Craft unforgettable copy with the peak-end rule
As marketers, we’re all on a mission to make our message unforgettable.
Well, not all memories are created equal. Some moments hold more weight than others.
And that brings me to this…
💡 Have you ever heard of the peak-end rule?
It’s a cognitive bias discovered by psychologist Daniel Kahneman (if you haven’t read Thinking Fast & Slow, add it to your must-read list!).
The peak-end rule explains that people judge & remember an experience based on it’s peak (most intense) & end (final) moments, as opposed to the overall content.
Kahneman’s own experiment showcased the peak-end rule in action during storytelling. He asked participants to imagine two versions of a woman’s life story.
Version A: A wonderful life cut short by a car accident.
Version B: A longer life, but the final years were a bit meh.
Surprisingly, when participants had to pick, they preferred the shorter, more intense story.
Why?
Because whenever we’re judging a narrative, it’s the most extreme experience & how it all wraps up that matters to us. And therefore that’s the story that captures our attention & sticks in our minds.
Our brains use these moments as shortcuts to judge & remember the experience.
🪄 How can we use this in our copywriting?
Our brains use peak & end moments as a shortcut to define the entire experience so we can leverage this hack to structure our content in a way that ensures it’s judged & remembered well by your audience.
How though? Five simple steps.
- Make the message pop with a positive peak
- Inject meaningful benefits & ‘wow’ moments
- Incorporate visual & emotional elements that lead to a powerful sensory experience being created in the mind of the audience
- Finish on a high note & craft the final parts of the message to be memorable, upbeat & encouraging
- Leave the audience with an energetic & direct call-to-action that prompts them to take the desired action
📝 An example
Here we have an email from Superhuman. This email aims to get a current customer to try a new feature they’re rolling out. Let’s break it down using the five steps above.
The only step they haven’t included in the email is “incorporate visual elements that lead to a powerful sensory experience being created in the mind of the audience.” Superhuman could’ve really elevated this email by including a simple video or screenshot of this new feature in action.
Key takeaways
👉 Include a really impactful peak in your copy to get people interested in the story you’re telling them about your brand & how this can elevate their day-to-day.
👉Always leave your audience with an energetic & direct end (aka call-to-action) that prompts them to take the desired action.
👉 Read Thinking Fast & Slow. Simple.
