Which monster wins the fight: Ugly design vs Pretty design
Published: Fri, 02/05/21
- Gene Schwartz
Speech to Phillips Publishing
Let me tell you a story:
I know a couple guys who used to attend our old Oceans 4 Masterminds (I used to co-host with Ryan Levesque, Jack Born, and Andre Chaperone a few years back) in the weight loss niche who do great emails, write great copy, and have great results. And so, often when they came to us for advice, we gave them ways to goose up their already big response using things like emails, funnels, copy appeals, headlines, etc.
But, there is one thing they still had yet to test last I checked.
Something I suspect will either make them a bundle, with the rest of their competition (perhaps even the entire industry, if it really does well) copying them... or be a huge bust.
A true case of testing “screams” vs “whispers.”
What is this thing I speak of?
Testing a butt-fugly website.
In the weight loss world, everything is pretty.
Everything is secksy.
Everything is smooth & glossy.
So my advice to them:
Test a super ugly layout... no pictures at all (maybe one before and after), no graphics, no slicked up html, courier font, little or no visual elements at all.
I'm talking 1999 style “Drudge Report” quality of graphics website.
Beat that site with the ugly stick, baby.
I think it would’ve made one helluva test.
And, I would not have been surprised if it won handily.
Why?
Well, for one, many smart people have tested ugly (like the late great copywriter Gene Schwartz) and conquered with it. And for another, when I was in weight loss, that’s exactly what I did with our sites and we cleaned up in our part of the niche. We did not even have a single before & after pic. Finally, according to the "founding father" of internet marketing Ken McCarthy (according to sources like Time Magazine) has seen hundreds — probably thousands — of examples of ugly winning.
This guy was there in the beginning.
i.e., he was the first one to talk about email marketing, if that tells you anything.
He got most of today's gurus started in the 1990’s, too.
And, he has seen many a business rise, fall, fail, and succeed.
And one of the (many) things Ken taught in his Titans Of Direct Response talk was how ugly pretty much always wins. Ken dropped a lot of other great gold in his talk, too — including several tips I've been profiting from ever since.
Even better:
Word around the campfire is, certain internet marketing gurus refused to attend the original event because Ken was speaking. (Ken has a knack for calling out bull shyt in the IM world better than anyone — makes him many enemies…)
All of which makes his presence there even more valuable.
Here is the deal:
If you buy the Titans of Direct Response package from my affiliate link below by Sunday, 2/7 at midnight EST, I’ll send you a free autographed copy of my upcoming book:
“Social Lair”
This book’ll retail at $555.00 after I get done launching it.
And it’s the exact game plan & “plot formula” I used to create a fanatical social media following of what I call “Berserker Customers” that cheerfully obeyed every word I said & practically frothed at the mouth to buy every offer I sold back in my now-infamous elBenbo’s Lair Facebook group. That group was (according to many of its members) the single most rabidly engaged & insanely addictive social media groups in my niche at the time. It reveals the exact buyer & fan psychology that created its admittedly cult-like atmosphere that had people — literally, no exaggeration — begging to be allowed inside and/or pleading to not be kicked out… as well as also revealing the schematic of the exact machinations I used inside to massively drive-up my business’ sales… sell probably hundreds of books & “Email Players” subscriptions… and even help sell out two “standing room only” events people travelled from all around the world to attend without
me hardly even lifting a finger.
More:
It’s also where I invented my “Email List Laundering” secret.
I have never breathed a single word about this secret to anyone, anywhere, ever.
None of my closest business friends, JV partners, or even my woman knows it yet.
And they won’t know it, unless they read this book.
But, due to reasons I write about inside, and because Troy Broussard & I are currently building our own social media platform just for businesses where lots of people profiting from it will enrich my own coffers… I decided to let the cat out of the bag on what is very likely the single most profitable thing I’ve ever done in the last 20 years for my overall email, sales copy, and other marketing response.
Anyway, the book launches in April.
And if you buy the Titans of Direct Response package from my affiliate link by the deadline, I’ll send you an autographed copy of “Social Lair” shortly before it launches.
The deadline is Sunday 2/7 at midnight EST.
Here’s the link:
https://www.EmailPlayers.com/titans
Ben Settle
P.S. Brian is printing these sets “on demand” — which means a slight delay in getting the swipe files and some of the other content to you. But, he will be giving you instant digital access to the bulk of the videos and audios immediately upon buying.
P.P.S. As another “carrot” to persuade you to check it all out, Brian will also be giving you free access to one of his 2-hour Xcelerator mastermind zoom calls with 200+ other prolific marketers & copywriters — where you can join in on all the hot seats, discussions, and even a Q&A with Yours Reclusive & Brian Kurtz, if’n that suits your righteous fancy. Date/time TBA, but when you buy Titans of Direct Response it’s all part of the deal just for buying from my affiliate link above by the deadline.