This is a copywriting quiz developed by the late Gary Halbert; if you don’t know who he is you really need to check him out and his teachings - he was about as good as you can get when it comes to copywriting and direct response marketing.

Many professional copywriters have taken it and it was an interesting and humbling experience for a lot of them. It made them remember that they don’t know as much as they thought.

One thing is strongly suggested is to take the quiz twice, once without thought and analysis, just your immediate gut reaction, and the second time use the rules of copywriting you know.

Compare the differences in results and find out where you are strong and where you are weak. Also, it will help you understand how well you can trust your instincts.

Some people are good representatives of their prospects and some aren’t and you need to know which you are, this is very important; you’ll be losing sales if you use the wrong viewpoint, that is, use instinct when you should use analysis and vice versa.

For example, one copywriter took the test both ways and got 40% more right when she analyzed. This suggests that she is atypical of the general public and things that attract them probably don’t attract her.

Beware, make sure you actually read each headline/question, I missed a few by thinking I knew it without properly reading it.

Here’s the quiz…

Which Headline Pulled the Best?

Headline 1

A) Push Button shave cream
B) Moisturized Shave Cream

Headline 2

A) How to get rid of an “inferiority complex”
B) The writings in these immortal books are as strong as the mightiest deeds of history

Headline 3

A) Thousands suffer from sick nerves and don’t know it
B) Have you these symptoms of nervous exhaustion?

Headline 4

A) Would you buy a $30 shirt on sale for $14.99
B) Half price sale on shirts!

Headline 5

A) The name of this jacket is Manana. But at $30 you better buy it today
B) It’s from Mexico. It’s handmade. And it’s only $30.

Headline 6

A)Save one gallon of gas in every ten
B) Car owners! Save one gallon of gas in every ten

Headline 7

A) Hay fever!
B) Dry up hay fever!

Headline 8

A) This is the ad we had to cancel three months ago because we sold them so fast
B) All leather handbags for only $28 (The last time we ran this ad we sold out in 48 hours!)

Headline 9

Which ad will be better read?

A) If the headline is above the picture?
B) If the headline is below the picture?

Headline 10

A) men’s thick terry robes, $65
B) We first saw these in the Carillon Hotel on the Place de la Concorde in Paris

Headline 11

A) Women’s sweater sale at below wholesale price $19.99
B) Would you buy a woman’s $65 sweater for $19.99

Headline 12

A) we go to Helsinki and back for our customers
B) “In our 38 years in business, we never sold so much of one item in so short a time – Milton Gordon

Headline 13

A)“My insurance company? New England life of course. Why?
B) The far sighted man from new England life can show you how you could get 30 years of life insurance – and then get back all the money you put in.

Headline 14

A) If you really want to impress someone with your car, tell him it’s paid for
B) “When we built the Volvo to last 11 years, we didn’t forget you’d be sitting in it for 11 years”

Headline 15

A) Here are two easy ways to build your sales of cooling system parts
B) New Gates charge announces tune-ups: $12 flat rte on cooling system

Headline 16

A) What is buffered aspirin?
B) how to stop a headache without upsetting your stomach

Headline 17

A) I never bought stocks before – how do I go about it?
B) What do I own when I own a share of stock?

Headline 18

A) use these eyedrops for bloodshot eyes
B) How to give quick rest to tired eyes

Headline 19

Rate these headlines in order of which converted the best and which was the worst for these advertisements in a trade magazine.

A) How to talk to a horse
B) Free way to start horsing around
C) How to adopt a horse
D) Free gift if you love horses
E) Free lessons in horse training

Headline 20

A) Now try this vitamin.
B) Now try the vitamin of champions.

Don't cheat. Please take the quiz first THEN scroll down for the answers ...

Below each question is listed along with the correct answer and a reason for that answer, if one was given.

Answers

1. A) Push Button shave cream
B) Moisturized Shave Cream

Answer: A.

Reason:
It converted better than 2 to 1 because it focused on instant gratification.

It is almost always better to focus on quick benefits than more ambiguous ones that many won’t really care about. Who doesn’t want a quick solution but “moisturizing” means different things to different and some won’t even want it at all so it is weaker.

