Lists are power points in your content marketing pieces and on your webpages.

Here’s a list of ways to make the most of them:

1. Use more lists.

Review your site for places where a bulleted list would help visitors skim more easily. Then substitute lists for prose.

2. Organize lists logically.

Choose the right structure:

• Alphabetical structure is best for glossaries, for instance.
• Chronological structure is the right choice for a series of steps. [As everyone who’s ever put together an Ikea bedside table well knows.]
• Hierarchical structure works best for top 10 lists.

However, you’ll also want to …

3. Take advantage of the last item on the list.

The last element on a list often attracts more attention, says usability expert Jakob Nielsen:

• The first few items get the most attention.
• The middle items get less attention.
• The final item gets more attention than the one before it.

The serial item on a list may also benefit from the recency effect. This principle, coined by Hermann Ebbinghaus, says that items presented last will most likely be remembered best.

So if you’re creating a hierarchical list, consider an hourglass-shaped structure: Start with the most important items, bury the least important items in the middle, then end with the second- or third-most important item.

Get more tips on organizing your list.

4. Lead with the verb.

Do you have a list of instructions? Take a tip from my friends at LeasePlanUSA and lead with the verb:

Here are some tips for saving for the future.

This approach will help you …

5. Add a subhead to let readers know the topic of the list.

Visitors are looking for it, write Pernice, et al., authors of How People Read on the Web: The Eyetracking Evidence. “The eyes go almost instantly to the bulleted list, only stopping first to scan the bolded text above it.”

6. Make lists parallel.

One of the items on the LeasePlanUSA tipsheet is not like the others:

To keep your lists parallel, set up an intro line that says something like “To save for the future …” Then in your head, include that line before each bold-faced lead-in:

The first item works fine. The second does not. The fix? Rewrite to put the verb first:

7. Don’t drop the bullets.

“The little dot on the left is an appealing element which immediately indicates that the item is a list,” Pernice, et al., write. Indeed, while people look at 70% of the lists with bullets they encounter, they look at only 55% of lists without bullets.

Get more tips on formatting your list.

8. Don’t repeat words.

Web visitors often bypass the first words in lists when they’re repeated. Reading the same thing over and over is a drag, and bypassing itself is a cognitive burden. Rewrite to avoid repetition.

9. Keep lists short.

Make them too long, and visitors will skim them in the F-shaped eye-gazing pattern.

Get more tips on the length of your list.

10. Make list items short.

“These are called ‘bulleted lists’ and not ‘bulleted paragraphs’ for a reason,” Pernice, et al., write. “Sticking a bullet in front of a paragraph is no good.”

11. Punctuate.

If yours is a list of sentences, add a period to the end of each. Otherwise, skip the punctuation. The bullets stand in for semicolons and commas separating items in your series.

___

Sources: Kara Pernice, Kathryn Whitenton, and Jakob Nielsen; How People Read on the Web: The Eyetracking Evidence; Nielsen Norman Group; Sept. 10, 2013

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A colleague in health system marketing counsels his case study writers to “Get the patient to the hospital.” Wrong! When it comes to case studies, it’s about the client’s problem and results, silly, not your solutions.

“The best case studies focus on the client’s problems, not on your solution.”

Here’s how to use the feature-style story structure to organize a case study.

I. Introduce the problem and client in the intro.

A. Cover the desk-pounding moment in the lead. What caused your client to search for your solution? Here’s an example, from a case study my team wrote for Sprint TekNet:

B. Describe the client in the background section. Don’t weigh the lead down with the client’s details. Save this for the background section, aka the blah-blah-blah background. Include any details, such as economic issues, that make the problem you introduced in the lead more significant:

C. Summarize the need in the nut graph. You may be able to handle this with a client quote:

Note that you might flip the nut graph and background section, depending on whether you need the client description to set up the need in the nut graph.

II. Outline the problem, solution and results in the body.

A. Detail the problem in the first section. Be specific: Name names and number numbers. Use a calculator, if necessary, to quantify the business needs.

B. Outline the solution in the second section. Your clients care more about their problems and results than about your organization and its stuff. A few broad brushstrokes will get this job done

C. Describe the results in the third section. Be specific: Name names and number numbers. Bonus points for mirroring the problems you outlined in the first section of the body.

