Whew! It’s been a really long time since I’ve put one of these together. Basically, Five on Friday is a collection of five blog posts I think are worth reading.
So, without further adieu…
A Forerunner to the Wall Street Journal’s “Two Young Men” Ad – by Christopher Tomasulo
Thanks to Harlan Kilstein’s research, I knew that the WSJ’s famous letter was adapted from an even earlier version. That earlier version was about the lives of two men following The Civil War. Anyway, this is the first time I’ve seen it reprinted in a blog post.
Boost Email Opt-In Rate with 4 Subject Line Tweaks – by Fred Black
I’ve been testing my opt-in confirmation email as well. Plus, I love to learn about test results. That’s why I chose this post. In it, Fred shares how a short two-word subject line improved his confirmation rate on his double opt-in email list.
The Case Against Knock Off Artists – by Lawrence Bernstein
Lawrence probably knows more about the history of direct response advertising than any living human on the planet. Here he shares two weight loss ads: the first was a big winner; the second (a knock-off) was a complete bomb. Very interesting to see in a side-by-side comparison the hazards of swiping.
What Never to Test in Your Ads – by Ben Settle
In this post, Ben reminds us that often we can create a bump in sales by focusing on the “intangible” factors involved in making a sale. He shares 5 of those factors here.
Random Drug Experiments Lead to Better Copy – by Andy Castimanes
Speaking of testing, Andy shares a study performed by a big pharmaceutical company that resulted in consumers being able to make better sense of the information being presented. Presumably, the change resulted in more sales as well. The takeaway: a confused mind never buys — so always present your “sales case” as clearly and succinctly as possible.
That wraps up this edition of Five on Friday. Hope you enjoyed it!
-Ryan M. Healy
{ 5 comments }
Good stuff Ryan, I saw a majority of these this week but there are a few I missed, thanks for putting this together :)
Thank Ryan. I have been swamped this week and missed many of those.
John
Hi Ryan,
Very few people know about the history of the Wall Street Journal ad. Sure, as students of Dr. Kilstein, we knew about it quite some time ago. But it’s great to see it in black and white, so to speak.
It’s very instructive to see a how someone picked out the structure and useful elements from the Civil War piece and used it to hit a home run years later in the WSJ. Someone else who does a great job of this is John Angel, in his copywriting course, a “must have” for anyone starting out in this field.
Onward and Upward!
the link for “Boost Email Opt-In Rate with 4 Subject Line Tweaks” is broken (or not responding)
John
Thanks Ryan.
The “Boost Email Opt-in Rate…” is great. (As are the others.) It breaks it down into very practical reasons and gives many tips that will come in handy.
And it reminded me of the importance to not just get by with ‘ok’. Just about always there is something that can be done to improve your business. As long as you keep trying new things.
Thanks again.
~Sarah Johnson
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