I read somewhere that the average consumer sees 5,000 ads in a day (no, that’s not a typo). If we believed every marketing pitch we saw, we’d all be bankrupt. To combat this, consumers discount marketing messages. They sometimes discount them by 10%, sometimes 30%. If the marketing message is especially outrageous, they ignore them completely. For a marketer, this poses a problem, one that is solved through the use of implied marketing.

Why listen to me? My name is Rishi Rawat and I’ve spent the last 12 years breaking my head to better understand why online shoppers behave the way they do. I know a thing or two because I’ve A/B tested a thing or two.

I know some of you prefer to read articles and some of you prefer videos. We’ve included both for this article. Continue reading below to see how implied marketing can have a dramatic impact on your success, or watch the video below.

Implied Marketing vs Stated Marketing: How Can a Marketer Better Persuade the Modern Consumer?

As modern marketers, we should apply unexpected and subtle strategies to persuade shoppers. This is where implied versus stated marketing comes into play.

Let’s say you are an energy drink mix company and want to let the world know how great your product is.

Here is the stated version of part of your pitch:

THERE ARE OVER 122 ENERGY DRINKS ON THE MARKET. THEY ARE ALL TERRIBLE.

Here is the implied version of that same pitch:

THERE ARE OVER 122 ENERGY DRINKS ON THE MARKET. WE’VE TRIED THEM ALL.

Notice the difference between implied marketing and stated messages?

In the first instance, we’re making a very specific claim. Can the consumer really trust us? Probably not. So they’ll discount this message by 30% (or dismiss it entirely if they’re especially skeptical).

The implied scenario isn’t saying we’re better than the competition. It just states, “we’ve tried them all.”

But that’s an incomplete statement because we don’t reveal what we discovered after testing the 122 energy drinks on the market.

Our brains have evolved to fill in mission information. So when the consumer reads “we’ve tried them all.” their brain completes the missing info with something like:

In essence, the reader is filling in the punchline on their own.

Nothing could be more persuasive.

Another Implied Marketing Example: Increase the Impact of a Sale

Stated version: Sale ends in 10 hrs 12 min

Implied version: Today: $27.68

Note: I’d like to make a point here. Marketers should never lie or mislead readers. If you’re going to lie you’re not a marketer, you’re a criminal. The goal is to use the flexibility of the English language to craft a compelling message. In this particular example, if anything, the marketer is understating things.

Ok, Ok, One More Example…

Imagine you sell long-term food storage (this is freeze-dried food with a 25-year shelf life).

People buy your product because they are concerned about one day being in an emergency situation without access to food.

Basically, you are selling an insurance policy for an unknown future event.

Here is an example (taken from 4Patriots.com not a client):

A potential buyer may look at the offer above, feel compelled, but ultimately conclude, “What are the odds I’ll be in an emergency situation? Seems unlikely.”

To diffuse that thought the retailer could show a message like this:

Notice how the retailer is saying 9 out 10 times you don’t need their solution. Because it was left unsaid the reader’s mind will immediately jump to the 1 out of 10 scenario.

No matter your industry implied marketing is an effective and, unfortunately, seldom used tactic. Gain an edge over your competition by adding it to your copywriting tool belt.

Or…

Think You Need Help Using Implied Marketing On Your Site?

As conversion optimization specialists, we use implied marketing all the time. We have run 100s of tests using this strategy. If you don’t have the time to revamp your copy or run dozens of A/B tests, we’d love to help. Check out our Case Studies to see some examples of our work, and feel free to reach out to us.

Further Reading

We hope you enjoyed this implied marketing article.

We’ve spent the last 12 years in our marketing lab, experimenting with ways to optimize conversion rates and grow sales. We’re ready to spill the beans.

The following articles will save you 12 years:

— Before revealing the secret that’ll improve conversion rates by 20% let’s zoom out to see the forest for the🌲: Optimize Conversion Rates: A Totally Different Approach

— For every 1,000 product pitches encountered the shopper buys one item (and we’re being generous). You want this to be your product. How do our brains choose? They rely on a ranking algorithm, not dissimilar to the one Google uses for search results. Our conversion copywriting process is designed to get your pitch to the front of the line.

— The link above revealed how to construct the perfect sales pitch. Next, this killer pitch needs to be infused into your product page. We have just one chance to convert this visitor (only 15% of visitors ever return). Read this next: Infusing Your Product Story To Your Product Page.

About Frictionless Commerce

We deliver an unfair advantage to technical product DTC brands (for example, Dyson) by improving advertising effectiveness by 20% in 90 days. This is achieved using a buyer psychology conversion copywriting framework. All paid traffic eventually reaches the product page and this is where we strike. Our process.

If you like doing the hard work yourself, our founder Rishi shares conversion ideas on LinkedIn every day. Connect with him here.

If you want to make your life easier and still increase conversions, jump on a call.