III. Wind up in the conclusion.

A. Transition to the future in the Wrapup. In this case, the conclusion is a before-and-after comparison:

B. Show how far we’ve come — or where we’re going — in the Kicker. Leave a lasting impression with a concrete, creative, provocative final paragraph.

Case in point

Case studies are a staple of marketing writing. Use this structure to make the most of your next case in point.

The post How to write a case study [template] appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

Call it the Peer principle of persuasion: People are more likely to believe that if a program, product or concept worked for someone else, it will probably work for them, as well.

Enter the case study.

It’s the tool you can use to amplify the voices of your happy clients, transforming their success stories into the written equivalent of a product demo. When clients serve as brand ambassadors in case studies, they show instead of tell how your products and services work.

Why write case studies?

1. Case studies tap people power.

It’s the Writing Rule of One: It’s easier for readers to care about one person they know something about than to care about dozens — or even hundreds — of nameless, faceless souls.

Put a human face on your offerings by telling your clients’ success stories in their own words.

Show your readers how your products and services worked for one person. It’s the best way to bring your messages to life.

2. Case studies deliver social proof.

Call it social proof: We look to what others do to guide our behavior.

Social proof is one of 6 principles of persuasion outlined by Robert B. Cialdini — the emperor of influence — in his seminal book Influence.

It’s the human condition to want to do what others are doing.

“We view a behavior as more correct … to the degree that we see others performing it,” Cialdini writes. In other words, if our audience members believe that “everyone’s doing it,” they’re more likely to do it themselves.

Case studies showing how others have used your products and services may help prospects decide to jump on the bandwagon.

3. Case studies help people decide.

Case studies help readers understand what it would be like to go through the same experience. The result: more informed decisions (Slovice and Gregory, 2000).

These narratives work because they help people:

• Weigh factors in decision-making. In one study, participants who received information in narrative form understood the attributes of the situation better and were more likely to weigh them appropriately to make a good decision (Satterfield, Slovice and Gregory, 2000).
• Make better choices. In another study, people who were given narrative information made more accurate judgments on a task than those who were given the same information in bar graphs or data tables (Sanfey and Hastie, 1998).
• Think logically and emotionally. Stories trigger both sides of the brain. Logic and emotion are both essential to good decision-making (Epstein, 1994).
• “Enter the story.” By seeing themselves in the narrative, people can make even unfamiliar situations easier to imagine and evaluate (Oatley, 1994).
• Remember longer. Storytelling improves retention (Price, 1996).
• Enjoy the information. Readers prefer learning the experiences of other health care plan members to just reviewing data. Readers also feel more confident evaluating stories than numerical ratings (Gibbs, Sangl and Burrus, 1996).
• Make better decisions, regardless of their age. Stories helped older consumers chose the right health care plan (Hibbard, 2002).

4. Case studies are the ultimate word-of-mouth referrals.

Word of mouth may be the best form of advertising:

• The elasticity of word-of-mouth referrals is 2.5 times higher than that for other types of marketing, according to a 2009 report by the American Management Association. (Elasticity is marketing speak for how sensitive the demand for your products and services are to other variables, like price hikes and recessions. The more elastic, the more likely you are to be able to weather these ups and downs.)
• Word of mouth marketing lasts longer: for three weeks vs. three to seven days for traditional marketing efforts.
• That means word of mouth “may be among the most effective of marketing communication strategies,” write the report authors.

But prospects could be anywhere from 60 to 90 percent through the buyer’s journey before even contacting a sales person, according to research by Forrester. If you’re not offering case studies on your website, you may never get the opportunity to do so.

Bottom line, according to the Journal of Marketing: Word of mouth leads to more clients; more clients lead to more word of mouth.

5. Journalists love case studies.

More than half of business-to-business editors surveyed seek more feature releases, including case studies and how-to stories, according to a survey by Thomas Rankin Associates.

Make your next press release a case study, and watch pickups climb.
___

Sources:

Maggie Georgieva, “Use Case Studies to Increase Word-of-Mouth Marketing,” HubSpot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog, March 2, 2010

Jami Oetting, “The Guide to Creating Case Studies For Your Agency,” HubSpot Partner Publication

Michael Trusov, Randolph E. Bucklin, & Koen Pauwels, “Effects of Word-of-Mouth Versus Traditional Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, September 2009

Lori Wizdo, “Buyer Behavior Helps B2B Marketers Guide The Buyer’s Journey,” Forrester, Oct. 4, 2012

Judith H. Hibbard and Ellen Peters, “Supporting Informed Consumer Health Care Decisions: Data Presentation Approaches that Facilitate the Use of Information in Choice,” Annual Review of Public Health, 2003, Vol. 24, pp. 413-33

The post Why are case studies important? appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

When PR pros at the U.S. Green Building Council needed to round up resources in their Green Apple Day of Service, they didn’t write stories telling volunteers to get donations.