2. A) How to get rid of an “inferiority complex”
B) The writings in these immortal books are as strong as the mightiest deeds of history

Answer: A.
Reason:
It gave a specific promise of benefit.

Always go for the emotional response in the prospect not the intellectual one.

3. A) thousands suffer from sick nerves and don’t know it
B) have you these symptoms of nervous exhaustion?

Answer: B.
Reason:
The word that attracted people is “you”.

The “it’s okay many people suffer like you do” although is quite good but that doesn’t usually trump “solution for YOU”.

4. A) Would you buy a $30 shirt on sale for $14.99
B) Half price sale on shirts!

Answer: A.
Reason:
Specificity and clarity attract better than not; this shows the exact price and, by default, savings.

Notice that being specific is used where advantageous and isn’t where it is not. I wouldn’t be surprised if this converted better than saying “Would you buy a $29.99 shirt on sale for $14,99″ - although testing it would be in order.

5. A) The name of this jacket is Manana. But at $30 you better buy it today
B) It’s from Mexico. It’s handmade. And it’s only $30.

Answer: A.
Reason:
There is implied scarcity as well as the suggestion of it being a designer jacket, even if you don’t know Manana. Being “handmade” implies quality to some but too many, particularly those interested in designer labels it is a negative.

Also, in the U.S. the “made in Mexico” is, rightly or wrongly, thought of as being of cheap or poor quality.

6. A)Save one gallon of gas in every ten
B) Car owners! Save one gallon of gas in every ten

Answer: B.
Reason:
It converted 20% better because it spoke to a specific audience.

Whenever you can throw in a phrase that is more specific to a targeted person it will, somewhat subconsciously, attract them.

Think of how many times you’ve found that a new thing you learned or liked seemed to be all around you AFTER it became important to you.

That isn’t coincidence, it was probably there all the time but was filtered out by your brain because it wasn’t important enough to you.

7. A) Hay fever!
B) Dry up hay fever!

Answer: B.
Reason:
It caused a 27% increase in requests because of added promise of benefit

Always go for a solution, never forget the importance of the emotional connection.

8. A) This is the ad we had to cancel three months ago because we sold them so fast
B) All leather handbags for only $28 (The last time we ran this ad we sold out in 48 hours!)

Answer: A.
Reason:
This pulled 3 times better.

Potential scarcity and social proof win out over the “leather” and the specific price. Even though the second one added the “sold out in 48 hours”, it wasn’t greater than the implied faster sell out by using the word “cancel”

9. Which ad will be better read?

A) If the headline is above the picture?
B) If the headline is below the picture?

Answer: B.
Reason:
Pictures are usually better eye-catchers than words

There is a good possibility of losing the headline if it is above a dominant picture. This wouldn’t be true with a small picture, like of yourself.

10. A) men’s thick terry robes, $65
B) We first saw these in the Carillon Hotel on the Place de la Concorde in Paris

Answer: B.
Reason:
The second one again hit deep into the emotional subconscious by invoking thoughts of a big, fancy, expensive hotel in Paris, further utilizing additional triggers; it wouldn’t have done so well if it has said “We first saw these in the Carillon Hotel on the Place de la Concorde in Cleveland.”

11. A) Women’s sweater sale at below wholesale price $19.99
B) Would you buy a woman’s $65 sweater for $19.99

Answer: B.
Reason:
It has both curiosity (”would you”) and benefit (big savings”in one headline.

The words “below wholesale” has some positive impact but it loses completely to the specific savings by having the exact prices, since the price difference is great (it would have had the impact of “Would you buy a woman’s $25 sweater for $19.99″, there the “below wholesale” probably would have won).

Also, having a question in a headline makes people stop and read and, if only subconsciously, answer the question.

12. A) we go to Helsinki and back for our customers
B) “In our 38 years in business, we never sold so much of one item in so short a time - Milton Gordon

Answer: B.
Reason:
B seems Boring (with a capital B). But don’t lose sight of the little triggers like implied lots of sales and invoking questions like “how many did you sell?” and “who is Milton Gordon?”

