Your Web Copy Isn’t Working For The Same Reason Your AXE Body Spray Isn’t Working

A few years ago the makers of AXE fragrance for men began a campaign called “The AXE Effect.” It featured TV spots where crowds of gorgeous women would chase scrawny, awkward guys who had supposedly sprayed themselves with AXE.

Most people, men and women, chuckled at the over-the-top absurdity of the spots. But there was a sizeable contingent of awkward young men who thought it was all true.

Today, you can spot (or rather smell) these true believers a mile off. Before they go out they enshroud themselves in AXE, like a hotel room being fumigated for bedbugs.

Needless to say, the AXE Effect does not work in real life.

In fact, it has the opposite effect. Most women can’t stand the overpowering smell. But its basic idea seems to have jumped hosts and is now infecting the internet marketing community.

Many response-driven websites have been created under a delusion similar to the AXE Effect. Let’s call it the HACK Effect. With a formula headline, keywords stuffed into the copy, and exclamation points on the sign-up button, it’s obvious the author has been reading “How I Went From Zero To Ten Thousand Orders In One Month!”

Like AXE spray, the page smells of desperation. And that’s the most effective way to turn a prospect off.

Both the AXE Effect and the HACK Effect assume that women/potential customers are not people but things that can be manipulated against their will. If you can expose them to the right stimulant, they will do exactly what you want. If they’re gorgeous women, they’ll crawl all over you. If they’re web visitors, they’ll order your lousy product whether they need it or not.

Now is that any way to form a lasting relationship?

To paraphrase legendary adman David Ogilvy, “The customer is not a moron; she is your sister.” Treat her with the same respect.

When writing your site copy, don’t try to figure out how to manipulate your visitors. Try to figure out what their needs, wants, and dreams are. Then try communicating how your product can fulfill some of those, using a little tact.

It works for web customers and it works for members of the opposite sex.

BTW, I have to clarify that the AXE Effect did work — just not on women. It spoke to the deepest desires of millions of young men and got them to buy the stuff.