In Made to Stick, the Heaths quote John Caples, a successful copywriter:Ĭaples says companies often emphasize features when they should be emphasizing benefits. So whatever it is that you are speaking about, be sure that your audience understands why it should care.

“It will come as no surprise,” the Heaths say, “that one reliable way of making people care is by invoking self-interest.” The most basic way to make people care is to form an association between something they don’t yet care about and something they do care about.Īnd although different things matter to different people, there is one obvious thing that matters to all of us: Us! People matter to themselves. Now I can hear some of you saying that an appeal for donations to help children is one thing, but how do I get my audience to care about my message when I am talking about accounting rules or latex paint or any one of a number of other things that are, at first blush, not conducive to an emotional response? Well, as the Heaths say, And the researchers believed it was people’s emotional response to plight that led them to act. When people think analytically, they’re less likely to think emotionally. The researchers theorized that thinking about statistics shifts people into a more analytical frame of mind. Then you are given the statistics and told that there are other children in the same position, and that you can make a difference.ĭoes presenting the information this way make it more likely that people will give? According to studies cited by the Heaths in Made to Stick, yes. You learn something of their lives and the hardships that they face. Instead, they introduce you to one or two children.

Do they start by giving you lots of statistics? No. Think of promotional campaigns for children’s charities that you have seen on TV.

Mother Theresa once said, “If I look at the mass, I will never act.

Made to stick