Does Hype Work on The Web?

Copyright (c) 2003 Heather Reimer
Have you ever used any of these phrases in your website content or sales copy? And if you have, did they produce the results you wanted?

Totally INSANE offer

YES! You heard that right

You better not miss it

Get this red hot item before it cools off!

But Wait!!! There's more!

Don't delay, act today

We are NOT kidding about these prices!

You won't find this offer anywhere else

This offer ends soon, you must act immediately!!

Believe it or not, I recently found all those cliché slogans on one single page of web copy.

As a consumer, how do YOU respond to this kind of language? Personally, I feel like I've just been subjected to a K-Tel commercial retrospective. Remember the Ginsu knife? "Yes, folks, it slices, it dices, it cuts roast beef so thin your in-laws will never come back."

This brand of sales language is propagating itself on the web these days faster than the Klez worm and it begs the question, "Does it work?" After 50 years of being accosted by used car salesmen shouting cheesy pitches at us from the small screen, will wired consumers respond to more of the same on the even smaller screen? Should we expect them to?

After all, TV is a one-way medium, just like newspapers and magazines. The passive viewer/reader is at the receiving end of that unidirectional rant and can either take it or leave it.

But the web is different. People can and do talk back, through a multitude of forums, chat boards and renegade websites. They can and do click away to venues that address them like human beings, that respect and that engage intelligently.

Is your website or promotional copy using slogans like the ones above? Do they produce results for you? If so, please let me know and I'll eat my words. But I have a sneaking suspicion most web users confronted with that sort of in-your-face hype just smirk, roll their eyes and move on. I know I do.

(Read Part II: Does Hype Work on the Web, The Sequel)