The Wit and Wisdom of David Ogilvy

by Dean Rieck

David Ogilvy was a college dropout, a chef, a door-to-door salesman, and a copywriter. Starting with no clients and a staff of two, he built one of the largest advertising agencies in the world.

He promoted the principles of testing and research and was a believer in the power of direct response advertising, which he considered his secret weapon.

On July 21, 1999, David Ogilvy passed away, leaving behind a legacy of effective selling principles. The most basic of which — one that far too many people forget — is that the purpose of advertising is to sell. That was the idea behind what may be his most famous quote, the first in the list below. But it underscores virtually everything else he said as well.

"If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative."

"Good copy can't be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You've got to believe in the product."

"I once used the word OBSOLETE in a headline, only to discover that 43 per cent of housewives had no idea what it meant. In another headline, I used the word INEFFABLE, only to discover that I didn't know what it meant myself."

"On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar."

"The advertisers who believe in the selling power of jingles have never had to sell anything."

"The consumer isn't a moron. She is your wife."

"The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be."

"The most important word in the vocabulary of advertising is TEST. If you pretest your product with consumers, and pretest your advertising, you will do well in the marketplace."

"There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50 per cent more readers."

"What you say in advertising is more important than how you say it."

"You have only 30 seconds in a TV commercial. If you grab attention in the first frame with a visual surprise, you stand a better chance of holding the viewer. People screen out a lot of commercials because they open with something dull. When you advertise fire-extinguishers, open with the fire."

"Never write an advertisement which you wouldn't want your family to read. You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don't tell them to mine."

"Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them."

"Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals."

"I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information."

"If you tell lies about a product, you will be found out — either by the Government, which will prosecute you, or by the consumer, who will punish you by not buying your product a second time."

"Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything."

One of David Ogilvy's practices was to make new hires work in direct response advertising for at least a year to learn sales techniques that work. More agencies should follow this practice. I think Mr. Ogilvy would agree with me that direct response principles are widely applicable and could greatly improve all forms of advertising and marketing regardless of the medium.

It was true when he said it. It's true today. It will be true tomorrow. "If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative."

Copyright © 2003 Dean Rieck. All Rights Reserved.

David Ogilvy - prophet of the digital age?

Over the past couple of weeks a number of bloggers have picked up on an old address by David Ogilvy, filmed in Bombay (now Mumbai) back in the 1970s and now available on YouTube.

The great man’s talking about what was then called “direct response advertising” - now known of course as “direct marketing”.

One blogger, Joe Reis of Androids (http://androidsagency.com), says: “The original ad man, David Ogilvy, gives a prophetic talk about the collision course of direct response and general creative advertising. I’m impressed (although not surprised) about how relevant his ideas of measurable media have grown in alongside the web.”

Another, Efraín Mendicuti (http://thedailyandthenotso.blogspot.com), comments: “Tell me you wouldn’t want to have him as THE ambassador for digital/on-line marketing today”.

But don’t take my word for it, click on the YouTube video below and judge for yourself. Just subsititute “direct response advertising” for “online marketing”.

Always be Testing!

Doing A/B or Multivariate testing to optimize your site used to require some in-house programming expertise or expensive 3rd party software. Thankfully, Google has provided us with a free alternative, Google Website Optimizer. While it may not offer every feature some of the other solutions provide, it is quite an elegant solution and getting better regularly.

Since Google Website Optimizer is free, there is no excuse for not testing regularly. Rather than spending money on more expensive testing tools, focus those resources on creating better copy and imagery. So there are no more excuses for not testing regularly. Remember what Claude Hopkins wisely said in 1923,

“Almost any question can be answered cheaply, quickly and finally, by a test campaign. And that’s the way to answer them—not by arguments around a table. Go to the court of last resort—buyers of your products.”

Now take action

1. Do not be afraid to test.
2. Sign up for and set up Google Optimizer
3. Write down the 5 things that concern you most about your site and then test them.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for my next article, tip 9, "Improve the form of your web forms."

Be ready and willing to help

In the e-business world, your customer service, the degree to which you keep your customer delighted, starts the instant he or she lands on your web site. Online, customer service isn’t where you go when you have a problem, and it certainly isn’t what happens after the sale is completed. It is everything that goes into creating a superior online shopping experience from start to finish.

During the buying process, there are a host of questions that are raised. Answer these questions even before your customers think of them. Incorporate it into your selling process so that customers won’t have to leave their buying process in search of answers. In combination with prominent customer service contacts, visitors will gain confidence with their purchase. Reassure your customers that you are there, ready and willing to assist in all questions and concerns and longing to build a relationship with them.

Now take action

a) Keep the visitors engaged with the active window and the buying process, providing an easy and smooth path to the checkout and you’ll surely see higher conversions.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for a great article, tip 8, "Always Be Testing!"

Point a critical eye to your check out process

Getting the visitor to “add to cart” is only half the battle. You’ve got to keep the momentum going throughout the checkout. A simple checkout is a good checkout, but you also have to answer all of the visitor’s questions as they’re going through the process. There are a few rules that all sites should adhere to when trying to put together an easy checkout that gives the visitor the information they need to make the purchase.

Now take action

1. Eliminate unnecessary steps. Don’t put to much focus on upselling (upsell in the cart, or upsell on the confirmation page and retro-add it to the order for bonus points) and only ask for information that is completely necessary in completing the transaction.
2. Let the visitor know that you value their privacy and you have a secured site.
3. Don’t keep the visitor in the dark about anything—clearly let the visitor know about shipping, return and tax issues.
4. Remind them what they’re buying ;)

There are many other things that you have to take into account but these are the high level items that you should focus on most when putting together an efficient cart.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for tip number 7 to start optimizing your website called "Be ready and willing to help"

Don’t be indifferent to reviews

Reviews have been all the buzz the past couple of years. If you recently purchased something online, has a review influenced your purchase decision?

New research further illustrates their value:

• 77% of online shoppers use reviews and ratings when purchasing (Jupiter Research, August 2006)
• 63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews. (CompUSA & iPerceptions study)
• 86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend’s recommendation over a review by a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. (MarketSherpa)

Most people don’t seem to focus on all the factors involved in implementing reviews to enhance conversion. It’s important that you test and optimize for conversion and persuasion by focusing on the following areas:

Placement for Visibility
• Above the fold
• Size
• Stars or other graphic
• Near point of attention or action

Review Interaction
• Ease of reading
• Sorting
• Rating Distribution
• Use across the site

Single Dimension versus Multi Dimension Reviews
• What are the key attributes across different categories
• Can review content influence purchase decision

Credibility Factors
• Negative and Positive reviews
• Review Approval policy
• Reviewer Characteristics

What does a review mean
• Number of Reviews
• What questions are you asking
• Qualitative versus quantitative

Reviews are just one trend of the market demanding more authenticity and transparency and these are key factors in getting your visitors to take action. Anytime you have a choice between opening up more or less always opt for giving your customers more. Many companies have an unsubstantiated fear of “negative” reviews. You shouldn’t. Negative reviews don’t mean lower conversions. Research from BazaarVoice indicates that negative reviews can increase product conversion. This is likely due to the fact that customers realize that products are not perfect and want to know a products flaws as well as weaknesses. In addition, overwhelmingly negative reviews can help you pull bad products from your offering and merchandise better.

Now take action

a) Enable customer reviews on your site. Don’t know how? Contact a 3rd party, like Bazaarvoice.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for my next article "Point a Critical Eye to Your Check Out Process".