🎓 When to use questions in your ads

Using a question in ads can increase sales by up to 50% when shoppers feel calm but decrease sales by up to 87% when they are nervous or excited.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 August 27, 2024 | [Read Online]( When to use questions in your ads Using a question in ads can increase sales by up to 50% when shoppers feel calm but decrease sales by up to 87% when they are nervous or excited. [Thomas McKinlay]( [fb]( [fb]( [fb]( [fb](mailto:?subject=Post%20from%20Ariyh&body=When%20to%20use%20questions%20in%20your%20ads%3A%20Using%20a%20question%20in%20ads%20can%20increase%20sales%20by%20up%20to%2050%25%20when%20shoppers%20feel%20calm%20but%20decrease%20sales%20by%20up%20to%2087%25%20when%20they%20are%20nervous%20or%20excited.%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Ftips.ariyh.com%2Fp%2Fwhen-to-use-questions-in-your-ad-copy) New to [Ariyh](? This is a 3min practical summary of a scientific study 🎓 Join 28,914 marketers who use science, not flawed opinions 📈 [Subscribe here]( Today’s insight is brought to you by… [Ten Speed]( There are a lot of things you could be doing to drive organic growth. But where should you focus and execute? B2B SaaS companies like Bitly, Workvivo, [Teamwork.com](, and ProsperOps trust [Ten Speed](. Ten Speed is the organic growth agency that develops revenue-focused strategies, then creates quality content (in all the formats you can think of) and fixes content decay to deliver results. [Learn more]( Want to sponsor Ariyh? [Here’s all you need to know](. 📝 Intro You’re launching a new organic, moisturizing shampoo and are developing your ad campaign. The main ad creative is almost ready. The only thing left is to make a final decision on the copy. There are two main options for your headline: - The best shampoo for your hair - The best shampoo for your hair? In other words, should it be a statement or a question? Scientific research from Boston College gives us the answer. P.S.: The [pacing in your ad]( should also vary based on the message you’re sharing. Slower-paced ads work best to highlight benefits and qualities, while fast-paced ads are best for features and prices. Want to access hundreds more insights like these? [Explore Ariyh insights here](. Questions in ad copy are beneficial when people feel calm, but not when they’re excited or nervous Topics: Messaging & Copy For: B2C. Can be tested for B2B Research date: January 2015 Universities: Boston College 📈 Recommendation When creating a calm-paced ad (e.g. a car cruising in a beautiful landscape) or an ad that will be used in situations where people are likely to be calm and relaxed or have lower energy levels (e.g. waiting rooms, highway billboards), use questions in your ad copy (e.g. the pen for you?). When creating a fast-paced ad (e.g. a car racing on a track) or an ad that will be used in situations where people are likely to be energetic, excited, or nervous (e.g. during sports, suspenseful TV shows or movies), avoid questions and use statements instead (e.g. the pen for you). People will be more likely to buy and like your brand more. 🎓 Findings - People in a calm, relaxed mode have better opinions of brands and are more likely to buy when product messages are framed as questions. The opposite happens when they are excited or nervous. - As part of 2 lab experiments and a field experiment with 260 shoppers, researchers found that: - People in a calm state preferred engaging, interesting ads 16.9% more, while those feeling energized (e.g. excited, nervous) preferred clear, straightforward ads 56.9% more - In a Norwegian supermarket, strawberries were bought 50% more often when the display said “berries?” (vs. “berries”) and relaxing music was playing. When high-energy excited music was playing, strawberries were bought 87.2% more often when the display said “berries” (vs. “berries?”). - When people were shown pictures to trigger specific emotional responses, they liked a pen they tried 22.5% more when they felt calm and the pen was introduced as “The pen for you?”. Conversely, when the sentence ended with a period (The pen for you.), people had 35.3% more positive impressions when in an excited state. 🧠Why it works - The way sentences and phrases are structured has a large influence on how much we [believe others]( (e.g. “I know” vs “I think”), [get motivated](, and [behave](. - When we see questions, they pique our interest as they’re inviting us to reach our own conclusions, [implying we should think about it](. A statement in contrast is unambiguous, so doesn’t require us to think about implications or interpretations as much. - When we’re feeling calm, questions help pique our interest, but when we’re already excited or nervous, we prefer clarity and straightforward statements. 🏆 Level up your work - [one weekly tip at a time]( Jason Feifer, editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur, [shows us how]( to improve our work - and life - one tip at a time. Here are some examples of the tips you’ll get: - How to avoid distractions and get important things done - How to speak confidently when you don't feel confident - How to turn insults and setbacks to your advantage [Subscribe for free]( This announcement was sponsored. Want your brand here? [Click here](. ✋ Limitations - The research looked at relatively simple phrases for straightforward purchases (a pen, strawberries). For more complex products and longer messages, asking questions might create more confusion than interest, impacting customers’ choice of the item. - The experiments used music and in-store displays to test the effect. It’s likely, but unknown, whether this would carry over to online shopping, and whether customers’ excitement levels can be raised or lowered as effectively with on-page design elements (e.g. videos, gifs, dynamic banners). - Similarly, it’s unclear whether the effect would remain as strong for TV advertising, where limited time may make it more difficult to either excite or relax customers. 🏢 Companies using this - Companies often use questions or statements in ads, but it’s not clear if there is a conscious effort to use either depending on the excitement levels customers will have when seeing the ads. - It’s relatively common across all product types to use direct, short statements, including in situations where customers are excited or nervous. - Using questions is less common, especially in relaxing or calming situations. - Viral campaigns using questions include the famous “Got Milk?” commercials by the California Milk Processor Board, PlayStation 2’s “Fun, anyone?” campaign, and others. - In the B2B space, companies from Rippling to Dashlane use questions in their promotional campaigns. Found, a financial services company focused on freelancers and small businesses, uses questions along with minimalist designs and cool colors to create calming ads. ⚡ Steps to implement - Try to understand whether your customers are more likely to be in a higher-energy, excited, or nervous frame of mind, or feeling more relaxed and calm. A key point to consider for this is your brand positioning - whether you want to position your brand as excited and bold, or calming and stable. - If you position your brand as high-energy or exciting (e.g. for streetwear fashion, games, and junk food) use short, direct statements (not questions) in your promotional materials. - If you feel your customers are more likely to be calm or relaxed (e.g. health and wellness products), use short questions in your promotional materials. - Online you can design your website and product pages to raise or lower the excitement levels of your customers through the colors (bold vs. pastel), imagery, and fonts used, as well as background music on social media posts and videos. - In your physical stores, as well as display shelves at supermarkets, the music played, branding materials and color scheme can trigger either excitement or relaxation among your customers. Use energetic music and bright, bold colors to increase excitement levels, and more neutral, pastel tones and slower-paced music to lower excitement levels. 🔍 Study type Lab experiments and field experiment (with 260 shoppers at a large supermarket in Norway) 📖 Research [Promotional phrases as questions versus statements: An influence of phrase style on product evaluation.]( Journal of Consumer Psychology (January 2015) 🏫 Researchers - [Henrik Hagtvedt](. Boston College.  Remember: This is a scientific discovery. In the future it will probably be better understood and could even be proven wrong (that’s [how science works](). It may also not be generalizable to your situation. If it’s a risky change, always test it on a small scale before rolling it out widely. What did you think of today's insight? 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