Repetition Works

I repeat; repetition works especially when it's used as a strategic marketing tool. As a writer, I've learned from experience it increases the likelihood of capturing attention and generating measurable response. Try these tips for using repetition to fuel more clicks, calls, mailed-in cards and visits to your store or website.
 
Call to Action (CTA):
Because you never know where your reader's eye will go first or where it will be when he/she is ready to act, repeat phone numbers, links, buttons and other CTAs. Depending on the length of your ad, letter, email or Web page, put the CTA near the 1) top, 2) bottom and 3) somewhere in between.

Make your CTA easy to find. In traditional print ads and direct mail, put the phone number or URL in bold face type so they are easy to pick off the page.

If you're using digital media such as email or a Web page, use buttons instead of or in addition to underlined links. Buttons beg to be pushed.

In all types of direct response media (including TV and radio), provide customers with repeated opportunities for responding.

Key Benefit(s):
Repeat key product benefits to make sure they are seen and read by both scanners and readers.

In letters, mention the strongest benefit(s) in multiple hot spots such as the Johnson Box, opening sentence, subheads, closing sentence, P.S. and testimonials.

Repeat key benefits in body copy, graphs, charts, photographs and captions.

Mention your No. 1 benefit in your email's subject line, headline, first and/or last line of content.

Use a key benefit as CTA copy on a button link such as SAVE $$$ NOW.

Send a Series:
Never assume everyone opens and reads your email, self-mailer or solo package the first time it's received.

Create a series of at least three touches to maximize results. For example, in the last four or five months I've received a series of similar-but-different mailings from Southwest Airlines touting a bonus when I apply for the Rapid Rewards credit card. (See images in media player at right.)

I also just received a series of emails from the Kansas Sampler Foundation inviting me to attend a June fundraiser at La Torre just outside my hometown of Inman, Kansas. The emails started three-and-a-half weeks prior to the event with "Last Call for Dinner at La Torre!" in my IN box five days before.

Timing impacts the success of sending a series of touches so whenever possible, test timing intervals.

Multimedia Touches:
Repeated contacts make all the difference in transforming a prospect into a customer. According to multichannel marketer Gina Valentino, 80 percent of non-retail first sales occur between the 5th and 12th contacts made through online and offline channels. The higher the price point, the more contacts it takes to generate that first sale. Valentino describes this process as "courting your customer."

Here's an example of the power of multiple touches and timing. Using a series of multimedia touches — pre-mail phone call, mail drop, post-mail phone follow-up — a B-to-B marketer I work with generated 16 qualified leads within days of when the mailing hit. A week later they had 75 qualified responses and two closed deals worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Repetition isn't rocket science but using it can make results skyrocket.

Pat Friesen is a direct response writer/creative strategist who writes for direct mail, email, blogs, catalogs, the Web, and other direct response media. She's also a sought-after copy coach, workshop presenter and columnist for Target Marketing magazine. Contact Pat at 913.341.1211 and pat@patfriesen.com.

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