The Four Chunk Limit

Sharon Bailly's picture

Submitted by TWP on Tue 7/20/10 1:27 pm
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Researchers say that most people remember about 4 chunks of new information at a time. But if you offer your customers dozens of valuable products and services, the temptation is overwhelming to describe them all at once. It’s hard to remember that there’s always another web page, blog post or newsletter—another opportunity to send out yet another chunk of information.

Even if your customers are experts in their field, information about your products and services is still new. The four chunk limit still applies.

I once took a French course in which the teacher spoke French and only French from the first day—it’s called immersion. I heard words I didn’t know in an unfamiliar accent under stressful conditions, and my personal four chunk limit was quickly exceeded. In a few weeks or months, I suppose most of the students were comfortably speaking French. I dropped the course.

Your marketing collateral immerses your customers in your products and services. You don’t have weeks or months to make customers comfortable. You have one paragraph or less. And you can’t take the chance your customers will turn away in confusion.

Keep your primary marketing message as simple and straightforward as possible. If you aren’t sure what to leave out and what to emphasize, you may want to consult with a professional marketing writer who can help focus your message. The four chunk limit is very real.

If you need help delivering a marketing message...if your products and services are high-tech or complex...go to www.twriteplus.com to find out more about TWP's technical and marketing writing services.

 

Four Chunk Limit Redux

Submitted by LHN on Sat 7/24/10 7:56 pm
While working at one firm, the Direct Marketing group had the sales agents send 3, 4, even 5 different brochures to a customer at a time, with the assumption that sending the customers more to choose from, they were sure to see something they liked and therefore sales would be higher. We came in and did an analysis that showed conversion went down as the number of brochures went up. In fact, with two brochures, conversion ran about 40%, with three, conversion went down to 10%, anything after that, and there was barely a 2% percent chance the customer would buy anything. It was information and choice overload We quickly modified the marketing and sales systems to prevent more then 2 brochures going out at once and sales increased within weeks. Just as beneficial, Direct Marketing costs dropped by over 60%. There's nothing better then lowering your costs and increasing sales at the same time. The four chuck limit applies not just to the content and quality of your marketing materials, and the quantity of it also.