May 8th, 2013 - Gregg Blanchard

Ten bucks says you played “hide and seek” when you were a wee lad or lass.

The game only works because you can't see everyone from the beginning. Spot a toe poking out from behind a tree or a toosh to the side of the sofa, and the game (and fun) is up.

Before spoiling the surprise with your next email, let me suggest a lesson from this childhood game.

May 8th, 2013 - Gregg Blanchard

Ten bucks says you played “hide and seek” when you were a wee lad or lass.

The game only works because you can't see everyone from the beginning. Spot a toe poking out from behind a tree or a toosh to the side of the sofa, and the game (and fun) is up.

Before spoiling the surprise with your next email, let me suggest a lesson from this childhood game.

Exhibit A

So, Klout is an interesting case study. Take a look at how their score-change alerts used to look:

The problem? There was zero reason to use the app. The alert gave you all the information you needed.

To get more people to actually open the Klout app, they did this to their alerts with their latest update:

And lest you think this is the result of a lazy developer, here's the accompanying email:

The Principle of Hiding

There is a lot of wisdom and value in asking yourself what a recipient of your message does NOT need to know. Consider movie trailers. If they show too much, there's no reason to watch. Showing a little means the only way to fill in the gaps is to buy a ticket.

Another simple example is price. If you are paying for your clicks, price is a great thing to include in an ad because it filters out clickers who only do so to find out the cost. If you are NOT paying by the click, removing the price is an awesome way to get as many people as possible to a landing page where you can do a much better job of closing the deal.

In Action

Try connecting this idea to email and social media. The inbox and newsfeed are not where transactions take place. So, why not treat copy like a teaser, hiding parts they most want to see, to get them to where you can provide support and creative in a medium where they are used to money changing hands.

Simple test? Try a split test on your season pass emails. Include the price in one and not in another and compare click rates.

It's a small tweak but one that can pay big dividends.

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