"Would you like a cookie?" · Daily Email House

John Bejakovic

14d • General discussion

"Would you like a cookie?"

Yesterday I ran a poll, asking if you want my help running a promo in April.

6 people voted.

For reference, when I run a poll, I typically get ~20 respondents to vote, and sometimes 40 or more.

This time 6.

What happened?

I don't know. but it did make me think of something very instructive that marketer Dean Jackson teaches.

I need reminding of this lesson regularly. Maybe it will be useful to you too.

Dean says, imagine you invite a friend over to your house.

Your friend comes. He sits down on the big white sofa in your living room.

You want to be a good host. So what do you do?

****** Option A ******

You tell your friend:

"Hey buddy, the fridge is stocked full of food. Anything you might want. Just help yourself."

****** Option B ******

Since you know that your friend is really fond of oatmeal raisin cookies, you tell him:

"Hey buddy, I know you love oatmeal raisin cookies. I have all the dough and everything. You want me to just pop into the kitchen and bake up a batch? Won't take a minute."

So which one?

Option A or option B?

Says Dean, neither.

In option A, your friend is unlikely to get up, go to the kitchen, open the fridge, rummage around, and take food as if this really were his own house.

Instead, he's much more likely just to say, "I'm fine, thanks."

In option B, your friend is unlikely to ask you get up, go to the kitchen, fire up the oven, and start baking the cookies for the next 45 minutes.

Instead, he's much more likely just to say, "No, please don't, it's an awful lot of trouble, and I don't want to put you out."

So neither Option A nor Option B. Instead, Dean suggests:

****** Option C ******

You bake the cookies in anticipation of your friends coming.

And as he's settling into the big white sofa on your living room, you say, "I'll be right back."

You go to the kitchen, get the platter of freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookies, and bring them out to your friend.

"Would you like a cookie?" you ask your friend. "They're oatmeal raisin."

What do you think your friend will say?

Anyways, now that I've reminded myself of his lesson, I'll be back tomorrow with a new, cookified version of the offer I ran a poll for yesterday.

Meanwhile, if you have questions or comments about how to apply Dean's "Would you like a cookie" approach to what you do, or if you've seen this in action in some way, then comment away below, and let's have a mud fight.

14 comments