The number three is used throughout our favourite childhood stories – Three Blind Mice, The Three Little Pigs, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, to name a few. It’s also used in famous speeches (Veni, vidi, vici), jokes (An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman) and even TV shows (Location, Location, Location) to create phrases that stick in our minds.
So why is the number three so effective – and how can you use it to create memorable, persuasive web copy?
It’s all to do with the way our brains process information. Humans are programmed to recognise patterns, and as three is the smallest number needed to make a pattern, it makes things grouped in threes very memorable indeed.
When it comes to creating web copy, grouping things in threes means your readers are more likely to absorb them, and remember them for longer. This can be applied to adjectives (“local, affordable, convenient”) as well as lists of your services themselves (“MOTs, servicing and valeting”). As well as making your content easier for the human brain to memorise, it has the added benefit of making the reader subconsciously feel that you’ve taken the time to really think about your services and narrow it down to the three most important.
In other words, if you want your web copy to be effective, persuasive and memorable (see what I did there – three adjectives), use the rule of three.
