Unsolicited Marketing Advice

Questions are frequently abused as a copywriting technique. They are often used too quickly, too frequently and without thought of the reader’s needs. You’ll improve your copywriting if you avoid questions more often than you use them. Here’s why:

The Fallacy of Engagement
Questions are an engagement device. That is, they slow a reader down and make them think critically about your content. But there’s one problem. Your reader has to be engaged and reading your copy to start with. Once this is happening, a well-phrased, well-positioned question can kick it up a notch.

If you reader is skimming while standing over a trash can, a question can often have the wrong effect since it is exceedingly simple to ask a question with “Don’t know and don’t care.” Questions – especially rhetorical questions – will often elicit a negative response from the reader. Readers are bombarded with messages throughout the day. Give them a chance to dismiss you message and they will.

This means that opening your letter, ad or brochure with a question is generally a weak technique. Not always, of course. A good headline, interesting artwork and compelling topic can make a question lead effective. Sometimes. But not as often as one of the dozen other techniques you could use.

Stuck in the Middle with You
If you choose to use a question as a persuasive device, consider the middle to lower half of your piece as the proper placement. By this time, you have developed trust with your reader and laid out your case. For example, the second page of a fundraising letter may be the right place for a single-sentence paragraph: “Will you help make this project a reality?” In addition, questions can be used effectively as part of the graphic design in the middle of the piece to lead the reader farther into the layout (see an e-mail newsletter example).

Answer the Question
Rhetorical questions assume the reader knows the “correct” answer to your question. They may not. In these situations, you may have added confusion to your writing rather than clarity. It’s good to consider clearly answering any questions that you pose to your reader. This will drive home your point and avoid losing your reader. Better yet, if you want to clearly drive a point home, consider if rewriting the question as a statement would have more impact.

Students of persuasion and negotiation may argue that accumulating a series of “yeses” can be an effective approach to closing a sale. However, discriminating readers are unlikely to fall prey to such manipulation if the argument is not already sound and the reader involved. In such situations, creating a non-existent dialogue with the consumer through the use of questions is unlikely to accomplish acquiescence through sleight of hand. Refocusing the structure and argument is a more appropriate approach.

Questions also a Weak Structural Crutch
Another sin frequently perpetrated with questions is using them as a structure for subheds or topics in a brochure. For example, “What is XYZ?,” “How should I prepare?,” “What happens next?”, “How do I Register?”, “Where is XYZ Company Located” and so forth. Besides boring a reader with such a stiff, repetitive structure, there is a further error in this approach.

Subheds are not absorbed by the reader in the same way as a sentence. They are designed to be quickly skimmed and comprehended. Using a question as a subhed hides the key information that the reader needs. The question subhed interfers with reader comprehension. Thus, “Register in Three Easy Steps” is better than “How do I Register for the Program?” because the key word, “Register” is more prominent. At a minimum, question subheds should be rewritten to declarative statements: “What to Expect” is a better, more directl subhed than "What should I expect?"

Overall, when you find yourself using a question in your copy, step back and consider working a bit harder to rephrase the section. Questions should be used as a carefully thought-out and judiciously-applied technique in your copywriting.

Additional Links

• Why Plato Would Have Blown it as a Blogger – Copyblogger.com’s Brian Clark explains why rhetorical questions don't really foster dialogue or conversations, which are an essential part of effective business blogging.
• Write Effective Fundraising Letters by Being Conversational – You can (but don’t have to) use one or two rhetorical questions in your fundraising letter if you like since such questions create the sense that a conversation is taking place between you and your donor.
• Spark Notes’ Rules of Writing entry on Rhetorical Questions – “At best, rhetorical questions are pompous.”
• Hints on Writing Philosophy papers - “You (as the writer) know what the answer is to the question. But the reader (me) may not be so sure. So tell me what you think – don’t ask me a question which (you think) has an obvious answer. The answer may not be obvious to me.”

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© 2009 Warren Allan Johnson
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