Instead, they produced a tip sheet called “Five tips for a successful Green Apple Day of Service.” That approach was so effective that it helped the council earn a Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil Award.

Explain “how to,” and watch reporters pick up your release — and readers dig into your piece.

How to write a tip sheet

Here are eight steps for making the most of your next tip sheet:

1. Draw readers in with how-to stories.

Tip sheets are popular because they deliver “news you can use to live your life better.” So explain how to do whatever it is your organization helps people do.

These tip sheet topics from other Silver Anvil Award winners might inspire you:

• Cigna offered an interview opportunity on “how people can get more use out of their health coverage.”
• Novartis Animal Health, makers of Deramaxx canine pain-control medicine, gives tips for how to know whether your dog is in pain.
• Korbel Champagne Cellars outlined “Top Ten Signs He’s About to Pop the Question,” “Top Ten Tips to Secure a ‘Yes!’ During Proposal Season” and tips for avoiding the “Top Ten Proposal ‘Don’ts.”
• Select Comfort, creator of the Sleep Number bed, offered tips for “making the most of your sleep schedule,” “Back-to-School Sleep Lessons for Parents” and “Secrets of Sleeping for Two: Sleep Tips for Pregnant Women.”
• UPS developed a release on “10 tips for worry-free packing, shipping.”
• VOX vodka created a tip sheet on how to “Infuse your party with style: Tips and trends for a spectacular summer soiree.”
• Xerox published “10 signs that suggest you need to enter Xerox’s office makeover contest.”
• MSA Safety Works released a tip sheet called “10 Easy Ways to Improve Safety During Home-Improvement Projects.”

2. Reach flippers and skimmers with a deck.

Add that one-sentence summary after the headline to deliver more details. Instead of:

Five tips for a successful Green Apple Day of Service

Make it:

Five tips for a successful Green Apple Day of Service

Draw volunteers, donations for your Martin Luther King Day event

3. Set up the story in the introduction.

Here’s the lead for the U.S. Green Building Council tip sheet:

It could be better. The best tip sheet intros:

• Illustrate your point in the lead. Grab attention by showing instead of telling with a story, statistic, analogy or other concrete, creative element.

• Give context in the background section. Summarize “Why these tips now?” with research or broader context.

• Summarize your story in the nut graph. Now that you’ve grabbed reader attention by showing, it’s time to tell folks where you’re taking them. Here’s where you transition into the tips.

4. Organize tips logically.

Choose the right structure for the body of the story:

• Alphabetical structure is best for glossaries, for instance.
• Chronological structure is the right choice for a series of steps. (As everyone who’s ever put together an Ikea bedside table well knows.)
• Hierarchical structure works best for top 10 lists.

The U.S. Green Building Council used hierarchical structure, which makes sense for this piece.

5. Add bold-faced lead-ins to each item on the list.

Lift ideas off the screen: Show scanners the items on the list with bold-faced lead-ins.

Then make sure those bold-faced lead-ins are parallel and action-oriented. You should be able to begin each bullet with the same phrase, “To make your event successful …”

Try it:

• To make your event successful, think locally. Check!
• To make your event successful, potluck! Hmmm … that doesn’t work. Instead, use the imperative voice: Host a potluck.
• To make your event successful, there is such a thing as a free lunch! Nope; doesn’t work. You need the imperative again: Offer a free lunch.
• To make your event successful, get online. Check!
• To make your event successful, get creative. Check!

6. Number your list.

If you promise five items in the headline, demonstrate that you’ve met that promise in the list itself. So:

1. Think locally.
2. Host a potluck.
3. Offer a free lunch.
4. Get online.
5. Get creative.

7. Break up paragraphs.

Aim for an average of 42 words or less. Go too much longer, and people will skip your paragraphs.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s paragraphs weigh in at an average of 67 words each — 60% longer than recommended. But was easy to wrestle them down into these crisper chunks, averaging 38 words:

8. End with a bang.

Draw to a conclusion with a:

• Wrapup that includes a call-to-action. Restate your key message in the penultimate paragraph.
• Kicker that leaves a lasting impression.

