He Had Leathery Hands
Or should it be: “He had strong hands”?
Here’s one for the copywriters and wordsmiths in our audience.
In a NY Times article, Your Brain on Fiction, Annie Murphy Paul (author of Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives) writes about neuroscience research on how word imagery affects our brains.
She talks about how adjectives and metaphors stimulate areas of the brain outside the core language processing regions … making a deeper impact on the reader’s perceptions. So words associated with smells — like ‘lavender’ — in fact ‘light up’ the olfactory cortex, while words suggesting texture — like ‘leathery’ — stimulate the sensory cortex. Words describing motion also stimulate regions of the brain distinct from language processing areas — e.g., ‘kick’ activates the motor cortex.
So, for example, the phrase ‘The singer had a velvet voice’ evokes a stronger reaction than ‘The singer had a pleasing voice’.
Paul summarizes: “The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life; in each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated.”
So copywriters … should you choose your adjectives and verbs more carefully, reaching for that deeper connection?! And is this a direct mail style of writing, where there’s breathing space … or should it work in the ‘short & sweet’ online space as well?
Does your writing produce ‘pleasing results’ or does it leave readers “panting for more’?
Tom
Behavioral Science Q & A
Integrating an individual giving appeal with other communications from a charity can have both positive and negative effects, and the outcome largely depends on how it’s executed. Advantages of Integration Brand Consistency: Maintaining a consistent appearance and messaging across all communications can reinforce the org’s brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
Read Full Answer
I’m not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language. I suspect the answer might not be the same with all gift frequencies, nor with all people. It sounds like a great opportunity for you to test and find out what works for your audience. Based on the literature, here’s a couple […]
Read Full Answer
Based on what we know from existing data, those renewal notices can actually be pretty effective in getting people to donate. They tap into our psychology – creating a sense of urgency, reminding us of past support, and using personalization to make the message hit home. They’re playing on our natural tendencies to feel obligated […]
Read Full Answer
Interesting question. I had a quick look at the testing done on this topic. On the positive side, in all cases, over half of donors decide to cover the fee. In some cases, it goes as high as 65%. Not a negligible percentage at all. Here’s another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
Read Full Answer
There’s just one thing to consider when designing a supporter journey: the supporter. More specifically, you need to take into account: Who the supporter is i.e. their identity, which is the reason they support this cause, and their personality, which describes the way they “see” and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
Read Full Answer
I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
Read Full Answer