One sign for a farmers-market booth. Sixteen headlines, eight photos, six colours, two lines of small print. Atlanta shoppers rated versions of it for a day. The average score was fine. The interesting part was who disagreed.
"Keep your food dollars local." "Good for people and the planet." "Do you know where your food comes from?" For women, each of these added nothing. For men, each added six to eight points, and "Guess the price of our box" was their favourite line.
Women stopped for two things: the discount, and the photos of produce and farms.
What each group stopped for. Points added to the share who'd stop.
"Organic groceries, fair prices" added seven points with people between 35 and 54. With people between 55 and 64 it took ten away. "Prefer big grocery chains? Keep walking" did the same.
The older group liked the booth. They stopped for the produce photos more than anyone. They just didn't want to be told what to think.
Pick who's walking past. Press "Best for them". Watch the sign rebuild itself.
Afterwards we asked a few questions about Fresh Harvest. Three in five thought it charged a subscription fee. It doesn't. Half thought it was a national brand.
The offer did the stopping. The small print was meant to explain, and it wasn't.
Bring a sign, an ad, a pack or a logo. Thirty minutes is enough to sketch the study.
Each piece of the sign gets a number: how many points it adds to the share of people who'd stop, with everything else the same. Zero means it does nothing. Below zero, it's costing you.
The sums are the same for every audience. Only the people change. That's how one headline can be +13 with men and +2 with women.