They're Not Listening to All That

Gina Gotthilf on landing pages: "People skim. And copywriters don't like to believe that, much like journalists don't like to believe that people just read headlines. It's just how it is. People are busy and lazy, myself included."

This is your child, every time you explain something.

"We don't hit because hitting hurts other people, and when we feel angry we need to find other ways to express our big feelings, and I understand you're frustrated but..." - they stopped listening after "hit."

Gina's solution for landing pages works for parenting too: "Restricting copy a lot. Even copy that seems short is probably not short enough."

What's the headline? What's the one thing they absolutely need to walk away with? Lead with that. "Hitting hurts. Use words." Four words. If they retained that, you won.

You can add context later. But only after the headline lands. And honestly? The headline is usually enough.