Confused by that headline? Let me simplify:

Ars Technica reports on a recent paper in the Journal of Consumer Research that looked into a sales technique called DTR: “disrupt then reframe.”

In short: If you want to maximize sales, state your value proposition to your potential customer in a slightly confusing way. Then restate the same thing in a simple way.

“The paper clearly supports the proposal that the combination of confusion and resolution reduces resistance to the sales pitch,” Ars writes, “but it doesn’t explain how.”

I think the explanation is probably (and ironically) quite simple: Craft your message so that it creates a subtle bit of pain in the mind of the reader, then immediately alleviate that pain. Voila! By taking the proverbial thorn out of the lion’s paw, you’ve made yourself a friend. Or a customer. Or at least won someone’s interest.

Takeaway for marketers: Eschewing obfuscation and circumlocuting the disingenuous in the service of maximizing a singular communicative notion that disseminates critical information with clarity can be a frustratingly brobdingnagian task. In other words:  Simplicity isn’t easy.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 6:00 am and is filed under Marketing Stuff, Marketing Takeaways.