A speedy-kwik school communications quiz. You game? – SCN Encourager

The result may surprise you.

Let’s begin.

There’s only one question.

It follows this scenario.

Imagine you need to write a friendly greeting to a group of 200 random parents. You want to invite them to take a short online survey… and your “friendly greeting” is the key to getting good participation.

You know you need to connect with your parents right away.

You don’t want people to read just a few words and then click away to something more interesting, which the vast majority are prone to do (us too!).

Obviously, you’re going to choose your first two words very carefully.

Now, here’s the quiz:

Should you begin your friendly greeting with “Hi Parents!” OR “Howdy Parents!”?

What’s the best choice?

As goofy as it might seem, high powered companies who conduct online surveys and contests every day report that the icebreaker opening of “Howdy Parents” will attract and engage people at more than twice the rate of “Hi Parents.”

Conversational wording is better than “stiff and formal” when trying to establish a connection with people.

(Yikes! I didn’t even know “Hi” actually fell into the “stiff and formal” category. What decade did I miss when this occurred?!?)

Anyway, if coming up with the right conversational wording is a stumper, think of the way your best friends would greet you if you happened to bump into them at the mall.

Use that wording.

Just say what they would say to you.

Research reveals that the best relationships are fueled by words that are upbeat, personal, and simple.

Even our own unique words and phrases play important roles in the relationship building process, even if our words could be viewed by some as dumb and silly.

To which I respond with Hallelujah!

And here’s another fact I discovered in my research.

Apparently, the inclusion of a celebrity increases online engagement 100 times more than when a celebrity is not included.

This isn’t as difficult as it sounds.

So, I think the next “friendly greeting” I write for some online communications project will be:

Howdy, Parents!
Taylor Swift and you are invited to…

I just hope I’ve got the guts!

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