Curiosity is King. Curious?

Sep 03 2008

Curiosity, according to Wikipedia, is an emotion that causes natural inquisitive behaviour such as exploration, investigation, and learning.

In the light speed decision-making of the Inbox, making someone curious is a key element towards engagement.

As I like to say about the phrase ‘Learn More’ – “Why? I already know everything about everything.” Are you thinking about curiosity in your email markeitng? You should be.

Here is a great example from Reader’s Digest in their weekly Humor newsletter:

This got me to scroll down. It’s just not enough to put great content in an email these days. You only have a few seconds to grab an email subscriber. Curiosity can trump every strategy if done correctly.

Try something similar and take a look at your visual statistics, compared to a previous email with the same layout, and see how many more clicks you got deep in the layout, way below the fold.

Let me know if it works. I bet it will.

By the way, the full joke is:

“During the college speech course I taught, I spoke about a Chinese student who, after moving to the United States, decided she wanted an English name to honor her new home. “She chose the name Patience,” I told the class, “because she wanted to be reminded to be patient. Every time someone called her name, the message was reinforced.” I asked the students what names they would select for themselves. After considering the question, one young man raised his hand and said, “Rich.”