Instead of:

Make it:

Need more inspiration?

Check out some of Ann’s tip sheets.

Learn why tip sheets are valuable communication tools.

Get more tips on tipsheets.

The post How-to story map: Green Apple Day of Service appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

Service stories aren’t news articles. Which means that the inverted pyramid isn’t the right structure.

Instead, use the feature-style story structure, and organize your piece like this:

Introduce your piece in the intro.

1. Illustrate your point in the lead. Grab attention by showing instead of telling, as in this piece on 7 steps to service stories.

2. Summarize your story in the nut graph. Now that you’ve grabbed reader attention by showing, it’s time to tell folks where you’re taking them.

3. Give context in the background section. Summarize “Why these tips now?” with research or broader context.

Develop your story in the body.

Here’s where you list your tips, using an alphabetical, chronological or hierarchical structure.

Come to a close in the conclusion.

1. Restate your point in the wrapup. Now that I’ve shared this information with you, this penultimate paragraph suggests, we can only agree that …

“News you can use to live your life better” is the currency of most successful content marketing and PR writers.

2. Illustrate your point in the kicker. Leave a lasting impression with a concrete, creative, provocative final paragraph.

Investor’s Business Daily’s motto is, “Don’t read it. Use it.” Shouldn’t that be your motto too?

The post Try this how-to story template appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

When the folks at Topolobampo, Chicago’s cathedral to Mexican cuisine, wanted to sell more syrah, they didn’t put signs on the tables saying “Buy wine!” Instead, they provided nifty little tabletop tipsheets on how to pair wine with Mexican food.

Take a tip from Topolobampo: Instead of always pushing your products, offer your customers news they can use to live their lives better. Tip sheets position your organization as the expert in the field and may drive more sales than purely promotional pieces.

Here are seven ways to make the most of your next tip sheet:

1. Find a topic.

Explain how to:

• Cut costs during the recession
• Save on taxes
• File for Social Security
• Grow a great lawn
• Reduce gas consumption
• Or do whatever it is your organization helps people do

Stumped? Check out this list of benefits. How can you help readers save money, save time, avoid effort and otherwise live their lives better?

The key here is to provide real value. Tip sheets on “Five reasons to work with Ann Wylie” will never gain traction. “10 tips for choosing an XYZ vendor” won’t change anyone’s life either.

Instead of offering self-serving tips, remember this content marketing formula: “Give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, ask.”

2. Organize tips logically.

Choose the right structure:

• Alphabetical structure is best for glossaries, for instance.
• Chronological structure is the right choice for a series of steps. (As everyone who’s ever put together an Ikea bedside table well knows.)
• Hierarchical structure works best for top 10 lists.

3. Use the language of service stories.

How-to language — like top, 10, you, most, best and, of course, how to — has been a mainstay of service journalism for years. These days, this language tops the list of most-shared words and phrases on Facebook and Twitter, according to Zarrella’s research.

4. Put a number in the headline.

Numerals sell stories. That’s why coverlines on best-selling magazines are packed with numbers, from “Six Steps to Six-Pack Abs” to “101 Best Cheap Eats.” Blog post headlines and subject lines with numerals are more likely to get shared and opened, too.

But be careful: It’s not enough just to slap a 10 onto the headline. Odd numbers tend to outperform even numbers; specific numbers (99) are better than round ones (100); and 101 of anything is too many, unless you’re offering chocolate chip cookies or cute kitten videos.

5. Write in the imperative voice.

Speak directly to “you” using the second person, and start each item with a verb, like find, organize, use, put or write. That will also help you make your list of tips parallel, which your third-grade English teacher and I will appreciate.

6. Format your tips.

Numbered lists, bullets and bold-faced lead-ins lift your tips off the page and screen and make it easier for people to read your tips.

7. Deliver “go and do” information.

Links, phone numbers, times, dates, addresses and maps not only boost value. Links increase your message’s chances of going viral. And maps and addresses improve the chances that readers will act on your information.

Deliver news you can use.

“News you can use to live your life better” is the currency of most successful content marketing and PR writers.

Investor’s Business Daily’s motto is, “Don’t read it. Use it.” Shouldn’t that be your motto too?

The post How to write a how-to story appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

What makes people share information?

