No Verification, No Marketing

No verification, no marketing. Why do we say that? And what is verification?

What is verification?

In our daily lives, we often see this scene:

At a crossroads, a vendor is selling kitchen knives.

He cuts various meats and vegetables as if they were tofu. The most amazing thing is that even cutting steel pipes doesn't dull the blade. Of course, the price is also very reasonable.

A few onlookers gather around, pick up the knife, and try cutting meat. Indeed, it cuts well. Then they try cutting a steel pipe, and the blade still doesn't dull. So they buy the knife.

Seeing how effective it is, more people start to pay and buy.

This is a verification process.

1. What is the vendor thinking?

He wants to convey to consumers: "My knife is better than others; it's sharp and durable."

How to prove it? By cutting meat, vegetables, and steel pipes.

2. What are the consumers who try cutting the steel pipe thinking?

They need to know, "Is it really that good?"

How to find out? By verifying it themselves, following the vendor's demonstration.

3. What are other consumers thinking?

They also need to know, "Is it really that good?"

How to find out? Through other buyers. At this point, they don't need to verify themselves because others have already done it for them.

Marketing is also a verification process.

1) The company provides the conditions for verification, allowing consumers to verify for themselves.

The marketing information conveyed to consumers needs to demonstrate "how to verify." If a demonstration isn't possible, then the company must provide the conditions for verification, making it easy for consumers to verify themselves.

If the knife vendor just kept praising his knives without demonstrating how good they are, would you buy one?

2) When consumers can verify the condition, they will buy.

If you, as a consumer, were prevented by the vendor from testing the knife, would you buy it?

3) When consumers verify the condition through others, they will also buy.

If you, as a consumer, had no one else to verify the knife except the vendor, would you buy it?

Why verification?

Marketing is different from other forms of information dissemination. For example, news that doesn't concern you—you can just watch and enjoy.

But marketing? Not only do you have to spend your hard-earned money:

• You also have to consume the product it promotes;
• You also have to wear the product it promotes;
• At night, you also have to sleep under the product it promotes; ......

If you don't trust it, how can you do all these things?

So, how can marketing gain consumer trust?

Let's first look at what we trust in life.

1. The most trusted: Science

Science is the first thing that comes to mind. Moreover, science is the most trustworthy.

Where does science's trust come from? The only source of trust is verifiability.

Sun Wukong can somersault 108,000 li—is it really that far? No one verifies it.

But science is different. Copernicus's heliocentric theory was a hypothesis for 300 years.

When did it become a scientific truth? It was when Le Verrier, using the data provided by this theory, not only deduced that an unknown planet must exist but also calculated its position.

When Galle actually discovered Neptune in 1846, Copernicus's heliocentric theory was confirmed and became an accepted scientific truth.

2. The key to being trusted

Take "eating," which is closely related to us and goes into our stomachs, as an example:

What can be eaten, and what cannot?

A toddler who just learned to move puts everything into their mouth—that's verifying what can be eaten.

As for us, what we can eat and what we cannot is passed down from our parents. But how did our parents know? Only through verification.

What is delicious, and what is not?

It comes from our own verification. Some people don't like spicy food, some are particularly fond of smelly food, some love vegetables, some love meat...

Just like kindergarten kids: if you keep telling them vegetables are delicious, what do they do? They take a bite, spit it out. What you say doesn't count; only what I've verified counts.

What about other information? The key to being trusted is also verifiability.

If there's news in your city:

"Temporarily shut down all mahjong halls and chess rooms in the district to aid epidemic prevention and control"

And you're a regular mahjong player, how would you trust this information?

• First, you would verify the source of the information to see if it's credible. If it's just a rumor, you wouldn't believe it at all. Only when you confirm the source is reliable would you proceed to the next step;
• Second, you would check with your mahjong buddies or the mahjong hall owner to see if the community mahjong hall is really closed;
• Finally, after multiple confirmations, you would accept the information once you're sure the mahjong hall is closed.

