Copywriting great Claude Hopkins said:

“Many articles are sold under guarantee, so commonly sold that guarantees have ceased to be impressive.”

People get used to things:

We get used to our surroundings, to other people, even to our own thoughts and emotions. We acclimate to anything our senses experience over and over, consistently.

This is called "habituation" — and it’s a common hurdle to overcome in advertising. Because words like “Free” and “Sale” and “Guarantee” are used so often they can lose their appeal.

Same goes for certain types of offers:

For example, this classic MEAD Cycle Co. ad from the 1940s was specifically designed to combat habituation:

Back then, every bicycle manufacturer offered customers a “Money-Back” guarantee: “Try it — and if you don’t like it, we’ll *return* your money.”

MEAD’s “Try Before You Buy For Keeps” campaign was basically the same no-risk offer but with a twist: “Try it — and if you do like it, *then* pay us.”

The latter pulled a much higher response. Not because the offer was better (technically, it wasn’t) but because it was novel. It appeared more impressive because it was different.

Habituation is a conversion killer.

Novelty is a habituation killer.

Something to think about.

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Eddie Shleyner
VeryGoodCopy, founder

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