Copywriting experts will always teach you that your sales copy must offer a Big Promise.
“Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement.”
— Samuel Johnson“The basis of every great advertisement is a credible promise.”
— Vonnegut, K. (1997). Timequake. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
The danger of a Big Promise however, is that it may sound so fantastic that the reader does not believe it.
For that reason, Robert W. Bly, in his “World’s Best-Kept Copywriting Secrets” presentation, suggests using a “Secondary Promise”.
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The Secondary Promise is a lesser benefit that the product also delivers.
Although not as large as the Big Promise, the Secondary Promise should be big enough so that, by itself, it is reason enough to order the product… yet small enough so that it is easily believed.
This way, even if the reader is totally skeptical about the Big Promise, he can believe the Secondary Promise and order on that basis alone.
An example from Bob Bly’s “World’s Best-Kept Copywriting Secrets” presentation
This content was part of Bly’s seminar titled “World’s Best Kept Copywriting Secrets”, which he delivered at the Summit. The summit proceedings are now on sale and Bob also has a book by the same title.
