The British government generated 2.3 million pounds in tax returns with this one glorious sentence.
In 2009, the British government had a tax problem because people were not paying their dues on time.
Pissed, the UK government resorted to bans, penalties, and increased interest rates, but to no success. To fix this, they hired a handful of social scientists and compliance professionals.
The team went into the roots of human behavioral psychology. Why do humans do what do and which factor influences their decision-making the most?
The answer? Social influence.
They found out that humans behave like pack animals. If they see their peers doing something, they think it is the right thing to do. Upon finding this out, they wrote a new sentence in the utility bills they sent to hundreds and thousands of homes.
This one glorious sentence resulted in tens of millions of dollars in tax returns and 2.3 million pounds in just 23 days. Behold, the British Government is writing now,
9/10 people in the UK pay their taxes on time. You are currently in the very small minority of people who have not paid us yet.
This is what happens when you combine behavioral psychology with good copywriting. Speaking of good copywriting, let us summon David Ogilvy to drop a line or two on this topic.
‘Most good copywriters . . . fall into two categories. Poets. And killers. Poets see an ad as an end. Killers as a means to an end.’ If you are both killer and poet, you get rich.
Poets write pretty lines. Their words communicate thoughts we struggle to communicate. Killers on the other hand are like those lab scientists in overalls. They know all the psychological strategies that work like magic. These two people individually are great but imagine what would happen if you team them up?
Be a killer poet.
Peace.
