How one change can radically alter the number of clients wanting your services

This is a blog about marketing for psychotherapists, so I thought I’d run a little marketing experiment…something called a split test (here’s a definition from Sonia Simone who’s a bit of a hero of mine).

Essentially, it’s exactly what it sounds like, you take one marketing idea and split them so that they’re delivered differently. For example,  a cafe might might print 50 flyers with information about a promotion. They print 25 in black type on white paper and they print 25 in pink type on white paper and add a couple of pictures of cake and they monitor which flyer brings in more business.

I ran my split test on two therapy listings sites I’m on. One I kept very traditional and very similar to all the other types of listings ie: it’s all about me and my qualifications and a load of acronynms for governing bodies the general therapy finding public don’t really know about (or care about, in my humble opinion).

The other I made much more client focused. I changed the text entirely, speaking directly to one person, my ideal client. I focused on using the sort of language they might use to describe the pain they are in right now, the pain that’s driven them online to find a therapist. I articulated their need in non-jargon and was explicit about how I could help.

Readers. Pay attention to this part. I changed this text on Sunday night. I got a referral on Monday morning. The client and I are scheduled to meet this week.

Maybe you still don’t think angling your messages towards the client is the right way to go but I’m in no doubt that it works. I know it can be frightening to change things around and take steps that seems quite radical, especially when all your peers and colleagues are doing things the way they’ve always been done.

What are your thoughts and fears about this? Post some ideas in the comments and I’ll answer them personally.

Check out my previous post for more on writing a website and marketing material that’s client focused – No offense but your client’s don’t care about you

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