We have just signed up to complete a web site for a dating agency – as part of the process I’ve been reading up on what influences people’s choice decisions when they visit dating sites.
According to the brilliant Freakonomics:
- For men, a woman’s looks are of paramount importance
- The richer a man is, the more emails he receives
- For men, being short is a disadvantage
- For women, being overweight is a disadvantage
Like…duh!
It’s always an interesting one in marketing – you know and I know how people think (after all, we’re all people (most of us anyway!)).
Difficult To Say That Nicely
But it’s often difficult to come right out and say stuff like “Men judge women almost solely by their looks when they first meet – in the vast majority of cases.”
You have to be nicer about saying that otherwise you risk incurring the wrath of a noisy group of people calling you a pig.
And it’s the same with web sites to an extent. In many niches, it’s been found time and again that the web design will impact with seconds on how that company is perceived.
You see, you have to look good to be trusted. Then you have to consolidate that position with the right information – i.e your sparkling personality/your relevant web site information.
But Then There’s This
If I write the truth – guys generally don’t like fat girls and girls are much more likely to find a guy attractive if he has lots of money – is that wrong?
- From a marketing perspective, no.
- From a factual perspective, no.
- From a politically correct, let’s not hurt any one’s feelings perspective, yes.
Here’s the important bit – it all depends on context and how you’ve branded yourself.
If you’re known as a loud-mouth, attention seeker (yes Donald Trump, I’m talking about you!) then you’d get away with it.
If you were a judge sitting on a sex-discrimination case, then there might be a lot of attention paid to what you’ve said.
Cheers
That’s a good one, Brendon, it’s the area more copywriters and more marketers need to focus on that any other. It’s much more how you say something than what you say. I remember in a previous life working on a very important draft of s letter for my boss to send out … asking some folks not to do what they were doing. I spent hours on it, trying to make it polite but to the point. My boss read it through, looked up at me with a smile and said, “Great letter, Dave, now go through it and take out all the wire brush bristles and then maybe I can think about signing it out.” And _I_ thought it was smooth as a baby’s bottom …..
Jay Leno of US nighttime TV fame once did a great routine on what men look for in women. He reported on a national survey that aledged to have found that 85% of men first notice a woman’s eyes. “Oh yeah,” said Jay, “then why don’t we have a national chain of bars called _Pupils_”?
Genius is a necessary trait in women I date