I’ve been writing about this for a decade. Now AI stole this, too.
11:19am
2 blocks east of the Mississippi
Heya ––– I ran across an interesting article today on Wired.com that I wanted to share.
But first some context.
In direct response marketing, clear is more important than clever.
Now if you look at most “space advertising” like a billboard or other ads, the company is more often trying to be clever.
Analogies that go on for too long. Wordplay that makes people think. Unclear benefits.
These ads are hoping you have a chuckle. They try to generate good feelings. And hope that you somehow tie those good feelings to a purchase of their brand, later.
Direct response, as we’ve discussed, goes for the sale.
With clarity in the message.
Good feelings are fine. But not the goal.
Because, like we saw with Kahneman’s Prospect Theory, people work harder to avoid a loss than they do for a gain.
But these primal emotions aside, you can’t make a sale without both trust and clear understanding.
Direct response sales letters, in the mail, have often relied on typewriter fonts (like Courier) to give a the mailing a feeling that it’s a personal letter.
When the home computer became common, some of those sales letters started to use a font like Times New Roman. Because this typeface was included with Microsoft Word. And people wrote real letters that way.
Point being, these typeface choices were intentionally chosen. They feel personal. They build trust.
Later, when the Web came along and computer screens were low-resolution, Sans-Serif typefaces became the digital standard.
(Sans-Serif typefaces are the letters without little serifs, or decorations, on the edges of individual letters.)
Because on those low-res screens, the letters were more clear.
Well, we’re way past that limitation.
But modern brands continue to use Sans-Serif fonts. I guess beause they’re seen as modern.
When really, the Sans-Serif fonts hurt readability.
(And maybe that doesn’t matter when their ads aren’t asking you to purchase, anyway.)
(For example: this is probably showing in your inbox with a sans-serif font. Your email provider did that, not me. Click here to see it on my site.)
Back to the article from Wired.
Right now, A.I. is getting a lot of pushback from people who see it as staling jobs or reducing our own creative humanity.
And so to make AI seem more trustworthy and human, Anthropic is using Serif fonts in their products.
I’ve been advocating for this for years (post from 2019).
And now I wonder:
Will Serif type soon be seen as AI, by default, the same way em-dashes and lists-of-three are?
Tools and methods, built by humans to enhance understanding…
And people who are afraid of being labeled AI will go the other way?
I don’t know.
Read the article about AI’s use of Serif type on Wired.com here (probably paywalled tho).
Ok, time to write some scripts ––– which are read by humans and it doesn’t matter what typeface I pick.
Love you,
Jeffrey
PS. It’s not that direct response only works on negative emotions.
There are 7 big emotional drivers.
And only a few are negative.
Discover all 7 and how to use them in Denny Hatch’s book, The Secrets of Emotional, Hot-Button Copywriting.
Inside you’ll find 54 sales letters that hit on emotions like Fear, Guilt, and Anger ––– but also positive emotions like Flattery and Exclusivity.
If you’re a writer needing to sharpen your emotional edge, you can find Hatch’s long-out-of-print book available now on Amazon.