Tamsen Webster breaks down an eHarmony ad and finds it missing a crucial piece: the "because." The ad promises a benefit but never explains why it's true. Audiences need that connective reason between problem and solution to believe the claim.
The other day I was watching TV with my two young sons and one of them, after seeing an ad, turned to me and said, "Something's missing from this message." And I said, "Time to make a video." The other day I was watching TV with my two young sons, who are 10 and 12, and, and we saw this ad from eHarmony, the online dating site. I don't want to say anything else, I just want you to watch it with me for a moment. So, shall we?
This guy's my best friend. I'd like to find that in a partner too. That's why I trust eHarmony.
No one can connect you with high-quality singles like eHarmony. So it was at that point my older son turns to me and goes, Wait, what? It's like, I don't trust eHarmony after that. So let's back up and look at exactly what's missing from this message because it only took a couple of seconds. All right, so let's try this again.
This guy's my best friend. I'd like to find that in a partner too. That's why I trust eHarmony.
Okay, so that guy is his best friend, the dog that is. He wants to find a new best friend or another best friend or a non-dog best friend. And so that's why he trusts eHarmony. Now my son turns to me and goes, "Why would I trust eHarmony for that?" And that's exactly what's missing from this message. And in fact, I see this a lot when I'm working with companies and individuals, that sometimes we get so convinced that our answer is the right answer that we go from problem to solution without any kind of explanation. And even when the spot is short, I mean, this whole thing, if I were to play it all the way through, is 15 seconds, you still have to give people something in the middle that says, "Oh, well, that's why." So, for instance, he says, "Okay, here's my best friend. I wanna find a best friend. eHarmony does X," whatever it is, some differentiator of eHarmony. "That's why I trust eHarmony." That would help. I mean, it's really well documented that people's brains need the answer to a "because." This is really well covered and described in a book by a good friend of mine named Tim David. The book is called Magic Words. But people People's brains need a why. You can't just say, "Hey, I want this, this is, this is, and this is the answer." You want to know why that's the answer. So when you're looking at your own message, make sure that you've got something in between. Problem and solution isn't enough. Yes, you need to give people the problem that you solve for them and you need to give them the solution, but they also have to hear something that connects the two, something that answers that question, "Why?" Why? Because. Now I'm going to play this one more time and I'm going to show you that eHarmony almost does this, but I think there's a solution that's probably sitting right in front of them. So let's play this one more time.
This guy's my best friend. I'd like to find that in my partner too.
So that's the problem that he has and that eHarmony is saying they're going to solve.
That's why I trust eHarmony.
That's the solution that eHarmony wants you to hear, but again, we're missing that piece. So something in between. We need to hear something about why he trusts eHarmony that's an actual why. So again, is it how many people are on the platform or something else? Now eHarmony tries to fill this in next. Watch. No one can connect you with high-quality singles like eHarmony. Okay, but that's an assertion. Like, nobody can connect you with high-quality singles like eHarmony? Why not? Like, what does eHarmony do that's different? They don't tell us that. Again, this is a classic example of a company leading with the message and forgetting that not everybody's gonna agree with it right when they hear it. So, I'm sure there is a great reason why eHarmony is the way or the reason, but we need to hear that in order to agree and in order to act. That's why every 14 minutes, Someone finds love on eHarmony. Start free today. So they keep using this word "why," and I do not think it means what they think it means. So nobody can connect you with more singles than eHarmony, and that's why, that's why people are connected, um, every 14 seconds. So I get that there's a volume play here, and because there's more, maybe there's more singles, that's why they can connect. But you see, we still need that connective tissue. So I think we've covered this plenty for 15 seconds of, of ad, but keep your ears open when you're watching and listening to messages out there in the world, when you're reading them, when you're seeing them. And frankly, listen to the young folks in your life who sometimes have a higher awareness level of what is or isn't working. It certainly was the case with my sons. And when it comes to your message, yes, make sure that you're presenting both a problem and solution, but make sure you're answering that important question, "Why?" Not just from features and benefits, but a real deep reason about why your solution is the solution to that problem. That's what was missing from this message. How can you make your message stronger? Well, send it to me at redthreadme@tamsenwebster.com to see it on a future episode right here. Thanks so much for watching this week. I'm Tamsen Webster.
