What’s the first thing that attracts your attention in an ad?

[The BoidSmith]

What’s the first thing that attracts your attention in an ad?

This thread is meant to get feed back from buyers with regards to what’s the first thing that really catches their attention in an ad. Needless to say there will be people that are looking for a specific snake/morph and will thus open and read the one that offers what they are searching for. But let us suppose that you are just browsing the ads. What’s the first thing that triggers your curiosity and makes you click on the ad? I agree that it's more than likely a combination of things, but there is probably one that triggers your attention first before even considering opening the ad to learn more about it.

Thanks.

 

[The BoidSmith]

Please disregard the last four options ("Mainly") those were meant to exist if the reader had the ability to vote in more than one option but I forgot to click on that. Just vote or coment on the first four options.

Thanks again.

 

[shrap]

A picture is worth a thousand words.....

A quality picture will get my interest quicker than anything. Even if the item for sale is not something I was specifically looking for. It is almost as good as seeing it in person.

Price and breeder/person/company come into play later when I am serious about making the purchase. Not just window shopping.

As far as the wording of the ad, it really does not come into play for me as a consumer at all. I almost completely ignore them. An ad can say ANYTHING the writer wants it to say..... truth or lie, opinion or fact. So wording means nothing to me.

It is the product/animal itself that has to stand on its own two legs. That is all I am interested in, the facts of product/animal, not the sales pitch.

 

[robin d.]

ok.......

on fauna forums where you can see the picture. that is what catches my eye first.. then i look at the breeder/seller and then lastly the price.

if i am looking at other sites where they do not have pictures in the ad topic line i look at the breeders/sellers, then the pictures and lastly the price.

while typing errors do not bug me so much (who am i to speak because i typo horribly) if one of them uses terms such as, well let me give you an example.

"U can by this berm 4 only $150 + shipping which is $25 dollars. i also have 4 sale 2 more babie berms 4 only $50 each plus shipping.
You have 2 C em 2 C how beautiful they R. all my friends that seen em think they are rockin.
i am ONLY letting em go cuz i want 2 get in 2 balled pythons."
i steer FAR FAR AWAY

 

[PaulSage]

I agree with Robin. The picture would be the first thing to catch my eye, but given how many stolen pictures have been used lately, I would hesitate to trust anyone other than a reputable breeder known here on Fauna. It's not worth the risk, and I'm usually not looking for anything that's hard to find. In my experience, if a certain animal IS hard to find, there's a good reason for it -- and usually only reputable, experienced people will be offering them anyway.
Paul

 

[The BoidSmith]

"U can by this berm 4 only $150 + shipping which is $25 dollars. i also have 4 sale 2 more babie berms 4 only $50 each plus shipping.
You have 2 C em 2 C how beautiful they R. all my friends that seen em think they are rockin.
i am ONLY letting em go cuz i want 2 get in 2 balled pythons."

Sammy,

Unless of course you run into Robin's example. That one immediately raises a red flag. All in all I'm also impacted by the picture first, then probably the wording and finally the breeder and the price. These two are somewhat lumped together as in general "big name" breders will ask higher prices.

 

[Jeremy Letkey]

As Sammy said a picture is worth a thousand words. That is what gets my attention. Followed by the breeder. The wording of the ad is not that important but does play a factor as in the example given by Robin. The price is usually last
on my list. If I know what I'm looking at, I generally know the price range it should fall in.

 

[CJBianco]

The first thing I notice is the photograph. Second is the text. Third is the price. And finally the seller. However, any of these points could easily be deal-breakers for me.

Personally, I avoid any and all advertisements that explain how nice the animal is, the genetic possibilities, or the investment potential. The animal is what it is. If the animal is really as special/unique/stunning/whatever as you think it is, then everyone else will think it, too. Everything else is cheap marketing.

Here are my three steps to writing an advertisement:

1. Write the advertisement.
2. Remove all adverbs and adjectives.
3. Post advertisement.

And as always...this is just my opinion. Enjoy!

Chris

 

[dwedeking]

Depends Upon Where You Are Advertising

If I was writing an add for here then it would be like CJBianco stated. Down-sell, keeping to just the facts and let the picture speak. Most of the members of this site are more "into" reptiles than at other sites so they have a certain knowledge base that "pitches" will only insult.

Writing for KS I tend to dress up the ad more. There are so many ads placed there that if your potential customer does not get excited about the animal within the first few seconds they'll just go to the next ad.

I think the most important thing about your ad is the line that you write that will be the link in the long list of other ads. If your tag line doesn't get the person into the ad page then it doesn't matter what the picture or copy look like.

