Online Business Freedom

Michel Fortin talks about the money making power of the Zeigarnik Effect in his Breakthrough Copywriting home study course.

Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik first studied the phenomenon after her professor, Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin, noticed that a waiter had better recollections of still undelivered orders.

Basically, waiters remembered orders better before they were delivered. And the moment that the food is brought to a table, the waiter’s memory of the orders drops dramatically.

So why does this happen? And how can you apply this to your marketing?

First, this phenomenon happens because the undelivered order is an incomplete thought in the waiter’s mind. And the mind has a natural tendency to remember open or unfinished thoughts.

But the moment the thought or task is brought to a conclusion, the mind lets it go.

In television this phenomenon is very common. You may know it as the “cliffhanger”.

If you watch any TV at all, you know that seasons don’t end with all the loose plot ends wrapped up in a nice, tidy conclusion.

In fact, there is usually a huge cliffhanger that you must tune into next season in order to find out what happened.

And when done well, people will tune in again and again, even when knowing that they were being duped by the Zeigarnik Effect.

That’s how powerful this phenomenon is.

Even students are advised to leave certain learning incomplete when taking breaks from studying, because doing so will result in better retention.

So how do you use it in your marketing?

In your copy, introduce the big promise of your ad, or the tantalizing secret that will solve your reader’s problem… then promise to reveal the secret further down the letter, after you briefly explain the story behind it.

Or after you explain another brief tidbit of related information.

The Zeigarnik Effect will be put into effect since the reader will want to know what the solution to their problem is.

In more advanced copywriting, you can actually place open loops all throughout the letter or email, and really get your reader’s curiosity glands boiling.

When you get good at it, you can identify your prospect’s problem, tease them mercilessly by alluding to the solution, then lead them to sweet release only when they are sufficiently worked up into a buying frenzy.

It’s playing on human psychology at its finest.

Think about using the Zeigarnik Effect in your own marketing.

It might be an interesting and profitable weapon in your marketing arsenal.

-James D. Lee

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