Monthly Archives: December 2013

“Let’s make it official”

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It’s amazing how much wording and tone can change something.

If you were in the trial period for a service – maybe on the fence – and you got the following message, how would you react?

“YOUR TRIAL ENDS IN 3 DAYS. PLEASE SUBMIT PAYMENT OR YOUR SERVICE WILL BE DISCONTINUED.”

I imagine you’d be pretty turned off.

Compare that to this message that Sprout Social gave me:

sprout social trial ending message

It still catches my eye. It still reminds me I need to pay. but it does it in a fun, positive way that doesn’t make me feel pressured. It makes me like them, and want to give them my money.

(And I did.)

Where is this story going?

Community,

“Storytelling is joke telling. It’s knowing your punchline, your ending. Knowing that everything you’re saying from the first sentence to the last is leading to a singular goal and ideally confirming some truth that deepens our understanding of who we are as human beings.”

Andrew Stanton via Refe Tuma

I always say that most of the best advice is totally obvious. This is another great example of great, obvious advice.

With some exceptions (fiction literature, conversations with your SO), you’re telling a story to deliver a punchline. But it’s SO easy to forget this and get caught up in writing the story without an ending…which is a great way to disappoint your audience.