How to Use Teaser Copy to Get the Most Out of Your Life Insurance Leads
What is the single most important element that leads to responses from life insurance marketing? Do you know what this amazing secret is?
Well, do you?
Before I give you the answer, I want to give you some examples from other media that know how to use this secret very, very well.
I'll bet you have seen or heard these types of things before:
Credits from ER are rolling on the screen, as the announcer says, "Is a big storm coming tomorrow? Details coming up on Eyewitness News, next!"
Cover of Readers Digest says, "Slim by Summer," "Ten Ways To Relieve Stress," "Get Organized Now!"
Radio announcer says, "This month's Business Report reveals which CEO's took the most money with the worst corporate performance! Is your boss one of them?"
Cosmopolitan magazine's cover asks, "Do you know the seven signs that tell he's having an affair?"
TV announcer says, “Newsweek finally reveals the truth about the article that spurred the deadly riots in Afghanistan. Stay tuned for the surprising story!”
And so on. Are you figuring out what I am getting to here? Yes, I am showing you teasers.
Teasers Will Compel Your Life Insurance Leads to Take Action
Teasers are necessary to create something that every one of us has deep inside us.
Curiosity! (Yes, we are all nosey as hell, whether you want to admit it or not!) Curiosity is the strangest secret. No one admits to having it…yet everyone has it – big time!
Think about why these news and publishing media use those teasers. Is it because they feel they are "professional" statements?
No, I don't think so.
I think that the reason they use them over and over and over is that they:
SELL LIKE CRAZY!
They know something that most advertisers and marketers have zero clue about.
They know that if someone is curious, they will be compelled to take some action to attempt to satisfy their lust for nosiness.
Does anybody remember the Dick Van Dyke Show episode when Rob sent home a package to test Laura's will? And she stalked the package for a while, and played with it, and kicked it around, and finally chewed the string with her teeth to get it open? And it was an inflatable boat? Remember?
Now, wouldn't you want your marketing copy to be so compelling that people would be ripping your message with their teeth to find out what it's all about? I'll bet you would.
How Readers Digest Perfects Their Teaser Copy
Let me tell you what Readers Digest does for every single issue they publish, to build up the most curiosity possible.
They pick their stories months in advance, and assign titles to them. Titles for the table of contents. Then, they bring in focus groups to pick from more than a dozen titles to put on the paper cover that you see on top of each magazine.
For example, if the story is called, "Lower your weight by reducing your fat!" they will probably end up with a cover title something like, "Amazing fat loss diet!" or "Six steps to quick weight loss!" or "Dr. reveals simple diet to lose weight without cutting calories!" Or something.
The point is that the real title is too "professional" to get much attention.
So they know they have to tease you, to get you to pick it up at the checkout counter. Keep in mind, that they are one of the most successful publications in the world. So let's listen to their wisdom!
So, now that we are all in agreement about this curiosity thing.....
Think this Won’t Work with Your Client or Leads?
"Wait, Dean! You are not right. My clients and prospects are too sophisticated to fall for this teaser garbage. They would never respond to any of these low class tricks!"
Oh no. Mr. Home Office is back again, I see. This guy appears a lot in our industry. He frequently rears his marketing wizardry whenever I talk about getting people's attention. How does he get in here?
Life insurance agents that think this way have a misguided devotion to some mythical "image" they have of themselves. They feels they are just too "professional" for the rest of us.
And you know what? Their mistaken version of reality is why they are probably sitting around, pretending they are top producers, when they only get one or two leads every now and then.
They are so "professional", that they live with no stability or consistency.
I, on the other hand, like to do something different. I like to:
Have my phone ring all the time, with their "low class” prospects that are curious!
Anyway, please put the notion that only low quality people are curious. I'll say it one more time. Everyone is nosey. Everyone wants to be "let in" on something they think other people know. Everyone wants to be "in the know." We all feel rejected and like an outsider if we "are the last to know."
And thus, when we, as marketing maniacs, have sufficiently stimulated their curiosity, they have no choice but to follow our instructions about how they can get clued in!
Yes, they respond!
How to Get Your Life Insurance Leads Curious…and How to NOT!
So what do we have to do to create this curiosity? How can we apply it to marketing for life insurance leads? What media should we use it in?
Since I can only cover a few here, let's move on to some specific examples:
Direct mail cutouts. Your headline must be the primary teaser. Studies have shown that 90% of the effectiveness of a direct mail piece, ad, etc. is due to the headline!
Why? Because you only have a split second to get someone's attention, and if it creates curiosity, it might just hold their attention enough to read the copy. (Another topic for another time!)
Anyway, let's review some headlines that won't create curiosity:
- Tax Deferred Annuity Pays 4%* First Year Interest!
- Free Seminar!
- Money 101. Learn the basics of financial planning.
- noopy says measure success one investor at a time, while being bullish on a piece of the rock!
In case you can't figure out why these ads create no curiosity, I'll be glad to tell you:
- Financial product promotions will be ignored at the same magnitude as any other product promotion. Your leads regard these offerings with the same complete disregard as lawn services, shoe stores, print shops, and interior decorating, etc. The appeal is so lame because it is trying to make a logical lure.
- They are so boring, it is beyond belief. Would anybody in their right mind want to go to a seminar about Money 101? (Before I understood real marketing, I put on a seminar at the library called "Insurance Planning!" No one showed up. Oops.)
- When they tell you the product is a tax-deferred annuity, and it is paying 4%, what else is there to know? You already told me! There is no need to let the cat out of the bag so soon, is there?
OK. Enough of that. Now, let's create some curiosity:
“Investors Frustrated And Disgusted With 2% CD’s. Say They Are Victims Of Bank’s Greed…Free Report Reveals What To Do!”
Get the idea?
Please keep in mind that this is only a sample of the thousands of variations on this type of attention getting, curiosity provoking headline.
Be creative in your testing different marketing pieces to your life insurance leads, and see which ones get the best response.
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