News they can use to live their lives better, according to Chadwick Martin Bailey research. Here are the Top 3 reasons people share:

• Because I find it interesting/entertaining: 72%
• Because I think it will be helpful to recipients: 58%
• To get a laugh: 58%

Want your blog posts and status updates to travel the world instead of staying home on the couch? Make them helpful to your social media network.

Writers take classes on how to show, don’t tell; how to use storytelling to make corporate messages as interesting as fiction writing; how to write in the CEO’s voice and from her point of view.

But how about a writing class on how to deliver news readers can use to live their lives better? How-to stories and tipsheets are effective, because:

1. How-to stories get read.

Making a publication “easy to read” is the No. 1 way to increase readership, according to Impact, an extensive study by The Readership Institute.

And one of the handful of ways to accomplish that is to include more “go and do” information. “Go and do” information is the nitty-gritty details that help readers take action on a story:

• Phone numbers
• Times
• Dates
• Addresses
• URLs
• Contact names
• Maps

These elements greatly increase the value and usefulness of the story to readers.

Impact found that if newspapers (and, by extension, other communications) become more “relaxing to read” and make it easier “to find what I’m looking for,” people will:

• Spend more time reading the publication
• Read it more completely
• Read it more often

Communicators can make messages more relaxing and easy by:

• Including more “go and do” — or how-to — information
• Offering more feature-style story structure
• Promoting content more effectively within the publication

2. How-to stories get shared.

What kind of information do people retweet? News and how-tos (PDF), according to research by Dan Zarrella, viral marketing scientist for HubSpot:

• News: 78%
• How-to information: 58%
• Entertainment: 53%
• Opinion: 50%
• Products: 45%
• Small talk: 12%

Please note: News is what CNN and the BBC report. It’s not your urgent updates about your Widget 2.6.3.1.

Don’t worry, though. That leaves how-to information as our best bet for content.

Want more retweets? Write blog posts packed with tips, techniques and step-by-step how-tos..

3. How-to stories get followed.

Informers are the 20% of Twitter users who tweet information, ideas and insights, new studies, quotes, resources and insights. “Meformers” are the 80% who tweet urgent updates about themselves.

Not surprisingly, informers have nearly three times as many followers as meformers, according to a study by Rutgers University professors Mor Naaman and Jeffrey Boase.

4. How-to stories get picked up.

Why how-to stories?

• Journalists and bloggers love tipsheets because they’re ready-made, how-to stories, sidebars and USA Today-style tips boxes. Your fire-safety tips post, for example, might accompany a news piece about a big apartment fire.
• Social media channels run on “Top 10 ways to …” listicles.
• Customers and clients will read the tipsheet you write today for years to come, making tip sheets the ultimate evergreen with an almost limitless shelf life.

5. How-to stories move readers to act.

The best communicators want to move their readers to action, not just to inform them. In one study, the addition of a simple element — a map — increased action by 28%.

In the study, social psychologist Howard Levanthal wanted to persuade a group of Yale seniors to get a tetanus shot. He gave each senior a booklet that:

• Detailed the dangers of tetanus
• Explained the importance of inoculations
• Reported that students could get free shots at the campus health center

After reading the booklets, the students understood the dangers of tetanus and the importance of the shots and said they were likely to get inoculated.

But only 3% actually got the shot.

In a later study, Levanthal added:

• A map of the campus with the health building circled
• A list of times the shots were available

The result: 28% of seniors actually got the shot.

“Go and do” information — like maps, hours of operation and contact information — increase readership. Levanthal’s study suggests that they can also increase action.

Why?

“The students needed to know how to fit the tetanus stuff into their lives,” writes Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point.

“The addition of the map and the times when the shots were available shifted the booklet from an abstract lesson in medical risk — a lesson no different from the countless other academic lessons they had received over their academic career — to a practical and personal piece of medical advice. And once the advice became practical and personal, it became memorable.”

How-to stories work.

How do you write messages that grab attention, get read, shared and acted upon? One of the best ways to write a good story is to focus on writing tips and tricks and techniques. So when looking for your next story idea, look for how-to stories.

Why not write a how-to story today?

The post Why write how-to stories? appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

I’ve purchased some ridiculous things in my life. I once read in O about a contraption that magically transformed frozen bananas into soft-serve banana ice cream. I ordered an extra one for Dad’s Christmas stocking before I realized I’d invested in what was essentially a dedicated electronic banana smasher.

Thanks, Oprah.