3. Marketing needs verification even more

What about marketing? It definitely needs verification to enhance trust.

Take the launch of Alipay as an example:

Initially, e-commerce was not trusted by consumers.

The hard-to-trust part was: after a buyer places an order and pays, will the merchant ship the goods? What if the buyer is not satisfied with the goods? How to solve this?

Taobao went online in May 2003, and within less than half a year, in October, it launched Alipay. Alipay was launched to solve these problems.

The buyer pays to Alipay first, then the merchant ships the goods. When the buyer receives and verifies the goods and confirms satisfaction, Alipay pays the merchant.

How did Alipay gain consumer trust? By letting consumers verify.

Did the goods arrive? Consumers judge for themselves; are they satisfied? Consumers judge for themselves.

How to achieve verification

So, in marketing, how can we achieve verification?

For example, if you launch a new fruit juice, and the verification condition you provide is "delicious"

That's not a correct verification condition.

How can consumers measure whether it's "delicious"?

• Is it delicious when it's a bit sweeter? Or a bit more sour?
• Is it delicious when it's thicker? Or not too thick?
• Is it delicious with pulp? Or without pulp?

"Delicious" has no standard; everyone defines it differently. Since it can't be measured, consumers have no way to know if the juice is actually delicious. If they can't judge whether it's delicious, how would they buy it?

So, how to set a correct verification condition?

Measurable. Only when it can be measured can it be verified. How? Add measurable dimensions.

For Alipay, the measurable thing initially was "satisfaction with the received goods."

How can "delicious" be measured? When you add "contains pulp, so it's delicious," then deliciousness can be measured.

Because whether there's pulp or not, consumers can verify it themselves. As for whether it's really delicious, it depends on whether consumers like juice "with pulp."

How to apply verification

How to apply verification in marketing? Let's look at a case.

How did the habit of brushing teeth become universal?

It was created by a toothpaste brand called Pepsodent.

1. Pepsodent created the brushing habit

From 1919 to 1930, with the help of Hopkins (known as the strongest copywriter), Pepsodent toothpaste was sold to 52 countries including China, South Africa, Brazil, and Germany, advertising in 17 languages including Chinese.

Before Pepsodent, only 7% of Americans had a tube of toothpaste in their medicine cabinet. After a decade of Hopkins' ads sweeping the nation, that number rose to 65%. Hopkins made brushing teeth an indispensable daily routine.

2. Pepsodent's verification

How was this strong habit of brushing created?

After reviewing dental materials, Hopkins found references to dental plaque. He later called this plaque "film." He decided to market the toothpaste as a beauty product specifically to remove the film on teeth.

But before Hopkins, many toothpastes also promised to remove film and provide beautiful white teeth, but those ads didn't work.

For example, Dr. Sheffield's foam toothpaste ad claimed:

"The ingredients in this formula are specially designed to prevent tartar from accumulating around the neck of the teeth, and can remove the dirt layer on teeth." And Pepsodent appeared after this.

There was also this ad:

"The white enamel of your teeth is only hidden by a film. Sannito toothpaste can quickly remove the film and restore your teeth to their original whiteness and brightness."

Another ad claimed:

"Whether a sweet smile is charming depends on how beautiful your teeth are. Beautiful, silky-smooth teeth are often the secret of a pretty girl's charm. Please use S.S. Whitening Toothpaste!"

What was different about Pepsodent, the toothpaste that made us form the brushing habit, compared to these ads?

"Just lick your teeth with your tongue, and you'll feel a film. It makes your teeth look discolored and causes cavities... Pepsodent can drive away the film!"

How did Pepsodent do it?

1) Step one: Raise the problem.

The problem must be obvious; if it's not obvious, consumers won't want to solve it.

Hopkins first identified the obvious problems: discolored teeth and cavities. These two problems were so obvious that everyone wanted to solve them.

2) Step two: Identify the cause of the problem.

Make the cause of the problem obvious, so consumers can easily verify it.

