Long Copy vs. Short Copy - This Experiment In An Unexpected Medium Should Settle The Question, Once And For All

It's the perennial question.  Clients argue about it with copywriters.  Even copywriters argue with other copywriters about it.

Those of us who have done the tests know the answer:

Long copy sells better than short copy.

But still the argument rages on.

I've just come across a live case study that sheds new light on the question, because it's about long copy used in a context that is not typical. 

We're not talking here about magazine space ads, or emails, or landing pages, or direct mail letters.

No.  We're talking about help-wanted ads.

You remember those, right?  Even if you haven't applied for a job in decades, or placed an ad to hire someone in your entire life, you must have at least a vague recollection of what they look like.

Here is a typical one, from this Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle help-wanted section:

BILLING Clerk
F/T oppty to work in the
fiscal dept. of a health-
care org. Job req data
entry exp. proficiency in
Excel, & good communi-
cation skills.  Exclnt
bnfts, $26,000/yr.  Apply
(Company) Attn: CFO, (number)
(Street name) SF (zip) or
fax (phone number) EOE

45 words.

It reminds me of an ad card I used to see on the subway on my way to work, many moons ago, when I lived in New York:

if u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb!

Well, back to the BILLING Clerk:

When you're paying by the line for your ad, and you have a $10 or $20/hr position to fill, you're going to make every word count.  Even if you hv 2 sqeez a few of them.

Right?

Hmmm.  Suppose you didn't have to pay ANYTHING for your ad, and you could test the merits of long copy with no constraints other than the attention span of your potential new employee?

That was the situation Jim Van Wyck found himself in.  Now you may know Jim as Executive Contributor to the World Copywriting Blog, but Jim is also a very fine marketing coach and copywriter in his own right.

Jim is currently working closely with a client in Los Angeles.  The client needs a personal assistant to reach certain business growth goals.

Jim wrote this ad which he placed for FREE on Craigslist, the online community and multi-purpose ad service that has swept the Internet like wildfire.

I won't reprint the whole ad here -- it almost as long as this blog post!

It starts out with a great headline ...

Are you ambitious, hard-working and talented?

... which qualifies the prospect very specifically.

Here's a link to see the live ad...

(After 30 days, the ad expires, so here's a link that will remain live on my Web site for years to come... )

This ad is 461 words long!

When Jim first posted it, Jim emailed me:

"[My client] says he's found some really good people thru Craigslist.

"Do you think the right person will answer this ad....which appears in the domestic section?"

He then gave me the same link I gave you, above, and opined:

"I think it's a long-shot, but I'm interested in what you think..."

Me, I didn't think it was a long shot.  But then, I already had had some experience with Craigslist, and this was Jim's maiden voyage.

I told him I thought he would get a ton of replies, and maybe 2-3 good candidates.

We were both wrong.

"I got 41 resumes in 2 days," he wrote in a later email. "26 of them were from pretty ordinary folks... I'd say 10 really outstanding applications."

How outstanding?

• One from a butler with a culinary arts degree
• One from a former personal assistant to a senior executive at the talent agency of choice in Los Angeles -- the one everyone who's anyone wants to be represented by
• One who had been personal assistant to the president of one of the largest record labels in the world
• And... a little off topic, but totally LA ... two women who offered their sexual services!

Six days after Jim had placed the ad, he had an additional 15 applications, for a grand total of 56.

Now you could say that this is an appealing job and LA is overflowing with under-employed talented people, so this level of response to this kind of job -- personal assistant to a dynamic, dramatic, successful young entrepreneur --would be high in any case.

I would agree with you.  To a point.

But you've got to ask youself this question:

How would those people know about this job if you didn't take the time ... and the words... to describe it to them in the first place?

Thus ends the trial of Long Copy v. Short Copy.  Decision: Long Copy.

Case closed!

... until next time...

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Comments

[Kenny]

Hi David,
Excellent post.
I think your post about long copy are very relevant.
I just want to comment on the craigslist part of this post - I recently posted a position on craigslist for an executive assistant in the Toronto area. It was about 400-500 words as well. I received over 85 CVs, I found about 15 to be very suitable, and I interviewd 6, to find a great person. She has been working with me as a 'virtual assistant' - i.e. from home and remotely, and has taken essential parts of my business from me which have grown too big for me to handle. I highly encourage this!
Also, I agree that using 'longer copy' to describe makes a huge difference - I could see in the CVs that some people really 'got it', and that was because I had used enough words to describe it.
Thanks!
Kenny

[Linda Offenheiser]

Hi David,

Isn't it a bit like comparing apples and oranges when you compare copy for a help wanted ad to copy for something like a web sales page?

I understand people would be interested in knowing everything they can about a position for which they may consider applying. But, do you think this interest also applies to paragraph after paragraph of information about a particular product?

Even the extra-long help wanted ad only amounts to 400 and some words . . . not thousands of words like long web page copy contains. It's really only long when compared to the typical help wanted ad.

I'd like to know your readers thoughts . . .

Warm regards,
Linda

[Barry W. Morris]

David,
I think the real secret is whether or not the copy - long or short - reduces the consumer's percieved risk to absolute zero.

If even one objection persists, it's no sale.

Every customer has objections and unless we address them in our copy, even a mega letter won't make 'em budge!

All the Best,
Barry W. Morris

[Tammy Ames]

I love the long copy in the Craiglist ad because it has energy AND appears to cover the whole gambit of "questions" someone might have about the position especially the "what's in it for me" aspect.

As for long copy vs short copy - I have to agree with Barry that at the core is "Every customer has objections and unless we address them in our copy, even a mega letter won't make 'em budge!"

If long copy is the only way to do that then it's long copy BUT when there is an iron clad guarantee with a "perk" if they aren't satisfied - that could quell the concerns as much as reams of copy that people tend (including me) to scan down through to the bottom line.

Tammy