Send me $5 …
A man has to respect good ad copy when he sees it, even if it costs him 5 big ones. The genius of the “send me $5, see what happens” tinder bio is multifaceted. First and foremost is the use of mystery for the hard sell. Famed persuasion expert Robert Cialdini writes in his new book Pre-Suasion that setting up a mystery is one of the most powerful ways to sell anything. So great is our need for closure that we will sit through commercials after a tv cliffhanger, or in Cialdini’s case, sit through a lecture just to get an answer to a well-put question. “Send me $5, see what happens”. We need to know what happens, even if we’re pretty sure the answer is nothing.
Next is the choice of dollar amount. 5 bucks is juuuust above throwaway money, an amount that a person would not think twice about spending. I think the ideal value is closer to $3-$4, but then again, asking for an odd amount would confuse the message.
Finally, the word choice itself is inspired, concise, and clear. No word is superfluous. The use of alliteration adds to the resonance as does the meter of the sentence. That comma is ideally placed to let the message sink in just long enough. “Send me $5, see what happens”. I don’t think you’d have to be that dumb to try it — only a man.
