? Credibility factor?

Sammer,

The papers you describe are largely read by people who are looking for a bit of light entertainment in their lunch hour. Serious papers have more serious headlines. Everyone knows that what's written in the tabloids is a load of bollocks, but people lap it up all the same.

But I don't even know if it's a valid comparison anyway - it's a bit like saying that apples = pears. We don't like being sold to, and we are probably the most sceptical people on the planet. When I lived in Australia I couldn't get over how gullible people were at times - they take things at face value much more often, whereas the Brits don't. I'm not sure if this demonstrates a conservative nature or an exaggerated sense of mistrust, or a sort of self-assured stubborness that says "I know who I am and what's what and t'aint no bugger goen to tell me different"! But whatever the reason, I suppose it boils down to Brits more readily responding to a communication style that lays out the facts and good arguments minus the superlatives and self-aggrandisement which we find distinctly unattractive.

So yes, credibility is probably the main factor. I've heard it said that it takes a long time to make a friend in Britain, but once you've made that friend, they're with you for life. Food for thought ....

Jane,

Well I can certainly corroborate your story about Australia as I lived there for 16 years. They follow the US in pretty much everything up to the government level

I wasnt meaning to come across as saying all brits lap up what the tabloids say. But for such a skeptical society, they certainly love spend a lot wanting to know whats going in other peoples lives!

Thanks for the input.

Sammer,

Congratulations on your increase in CR%.

Can you show us the two versions of the sales letters so we can see the details of what you are talking about, rather than guess?

And was the change just for the UK market or was it tried on American markets as well without the same difference in results?

Tim

Not a problem, I'll post them as soon as I return.

Yes, the letters were tried on American markets first. I deliberately wrote the typical direct reponse in your face style and approached the American market first and orders came in daily.

When I used the same letter to capture UK prospects, they trickled in. Once I revised it, the orders were at the same level and at times, greater than the orders I received for the US.

In any case, I'll post it ASAP.

I'd really like to look at this

From a previous thread "brits dont go for hype" I was trying to get across the same point.

Things like "triple your profits in 30 days" just dont seem to work

I've been pulling in 20 sales a day so thought I should try and beef up headlines like Michel does on his private site

It all made sense -- even putting quotes into courier..

Sales plummeted so I've put everything back -- sales are back up

I dont think brits like to be told what to do -- we are also very skeptical unless the offer is from a brand leader (although that in itself can be a problem)

Any insights you can give are most welcomed

The great thing about Google Adwords, in this topic, is that you could set up 2 different campaigns geographically, with 2 different sites ..

the site whos ads would be shown in the UK only, would be conservative site..

the site whos ads would be shown in the USA/Australia etc would be typical long copy format..


that's the way to test geographical differences using Adwords.. I touch on it in my dvd; eg regional copywriting differences.

Also could use brit slang in your for-UK only salesletter, like "bloke" and "mate" or whatever.. just run it by a real brit first, to make sure it's authentic. Taking lines out of Benny Hill and Monty Python reruns won't cut it....

USA Version site headline:

"Amazing New Bloggifier Instantly Zooms Your Site To the TOP of the Google PRs and Grabs Massive Hordes Of Cash-Hungry Buyers, In Just 3 Easy Steps...!"


same product, with UK Version site headline:

"Bloggifier. The Dignified Way To Get Your Mates Over To Your Site. Get Traffic Without the Hype."


That's a brilliant concept, and you should all go rush out and test it straight away. I mean right now.


Cheers,

ken

That's excellent and I can see you have an excellent grasp of this

a) MASSIVE RED HEADLINE == pure hype and spam
b) Blue = conservative, smaller font, less words - great
c) words like grab and cash hungry buyers = hype

Any more examples ?

Take this headline for one of my products -- works OK:

"New Step By Step Business Tool Will
Give You A Fool-Proof Blueprint For
You To Effectively Plan A Successful
And Profitable Business"


any advances on this ?

Yes, but point is, I like the red headline better ... then again I mostly sell to USA buyers...

it would be a great thread discussion, eg everyone should pitch in, what's the USA version vs UK version for YOUR Favorite headline, and differences?

ken

OK, having given this a bit more thought, here's an update - which is all pure hypothesising and speculation of course, but you may find it interesting or amusing anyways.

I'm not sure exactly how long humans have been living on the land mass known as "Britain", but "modern" occupation seems to date back to shortly after the last ice age (15,000 years ago). I might be out by 9,000 years here or there, but whatever, it's a f***ing long time.

And during that time we have suffered several invasions (some from mass migration e.g. the anglo saxons), and some from military invasions (the Romans and Normans). But it seems that we've always been an absorbative culture - we absorb the bits we like and ignore the rest. (viz. the impact of West Indian music on mainstream British music). There exists also a prevailing culture - many who came made little impact on us, and we have resisted all attempted invasions since 1066. Not bad going for a small island with a massive coastline (11,000 miles).

And let's not forget the ingenuity and creativity of our engineers and scientists - especially during Victorian times. Virtually every major invention of the day came from within these shores. Whilst people in the Wild West were shooting each other over a few nuggets of gold, Stephenson was inventing the steam engine and Brunel was building bridges, as the empire marched on to the tune of "commerce makes the world go around". (Not that everything in the garden of Britain was rosy of course - we did some despicable things to indigenous peoples - so please don't think I condone any of that).

And we can never forget Winston Churchill, whose mantra was "never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever GIVE UP". We had more or less had it and it was only a matter of time before Herr Nazi marched on in. Obviously, the americans helped, but Churchill galvanized an entire population into believing in itself AND tricked Hitler into believing that the bigger threat was from the East.

So, you end up with a culture, that at street level, has had no cataclysmic change since the 6th or 7th century, and which is still heavily influenced by the fiestiness and obstreperousness of the celts. A country that has prevailed despite the looming shadows of much larger enemies. A country that managed to survive (!) the puritanism of the Victorians. A country that knows who and what it is, and only absorbs what it feels is beneficial, when it feels like it and not one moment before. A country world renowned for its eccentricity and creativity, and as the world's 4th largest economy, a raving success considering its geographic proportions and the fact that it only has 60 million people.

In short, a country that is grounded and solid.

Try, then, to superimpose the frivolous and insincere marketing messages of an infantile culture. What result do you think you're going to get? Messages from a culture that still hasn't found its feet or united in any common cause - except what the neo-cons have manipulated the people into uniting against. Compare that to a country with AT LEAST 6,000 years of history, where virtually all would-be-superimposing cultures have been absorbed and a place where there's no need to find a common cause because it's all so obvious that it's subconscious.

And why do I speak so strongly and passionately on this subject? Firstly, because I'm descended from Celts, Nordics and Anglo-Saxons so I pretty much am the mixed-race persona of a typical Brit. And secondly because I've lived in an immature culture (Australia) and know how ungrounding and one dimensional it is. I cannot recount the number of times that "Australians" bashed the UK. No one here could ever be bothered to bash Australia because what goes on over there is of no consequence.

So, I wonder if that partially explains a Briton's allergy to hype?

And before you all begin stoning me, let me just say that I have benefitted greatly from all the creative and imaginative ideas that come out of immature cultures such as the US. This is not a criticism party - simply my attempt to explain what I've seen.

Jane

PS Ken - very funny!