Can long copy work in a world of short attention?

The shrinking attention span has become a cliché. We complain about the addictive nag of the never-ending scroll, we fret about kids’ inability to focus and then we lean even further into creating short-form, “snackable content”.

The danger is that we might be missing our audience.

We worry about the endless scroll, but we also live in a world of long, complex storytelling like Dune (2 films so far, 5 hours); Game of Thrones (8 seasons, 81 hours); Succession (4 seasons, 39 hours); the Lord of the Rings, recently re-released in extended format (over 11 hours, plus another 9 for the Hobbit films); and Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall Trilogy (1,900 pages).

The problem isn’t attention, it’s engagement.

And audiences will engage where and when they see value.

Short content can boost vanity metrics like impressions and likes, but you need to ask whether it’s driving meaningful engagement with the ICPs you require?

Shorter content is better for reach, for top-of-funnel awareness and virality, but longer, more immersive content delivers depth of engagement, attitude change, trust, credibility and persuasion. The audience of those who commit to reading long-form content is smaller, of course, but they are much more engaged. They’re further down the funnel and more open to persuasion.

Well-executed, long-form content is also an evergreen asset because it’s built on strategic insight, long-term trends and deeper research, not just a tactical response to moment.

What can long-form content do?

Well-structured, long-form content can:

Establish your brand’s authority and category/sector leadership
Ease the decision-making process within a client’s buying group (especially where the solution or the decision-making process are complex)
Influence the big debates in your sector.

In good-quality, printed form, a nice weighty report can also be a powerful signal of your brand’s seriousness. It clicks so many buyer decision-making heuristics: the social proofs of evident effort signalling credibility, expertise and authority; the evocation of commitment and consistency in the reader/customer; even a degree of reciprocity.

When is long-form content most powerful?

Well-researched, well-written, long-form content is particularly effective towards the middle and the bottom of the funnel., where prospects are seeking more, and deeper, information, but it can also be effective in generating awareness and interest further up the funnel.

Because it gives space for cogent, coherent argument that includes validation, data, proof points and perspective, long-form content is powerful where your proposition and/or market are complex.

For similar reasons, long-form content is important where the purchase decision is high-consideration or high-risk.

Proof that long-form content works

How do we know that longer content is effective in building credibility, authority and trust?

Longer content gets more social shares. 1k-2k words is the sweet-spot, but even 3k-10k gets more than articles less that 1,000 words. (Backlinko and BuzzSumo, 2019)
Long-form content gets 77% more backlinks than shorter content. (Backlinko and BuzzSumo, 2019)
Thought leadership material (likely but not necessarily long-form) builds trust: “73% of B2B buyers consider thought leadership to be a more trustworthy basis for judging a company’s competencies than traditional marketing materials. Earning trust among buyers translates to action, with 54% saying that organizations which consistently produce thought leadership content have prompted them to research their offers and capabilities.” (Edelman, 2024)
Longer content can also yield better lead generation than shorter. In one example from Crazy Egg, a new homepage 20x longer outperformed the original by 30%. (Conversion Rate Experts, Crazy Egg, no date)

“Long copy sells more than short copy…”

“… particularly when you are asking the reader to spend a lot of money.” So said advertising guru David Ogilvy.

There’s another post’s worth of the psychology behind why, but the key takeaway is not to be fooled by the misapplied attention span debate, long-form content helps you cut through complexity with the audience you need.

Photo by Alex Block on Unsplash