A has few triggers, the best they can hope for is the implication that they go all out for their customers.

13. A)”My insurance company? New England life of course. Why?
B) The far sighted man from new England life can show you how you could get 30 years of life insurance - and then get back all the money you put in.

Answer: A.
Reason:
This converted 2 times better, because message B has been repeated so often the audience was bored and few read it.

14. A) If you really want to impress someone with your car, tell him it’s paid for
B) “When we built the Volvo to last 11 years, we didn’t forget you’d be sitting in it for 11 years”

Answer: B.
Reason:
The reason the headline made sense because it tied with the fact that most volvos are driven for 11 years in Sweden and by then it’s paid for.

People looking for a Volvo are concerned with quality and, particularly, safety so they added the words “we didn’t forget you’d be sitting in it for 11 years”. I would have tested “we didn’t forget who’d be sitting in it for 11 years” also because they are very popular with families and the “protect my child” impulse is usually stronger than the “protect myself” one.

15. A) Here are two easy ways to build your sales of cooling system parts
B) New Gates charge announces tune-ups: $12 flat rte on cooling system

Answer: A.
Reason:
A converted twice as well.

This one is simple. A has benefits, B has features. Always go for benefits the more to the customers emotional core the better.

16. A) What is buffered aspirin?
B) how to stop a headache without upsetting your stomach

Answer: A.
Reason:
This converted 50% better because of the offer of free information.

17. A) I never bought stocks before - how do I go about it?
B) What do I own when I own a share of stock?

Answer: A.
Reason:
Answer A is really a fear question with the implication of removing that fear while B is just and intellectual question. Fear pretty much smashes curiosity every time.

18. A) use these eyedrops for bloodshot eyes
B) How to give quick rest to tired eyes

Answer: B.
Reason:
This headline was the result of asking buyers of the product WHY they bought the product, and they replied, “it feels good when my eyes are tired.”

How-to’s are always good, plus there is a “quick” solution to a problem.

19. Rate these headlines in order of which converted the best and which was the worst for these advertisements in a trade magazine.

1. How to talk to a horse
2. Free way to start horsing around
3. How to adopt a horse
4. Free gift if you love horses
5. Free lessons in horse training

Answer: 5-4-3-2-1.
Reason:
Research revealed the word “free” used its customary magic as well as the words “how to”

Expected "free" to be better than "how-to".

20. A) Now try this vitamin.
B) Now try the vitamin of champions.

Answer: Both
Reason:
Sort of a trick question since the both converted the same, at least you couldn’t get it wrong!

How Did You Score?

In summary, the answers were: 1 - A; 2 - A; 3 - B; 4 - A; 5 - A; 6 - B; 7 - B; 8 - A; 9 - B; 10 - B; 11 - B; 12 - B; 13 - A; 14 - B; 15 - A; 16 - A; 17 - A; 18 - B; 19 - 5,4,3,2,1; 20 - Both

Score yourself and see how well you did.

20 Correct, A+. You are a Copywriting god and should quick your day job and start charging $50,000 to write a sales letter.

18-19 Correct, A. You definitely know what you are doing and should “turn pro” if you aren’t already.

16-17 Correct, B. Not bad at all, you have some talent, keep it up and who knows some day you might make it out of the minor league s and make it to the “Show”

14-15 Correct, C. Some skill and knowledge, keep working on it but consider hiring out your copywriting work!

12-13 Correct, D. Don’t give up your day job.

10-11 Correct, F. Definitely don’t give up your day job.

Under 10 Correct, what is below F. Give it up (or buy all my copywriting products

Seriously though, remember that no matter how experienced or good you are you can always learn more and you should always remember, no feel, the emotions of your target audience and then test, Test and TEST again.

Author:
David Husnian
The Shameless (but Ethical) Marketer
http://www.FromTheDeskOfDavid.com
David, the creator of the "3 Pillar of (Guaranteed) Success", is a successful marketer who provides a unique perspective on marketing and copywriting topics. You can get more great information, free products and a free complete online copywriting course for the beginner to intermediate copywriters. To get all that and more just click this link to go to http://www.StreetGuideToCopywriting.com