What caused discolored teeth and cavities? The cause Pepsodent promoted was: film.

Unlike other ads, Hopkins made it very easy for people to verify the film—by licking their teeth with their tongue. The film is ubiquitous and impossible to ignore.

Hopkins found a long-standing and easy verification, so a single ad successfully got people to cooperate automatically.

But getting beautiful teeth isn't something that happens after one or two days of brushing; some people brush for decades and still don't achieve it. So if the advertised effect can't be achieved, how can people be made to keep brushing?

3) Step three: Solve the problem.

The key to solving the problem is that when using the product, consumers can easily verify its effectiveness.

Unlike other toothpastes of the time, Pepsodent added citric acid, peppermint oil, and other chemicals. What did these ingredients do? They created a cool, tingling sensation on the tongue and gums.

After Pepsodent's success, competitors immediately looked for the reason. They found that consumers felt they had done something wrong if they didn't remember using Pepsodent, because their mouths lacked that cool sensation. Without that sensation, consumers felt their mouths weren't clean.

Once everyone craved that cool sensation, once they equated it with cleanliness, brushing became a habit.

Today, almost all toothpastes contain these additives. Their only function is to leave evidence in your mouth after brushing.

Now that we've discovered this secret, how do today's products let consumers verify "product effectiveness"?

Product verification

How do products verify? Give consumers evidence so they can verify "product effectiveness" themselves.

1. The cool toothpaste

Today, Tracy Sinclair, brand manager for Oral-B and Crest Kids' Toothpaste, says:

"Consumers need signals to tell them the product is effective.

We can adjust the taste of toothpaste arbitrarily, like blueberry or green tea, but as long as there's that cool sensation, people feel their teeth are clean.

This stimulation doesn't make the toothpaste more effective, but it can convince people it works."

2. Foam in body wash, laundry detergent, and toothpaste

Brand manager Sinclair says: "Foam is a huge piece of evidence."

Shampoo doesn't foam naturally, but we add foaming chemicals because everyone expects foam when they shower.

The same goes for laundry detergent, and toothpaste—now all companies add sodium laureth sulfate to toothpaste to increase foam.

This doesn't make teeth cleaner, but users feel better when they see a bunch of foam around their mouth. Once customers start expecting foam from toothpaste, a habit is formed."

3. Fresh food stores with time-based discounts

Qian Dama is the same. "No overnight meat" is just a claim; consumers don't believe it.

How to make consumers believe? Give evidence: "time-based discounts."

And list the verification conditions one by one so that consumers can verify during the purchase process:

Advertising verification

In the Pepsodent case, we can see that advertising verification has three steps:

Step one: Raise the problem. The problem must be obvious.

Step two: Identify the cause. The cause must be easy to verify.

Step three: Solve the problem. It must be easy to verify the product's effectiveness.

But today's environment is different. There's an information explosion. Back then, people read newspapers and magazines, so ads could be longer.

Nowadays, ad time is short. Usually 15 seconds, sometimes just one sentence, so we can't use these three steps. We need to state the solution briefly. The only place for detailed solutions is on e-commerce product pages.

1. Short and effective solutions

So, how to state the best solution in the shortest time?

If you want to gain consumer trust, you need to add verification conditions to the consumer's purchase reason.

• It can be raising a problem. The verification is whether the problem is solved.

"No time for breakfast, drink Nutrition Express"

The problem to solve is not having time for breakfast. How to verify if it solves it? Drink a bottle and see if it solves "skipping breakfast."

• It can also be not raising a problem, but directly giving the answer. How to verify? Verify according to the answer.

"Charge for 5 minutes, talk for 2 hours"

The implied claim is that our phone charges faster. How to verify? Follow the ad's conclusion: see if charging for 5 minutes gives 2 hours of talk time.

2. When verification conditions are not obvious

Some verification conditions are not in the literal text but implied in the whole sentence.

"Use your brain often, drink more Six Walnuts"

"Use your brain often"—drinking ten walnuts won't solve that; it's not a problem the product can solve. So, "drink more Six Walnuts" lacks a measurable goal and cannot be verified.