But the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever bought is a ChillX AutoEgg, an automatic cat litter box that promises to help you “Leave the sore knees, back pain, dust, and odor behind.”

Friends, I have never spent more time with my cat’s toilet than I have with this ultra self-cleaning litter box.

Here are just nine of the reasons a cardboard box is better than a ChillX AutoEgg:

1. Price

The ChillX AutoEgg costs $399.99. Per cat. This $400 litter box, the ChillX Corporation warns, is not for multiple cats.

Price of a cardboard box: free. Can be used by multi cats.

But, Friends, what is $400 compared to the prospect of never having to scoop your cat’s poop again?

2. Appearance

If Dyson and Apple had a baby aboard the spaceship in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” it would look like the ChillX AutoEgg. Who wouldn’t want a gorgeous white pod to contain their cat’s poo?

ChillX AutoEgg: 100

Cardboard box: 0

3. Setup

Expect to spend at least 45 minutes with your iPad on the floor of your laundry room setting up the ChillX AutoEgg.

After watching and re-watching the setup video, I’d removed the foam spacers, ensured sturdy placement (carefully avoiding soft carpeted services), plugged the cable into the base, added the clumping litter (no crystal litter!) and installed the liner.

Then came step 6: Attach the top cover.

Imagine connecting a plastic oval the size of two microwaves to a dozen or more invisible staple-sized clips around the perimeter of another plastic oval the size of two microwaves.

“I promise,” chirps the human in the “Tips For Putting on the Lid — The ChillX AutoEgg” video, “it gets easier.”

I promise, Friends. It does not.

Setup time for a cardboard box: 60 to 120 seconds, depending on whether you line it with a garbage bag.

Setup time for a ChillX AutoEgg: 45 minutes.

Setup time for a ChillX AutoEgg including top cover: infinity.

4. Maintenance

The ChillX AutoEgg records the date, time, duration and weight of your pet’s solid waste output for the last seven days.

Perhaps you have been seeking these analytics on your cat’s urine and excrement.

But the ChillX AutoEgg does not keep your cat’s pee from trickling under the litter tray and collecting at the bottom of the automatic cat litter system.

So let’s talk odor control: If you prefer that your home not smell of cat urine, do plan on dissembling, cleaning and reassembling your ChillX AutoEgg every few days.

It takes eight steps to dissemble the ChillX AutoEgg for cleaning. It takes five steps to reassemble it. One of those steps is reattaching the top cover. Estimated time for accomplishing this step: infinity.

Number of steps to clean a ChillX AutoEgg: 14.

Number of steps to clean a cardboard box: two. Simply clean by scooping and tossing.

5. Performance

Five minutes after detecting that your cat has made a deposit in the ChillX AutoEgg, the automatic rake runs a quiet cleaning cycle. The rake deposits most — if not all — of your cat’s production into a plastic bag conveniently located under the device’s patented cat paw-cleaning ramp.

Friends, that litter looked like a freshly raked zen rock garden.

I found myself taking extra coffee breaks so I could peer into that beautiful white sphere at the pristine sand inside. I’d just happen to be strolling by the laundry room several times an hour so I could witness this nature’s miracle of cat box cleaning.

I adored that automatic rake more than I care to admit. I bragged to friends about my brilliant purchase. I boasted that my ChillX AutoEgg litter-box system was the best investment I’d ever made.

I may or may not have taken a photo of that freshly raked litter to share with colleagues over happy hour.

I had freed myself from ever having to scoop poop again.

My ChillX AutoEgg automatic litter system worked like a dream.

Until, suddenly, it didn’t.

6. Reliability

Some 16 hours after I installed my $399.99 pet-safe scoopfree ultra-self-cleaning ChillX AutoEgg, the rake stopped working.

And it never worked again.

Reliability of the $400 ChillX AutoEgg: 0% after 16 hours.

Reliability of a cardboard box: 100% for as long as you like.

7. Troubleshooting

The troubleshooting approach of the ChillX Corporation might best be described as hands off.

The leaders of the ChillX Corporation would prefer that you watch videos instead of irritating them with your pesky complaints about the automatic cat litter box you paid $400 for that you are currently cleaning with a scoop.

So I watched the videos. Huddled on my laundry room floor with my nose next to my now-full cat box, I watched “How to Realign the ChillX AutoEgg Cleaning Rake.” I studied “How to Reattach the Cleaning Rake for the Cleaning Rake for the ChillX AutoEgg.” I implemented each step of “Additional Tips for Re-Attaching the Cleaning Rake for the ChillX AutoEgg.”

