You Will Read This Article on Hypnotic Writing
One of the most fascinating things I’ve been reading and learning about lately is hypnotic writing. Hypnotic writing is an effective technique that marketers and advertisers have used for years to make the most of people’s natural inclinations and conditioning.
Some people are quick to dismiss hypnotic writing as unethical or immoral. I think that the reason they feel this way is because they’ve perhaps been influenced by strong sales copy to make a purchase or a decision that they weren’t completely prepared to make. However, it’s always been said that you can’t be hypnotized to do something that’s against your will… I’m willing to bet that these people may have already had a natural inclination towards the situation before they made their decision based on their emotions rather than on logic (which is how 90% of all purchase decisions are made, anyways.)
Do you feel like you were influenced to read this article?
My recent studies on headlines have gotten me to pay much more attention to how I introduce the articles I publish. The headline of this article contains a very direct command…. it was pretty clear that I expected you to read this article!
As an example, I used a hypnotic writing technique in the headline of this article called a ‘command’. People are naturally conditioned to respond to commands affirmatively, because they feel awkward saying ‘no’ and denying the command. Responding negatively puts them at odds with the person who issued the command, so the majority of people will be more inclined to comply and avoid a confrontation than they will be to deny the command.
Setting up your command
Generally, a command is most effective when it’s preceded by a ’suggestion’. A suggestion is designed to open up the mind of the target so that they’re mentally prepared to receive the command, instead of being surprised. When you’re going to issue a command, if you surprise your target, they may react more out of surprise than out of a desire to comply with the command, and that may not lead to the same result. The goal is to get your reader to react and comply as naturally as possible.
In recent articles, I’ve prepared my regular readers to expect me to offer more material that’s based on writing techniques. In this example, the ’suggestion’ was the two recent articles in my writing category: Writing Tips and 99 Headline Techniques. Had I decided to issue a command like “Read this article on hypnotic writing” without prefacing it with an appropriate suggestion or example, you may have been confused and less inclined to read the article.
Embedding your command
For writers, commands can be tremendously effective when the words used in the command are embedded into a normal sentence, thus making it seem less like a direct command. However, the command can be formatted in bold or italic so as to stand out from the confines of the sentence. Since the command isn’t obvious, it evades the left side of the brain, which is the side that deals with logic. When it seems logical, the reader is more likely to comply. Consider these two examples:
“Aren’t you glad you use Dial?”
“Entrepreneurs, bloggers, and writers might like to subscribe to my RSS feed.”
Since we’re already talking about hypnotic writing, I’ll assume that you very easily spotted the embedded commands in my examples, but do you recognize how innocent these two commands would seem if you were reading them in their normal context?
Hi, I'm Chris! I'm a freelance internet developer and video engineer in the Seattle area, close to the University of Washington.