Only after reading the whole sentence do you understand:

Under the premise of "using your brain often," "Six Walnuts" implies "you need to supplement your brain if you use it too much." And how to verify? Drink more and see if it helps your brain.

When verification conditions are not obvious like this, we should try to make them clear in ads. Because when conditions are unclear, ads often can't be verified.

"Use your brain often, drink more XX tea"

For example, many people think that if "use your brain often, drink more Six Walnuts" works, then "use your brain often, drink more XX tea" should also work. But that's not the case.

Because under the premise of "using your brain often," "walnuts" naturally carry the hidden hint of "supplementing the brain."

But when it becomes "use your brain often, drink more XX tea," you don't know what this tea can do. Can it relieve fatigue from overthinking, or refresh your mind? The tea doesn't specify, so consumers naturally won't know.

Only when you add an explanation of what problem the product solves can the ad be verified.

"Have a bottle after meals, XXX"

Consumers will also be confused about what this product can do.

Does it aid digestion, or promote bowel movement, or nourish the stomach?

When you make the condition clear, like "Have a bottle after meals, XXX, good digestion," consumers know how to verify the product.

"Frequent heavy eating and drinking, have a bottle of XX"

Consumers don't know how to verify. Because the problem of "frequent heavy eating and drinking" cannot be solved by the product.

The product can only solve things like "aid digestion" or "remove greasiness."

When you make the condition clear, changing it to "Frequent heavy eating and drinking, have a bottle of XX, remove greasiness," then the product can be verified.

3. Which aspect to verify

How can an ad be verified? As mentioned earlier, you need to provide verification conditions.

So, which aspect to verify?

• For ads that raise a problem, the verification condition is whether the product can solve that specific problem.
• For ads that don't raise a problem but give an answer, verify that specific answer.

The following diagram shows the difference intuitively:

From this, you can also see the difference between verification ads and other ads.

Either verify whether the product can solve the problem raised in the ad, or verify whether the product's effect matches the conclusion after use.

Products that neither give a specific conclusion nor state what problem they solve are hard for consumers to choose.

For example, slogan-style ads like "Drink XX every day, feel good"—ads without a specific conclusion or problem-solving claim make it hard for consumers to choose their products.

Verification during the shopping process

Besides advertising, there's another type of verification in marketing that is used during the shopping process. It's very simple and effective.

That is to let consumers try first. As the knife test at the beginning shows, it's a trial:

(When you face a new product, would you rather buy directly, or try it first and then buy?)

1. Before buying a car, you need a test drive.

You need to verify whether the car is suitable to drive. If you buy without a test drive, it means you've already learned about the product through other channels.

2. Before buying clothes, you need to try them on.

You need to feel the fabric and verify whether it looks good on you. If you buy online and it doesn't pass verification, you have to return it by courier.

3. Before buying food, you need a taste test.

At a street-side braised food shop, the owner, before you taste, reminds you of the verification condition: "Our braised goose is simmered for 2 hours, even the bones are flavorful."

After you taste, she asks if you verified that "the bones are flavorful." You try it, and indeed, the bones are flavorful. So, under your own verification, you buy half a goose.

Verification is already everywhere.

Is marketing verification limited to these aspects? What about e-commerce?

And it seems like experience—what's the difference from experience?

The next article will be even more exciting.

References:

"Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth" "If you don't become president, become an advertiser" "The Power of Habit" "Scientific Advertising / My Advertising Career" "A Brief History of Taobao: Fifteen Years That Changed China"

About the author: Sunshine Head, 10 years of entrepreneurship, focused on the food marketing field. Main focus: corporate strategy and marketing. Good at interpreting business truths from a human nature perspective and logic. After ten years of sharpening a sword, I now share my past 10 years of entrepreneurial experience with you, providing a practical and rich guide to avoid pitfalls. I also welcome discussions and exchanges with friends.

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