The best scenario is to run ads for similiar animals with different copy styles to see what works best for you and your market. When we first started with bearded dragons I did this and found that an anti-marketing approach worked best. So many people had different fancy names for dragons. Tiger this, Sandfire that, Citrus etc etc. We found that by de-emphasizing the color names (we just have orange, red, yellow, and snows) and focusing more on robustness, size etc was more productive way to market them.

 

[The BoidSmith]

We found that by de-emphasizing the color names (we just have orange, red, yellow, and snows) and focusing more on robustness, size etc was more productive way to market them.

That probably works with ball pythons too, although there are still a lot of people loooking at the uniqueness of colors and patterns. But I agree those ads that try to spice it with "unique money making opportunity", "my loss is your gain", or "double your investment in one year" generally turn me off.

 

[CJBianco]

That probably works with ball pythons too, although there are still a lot of people loooking at the uniqueness of colors and patterns.

Yeah. That's exactly why I avoid any descriptive (adverbs/adjectives) selling in my advertisements. If the animal is truely interesting and/or unique, other collectors will immediately notice...providing a photo is attached, of course.

My Thoughts,
Chris

 

[robin d.]

now do not get me wrong on the breeders/sellers name thing.... i am not a "big breeder buyer" (for the most part).
i just want quality animals and i know where and who i can get them whether small or medium sized breeder/seller and i know who i can and cant trust but if it is someone i do not know of or have not dealt with i start asking around first (fellow breeders) then i check the BOI and still if nothing i then post an inquiry on the BOI. out of all my leos i have three leos which came from a "big breeder" . when i say "big", mean big big (quantity not necessarily quality i try and stay away from). same with my boas with the exception of a couple of breeders. and i am not into morph boas but rather locality so that narrows it down to a select few. I prefer to buy from the hobbyist (rather big or small) rather than the straight up bussiness's that only crank em out and sell em, BIG breeders (allot of times for insane prices and not as high a quality of animal). But i look for quality well kept and raised animals regardless of the price. price is the last thing i look at.
i hope you can understand my ramblings

 

[The BoidSmith]

Robin,

I’m also all in all to give the small hobbyist an opportunity, except when I’m looking for something really special, like an hetero for a certain morph. In that case I feel more at ease with someone that has been in the market for a while and I feel that he will still be around for years to come. Of course I’m always shopping for the best quality my money can buy, regardless of who the breeder is.

Regards

 

[CJBianco]

I’m also all in all to give the small hobbyist an opportunity, except when I’m looking for something really special, like an hetero for a certain morph.

It's good to see other people doing this, too. I always prefer to help out a fellow "small-timer" whenever I can. =)

Chris =)

 

[The BoidSmith]

This thread has really enlightened me.

There have been times in the past where I have taken pictures that were not the best shots in the world. But as I was aware of the kind of animal I was offering this lead me to underestimate the importance of the quality of the picture and post it anyways. The only problem is that the potential buyer doesn’t know what you know. The only way he can judge your animal is by the picture you show him. I’ll definitively pay more attention to the shots from now on.

 

[robin d.]

i understabnd dan... but some of the medium sized well known breeders have the same stuff for less than the big boys... now i WOULD NOT buy expensive hetero animals from a unknown source i would not hesitate to buy from a smaller/ medium breeder who is established in the comunity. so yeah i try and support the small and medium breeders before anyone else, i personally think you get a better quality of animal that has been raised up better... but in the same instance you have to know who is a quality small or medium sized breeders... and i am not a real fan of jobbers or brokers however i have dealt with one in particular that is awesome!! but he is a rarity

 

[robin d.]

also dan yes good pictures are important but the most important part of the picture is accurately representing what the animal looks like... when i buy an animal i expect it to look just as nice or nicer than the photos. so yes a picture is important but the accurate representation of the animals colors, patterns and what not, is more so

 

[The BoidSmith]

Robin,

My point was that although I took pictures I sometimes took for granted the quality was adequate. Not that it has been a problem in selling animals, but maybe I need to revisit my approach to photography. Make the background more appealing, use lenses, you know…the works! What was happening in reality is that while holding the animal in person I probably assumed a picture is a picture, took it and that’s it. It might be that I was under the assumption that I was confident the customer will also like it and take my word for it, when in reality they never saw the animal first hand. As far as the small to medium-sized breeders go I have no problem in buying from certain individuals. I’m not going to mention names because I might leave someone out inadvertently. But I’m going to be perfectly honest, I feel more at ease buying heterozygous for any given morph from well-known established breeders.

Regards

 

[robin d.]

i do not use any special background... white paper towls in good sunlight LOL

 

[The BoidSmith]

The background

Now that we are discussing this. What do you guys find more appealing, a plain background (white, blue, etc.) or a more naturalistic (bark, leaves) approach?

Regards.