Have you ever binge-watched a Netflix show or a slate of YouTube videos?
Then you know exactly how powerful curiosity is. And how frighteningly well our brain reacts to open loops.
Curiosity helps draw your viewers into your video or your readers into your article.
But how do you create curiosity?
Here are five simple, but not obvious, “curiosity levers.” They were included in a research paper on curiosity in 1994.
Let’s leverage the power of curiosity:
1) Ask a curiosity-inducing question
One example is: “Do you want to know a scientifically proven mind-trick to force your readers to finish your article?”
Every author would want to know that.
2) Start a sequence of events, but don’t finish it right away
When Game of Thrones was airing, it was impossible to avoid “what will happen next” conversations with friends and coworkers throughout the week.
That’s the goal: Make people come back to watch the next episode and the next one after that.
3) Do something unexpected
A lot of Facebook advertisers do this in their video ads. They insert a short frame of an awkward image at the beginning of the video to make the user stop scrolling, and watch the rest. That’s why they’re often called “scroll stoppers.”
4) Fuel their FOMO (fear of missing out) by implying you have the information they don’t
Phrase your headline and your introduction in a way that introduces your readers to the topic, while also signaling that you know something they don’t.
5) Insinuate that they used to know something that they’ve forgotten
This is extremely effective because it stimulates their adversity to loss.
You had precious information in your hand but you lost it.” It almost feels like you lost money, and now you can get it back.
You can use curiosity in different ways. In your headline to entice people to read the rest of the page. In the first paragraph of your sales page. At the beginning of your video ads to hook the viewers.
In your email sequence to make them open your subsequent messages.
Curiosity is a powerful way to sell
But the challenge nowadays is finding something new that stimulates people, because marketers have abused it for years.