The rake stayed stuck.

So I turned to my BFF and research assistant Google for help. I found:

• 19,400 searches for “ChillX rake repair”
• 34,000 for “ChillX rake stuck”
• 35,100 for “ChillX rake not moving”
• 35,400 for “ChillX rake broken”
• 39,100 for “ChillX rake replacement parts”
• 34,000 for “I hate ChillX rake”

Eventually I discovered that the ChillX Corporation provides customer care via Facebook Messenger.

Cardboard box troubleshooting: 100% unnecessary

ChillX AutoEgg troubleshooting: 100% unhelpful

8. Customer service

After several hours of video viewing and troubleshooting, at 8:51 p.m. on Sunday night, I shared my sad, sad story with ChillX Customer Care.

ChillX Customer Care responded within seconds:

I asked my cat to please hold it for 13 hours.

On Monday morning, I received this reply from ChillX Customer Care:

No, I responded, it is not.

To which ChillX Customer Care responded:

Our conversation continued in this rhythm for three days.

Reluctantly, after 72 hours of pet-safe, scoop-free, ultra-self-cleaning cat-litter system ownership, I decided to return my ChillX AutoEgg. (Should I have bought a Litter Robot 3 Connect instead? I’ll never know.)

Cardboard box customer care: 0

ChillX AutoEgg customer care: 0

9. Return policy

I live in a 1,500-square-foot condo. The only place I have for storing shipping containers and packaging is on my bed. Alas, that is also where I like to sleep.

Friends, I know it’s crazy, but I threw the original packaging away.

I turned to ChillX’s Returns Team human, Rena, for help. Rena responded:

Sadly, Rena reported, “we cannot provide a return shipping label.”

It occurred to me that if I returned my AutoEgg, I might end up owing ChillX more than the original $399.99 I’d spent on the cat box itself.

I decided I’d be better off throwing my $400 petsafe, scoopfree, ultra-self-cleaning cat-litter system into the garbage. Along with all of my other cat shit.

But, Friends, I do wish I’d held onto that cardboard box.

I could use it as a litter box.

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It’s not the survey, silly. Most survey stories fail because they focus on the survey, not on the survey results. Here’s how to organize a successful survey story that focuses on the findings, not on the poll:

Lift survey results off the page.

Start with the display copy:

1. Highlight a fascinating finding in the headline. Tell the story, don’t just tell about the story. Your headline should communicate one key survey result, not just announce that you are releasing those results. Here’s an example from a FleishmanHillard release by John Armato for H&R Block:

HOLY 1040! BATMAN PAYS MORE!

2. Summarize the survey in the deck. Now that you’ve gained reader attention with the fascinating findings, it’s time to summarize the story elements in the deck. From the H&R Block survey story:

Survey of kids’ takes on taxes reveals amusing perceptions, noble priorities and a deep love of TV

I love Armato’s twist on a list there. To cover all the story elements, I’d try to squeeze H&R Block into that deck: “H&R Block survey …”

Set up the survey in the intro.

Start strong.

1. Don’t lead with the survey. Communicate one to three key survey results in the lead.

Armato’s compression of details lead squeezes three fascinating findings into one paragraph:

Notice that Armato doesn’t worry about covering the survey itself in the lead. You don’t need to.

2. Summarize the survey in the nut graph. Now that you’ve shown the fascinating findings, it’s time to introduce the survey itself in a sentence or two:

3. Describe the survey methodology in the background section. Paragraph three is soon enough for this information:

Of course, you’ll want to link to more details for the wonks who want it. Make your methodology, survey questions and full results available, just not in the story itself.

List the survey results in the body.

List three to seven key findings in the body of your survey story. Use a hierarchical structure, moving from most important (or most surprising, or valuable or hilarious …) finding to least. But, to avoid ending with a whimper instead of a bang, finish with your second-most-important finding.

Wind up in the conclusion.

1. Transition to the end in the wrapup. What interesting finding can you use to wind the story down?

2. Circle back to the lead in the kicker. Leave a lasting impression with a concrete, creative, provocative final paragraph.

Survey the scene.

Survey stories are a staple of content marketing writing. Use this structure to make the most of your survey reports.

The post How to organize survey results press releases and blog posts appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..