A Tug of War between Long Copy vs Short Copy

Short Copy, or Long Copy? Heads I Win, Tails You Lose.

It is being said that people don’t like reading on the web. Their attention span is limited. They have more important things to do.

Having a limited attention span is a problem. Nothing to brag upon.

And, long copy is never a problem. Excavating copy from one place and dumping it as a lump on another place is a problem.

Not understanding the importance of visual relief in the flow of web copy is a problem.

Long copy and a short copy has its respective role to play depending upon the complexity of the product/service.

To understand how to play with long copy and short copy for better conversions, the below blog is a must-read…

Short Copy, or Long Copy? Heads I Win, Tails You Lose.

Take a look at the flow of the blog…

I have been thinking, reflecting, and stitching together a logic.

One that addresses the comments on long copy, that I often get from clients.

You can, of course, settle this issue without ado

1. The client out-clubs you and gets his/ her way
2. You need the money, so you shut up, take the ego bruises as part of professional hazard, and do what is asked of you
3. The brand suffers in the bargain. But the individual egos, that matter, are well protected. This is what plays out more often than not.

There must be a more elegant way to resolve this, right?

One which is a win for the client, win for the brand, and win for you?

This is what I wish to explain here.

Read on for the answers.

Content Index

1. The usual objections to long copy
2. I’ve a problem with these arguments…
3. The issue is not with the scroll length…
4. There are few insights…
5. What’s the ideal length for copy?
6. The 5 Stages of Customer Awareness
7. The 5 Stages of Market Sophistication
8. Where does long copy work?
9. Where does short copy work?
10. Insights for Long vs Short Copy
11. The Borrowed Structure from Storytelling
12. What is the problem with online copy?

The usual objections to long copy

Oh no, people here don’t read so much.

We must compress everything into a paragraph.

Nobody has the time to read, much less scroll.

We live in an instant results world. Let’s use bullets to describe this.

Let’s make all the points we have into icons.

I’ve a problem with these arguments…

These very folks watch 30-min long serials.

Many endure 90-minute movies. Yep, without noticing how time flies.

Most CEOs I know scroll on FB and Instagram. Without complaint.

Many top executives read 350 page tomes. While biting their nails off.

Some even waft through ecommerce stores online with infinite scrolls. Without as much as a whimper.

So how is that something that’s common in some parts of your web life becomes anathema in yet others. Weird? Inexplicable?

The issue is never with the scroll length…

It’s with the quality of content that makes you scroll.

If there is surprise, tension, interest, variety, then you will scroll.

Copy uses techniques to achieve this. Imagery laden words. Sensory words. Short sentences punctuated with longer ones. Contrast in text, status quo vs transformation, or pain vs solution.

Design too uses column variations, color, space, contrast, images, icons and breaks in visual rhythm to call for attention.

The scroll itself is irrelevant.

When interest, variety are absent, your incentive to scroll is taken

Even intelligent folks miss this observation when they focus on the scroll and not on the content.

There are few insights…

1. Clients, or copywriters are always free to comment, but they are invariably wrong.
2. Most are cognitively biased. They comment without the benefit of testing or understand the bias involved. The observations, if you could call it that, cannot stand scrutiny.
3. Most have no clear background as to when copy should be longer or shorter. Under what circumstances do you get away with a short copy? Or when does long copy become relevant?
4. Most read very boring copy on websites. You see those carefully couched, in what is euphemistically known as, business language.The prevalent notion is that “Business Language” is some sort of self-imposed straitjacket with strict do’s and don’ts.
5. The tense and compound sentences will have your knickers in knots.
6. It’s prose robbed of all rhythm, cadence, mystery and soul.
7. So there is a rub off from poor copy that adulterates opinions even when there’s good copy around.

If clients and copywriters can understand this well, then they can defend copy with plausible arguments. Or in the best case scenario, test short vs long copy.

Hopefully, data will prevail over the club.

What’s the ideal length for copy?

There are two factors here. And it’s neither the client, nor the copywriter.

A direct response copywriting genius, Eugene Schwartz, has addressed this messaging problem in 1966.

You can see it in his book: Breakthrough Advertising.

The two factors are:

1. The Stage of the Customer Awareness
2. The Sophistication of the Market

Let’s expand both to understand how this impacts messaging.

To read further visit: https://www.pigtailpundits.com/blog/short-copy-or-long-copy-heads-i-win-tails-you-lose/ (the original version of the blog)