The Barnum Effect in Marketing: How Framing Questions Increases Ad Clicks

Phil Agnew, the guy behind the Nudge podcast, swapped two words in a Reddit ad and got 15% more clicks.

The secret? A psychological trick magicians have been using forever: asking a question that nudges people's thoughts in just the right direction.

Robert Cialdini’s palm-reading detour shows how questions rewrite memory

Back in college, Robert Cialdini, the psychology guru, picked up palm reading—not because he bought into the mystic stuff, but because he wanted a cool way to break the ice at parties. What he stumbled into was way more interesting than small talk.

He got scarily good at it. After learning the rules of palmistry, he could guess people's emotions and life situations with surprising accuracy. People would gasp, "How did you know that?" But Cialdini's inner skeptic wasn't sold. To test it, he started giving readings that completely ignored the rules, saying the opposite of what palmistry suggested. And guess what? People were still blown away, convinced he was reading their souls.

The real magic wasn't in the palm lines—it was in the questions. When he'd say, "I sense you've had some rough patches lately. Can you think of any?" he wasn't predicting anything. He was guiding people to dig up a bad memory. Since everyone's got some low moments, they'd find one and think he was a genius. It's all about planting the right idea and letting their brain do the rest.

Barnum statements feel personal because they fit almost everyone

The trick is asking something most people can nod along to. A study in Canada showed that when people were asked about unhappiness in their social lives, they were 375% more likely to say they were unhappy than if you asked about happiness. Politicians love this, tossing out questions like, "How fed up are you with the new tax hikes?" It assumes you're mad and pushes you to recall why.

Good research avoids loaded prompts and uses two-sided framing

Researchers who play fair use neutral questions, like:

• "Are you happy or unhappy with your job?"

• "Do you agree or disagree with this policy?"

• "How satisfied are you with this product?"

Fortune tellers have been at this game forever. They toss out vague lines like, "You'll cross paths with someone over money soon." You hear it, think of a recent chat with your accountant or a friend who owes you cash, and suddenly they seem psychic.

The same tactic powers horoscopes. A line like, "You'll hit a small snag today," has you scanning your day for anything—a late train, a spilled latte—and boom, it feels spot-on. Modern marketers use similar hooks that hit universal experiences:

• "You want to feel secure in life."

• "You've got tons of ideas but hold back from sharing them."

• "You sometimes wonder if you're on the right track."

Identity-affirming questions move real-world behavior, not just opinions

Researchers Bulan and Anderson proved this with a simple test. Asking strangers to fill out a survey usually bombs—only 29% said yes when approached directly. But when they first asked, "Do you see yourself as a helpful person?" and got a "yes," participation shot up to 77.3%.

Another study looked at getting people to sign up for a new soft drink. A straight ask for emails got 33% to bite. But starting with, "Are you someone who loves trying new things?" pushed sign-ups to 75.7%. Why? When you get someone to say they're adventurous or helpful, they want to act that way to stay consistent. Saying "no" after that feels off.

Marketers can turn Barnum questions into hooks, quizzes, and landing-page copy

This psychology is a marketer's dream. Online quizzes like "Are You an Entrepreneur?" draw people in by affirming who they think they are. The questions are rigged so most people say "yes," making them ready for a pitch—like a business course—that feels like the next logical step.

Quizzes let people claim an identity before you make an offer

Dicky Bush's Ship 30 for 30 page does this brilliantly. It hits aspiring writers with questions like, "Do you have tons of ideas but can't seem to share them?" or "Are you stuck rewriting drafts instead of publishing?" These nail the exact struggles writers face, making the course feel like it was made for them.

You can use questions to kick off blog posts, emails, or social media posts:

• "Ever feel like you're grinding but not getting anywhere?"

• "Notice how some people always steal the show in meetings?"

• "Do you ever doubt a decision you were sure about?"

In emails, a subject line like, "Are you someone who spots opportunities others miss?" grabs attention. On social media, questions spark comments and shares because they make people think and respond.

A two-word change made a Reddit ad 15% more effective

Agnew tested this on Reddit, running two ads for Nudge aimed at marketers in the UK and US. Both had the same image and linked to the same podcast page, but the text was different:

• Control: "Ditch boring business podcasts. Try Nudge."

• Test: "Bored of boring business podcasts? Try Nudge."

With a $200 budget, the ads hit 350,000 people. Agnew bet the question version would do better because it prompts readers to think of boring podcasts they've heard, making them more open to trying something new. He was right—the question ad got 15% more clicks. Just two words and a question mark made the difference.

It wasn't a lab study, just Agnew's own experiment, but its simplicity means anyone can try it with their own ads.

Questions Work Beyond Marketing

This trick isn't just for ads. In speed dating, Harvard researcher Allison Wood Brooks found that people who ask more questions are more likely to score a second date. Questions show you're curious and make the other person feel valued.

In schools, researchers Katie Milkman, Angela Duckworth, and Deng Cai tried something different with 2,000 Florida high schoolers. Instead of telling kids to "study harder," they asked, "What advice would you give someone else in this class?" It forced students to think about what works, commit to those strategies, and see themselves as capable. The result? Small but real grade improvements for all kinds of students—rich, poor, A students, or strugglers.

From magicians to marketers, a good question can do wonders. It's boosted ad clicks by 15%, tripled survey responses, doubled sign-ups, improved dating odds, and lifted grades.

Why? Questions make people think, connect, and act in ways that match their answers. They tap into our need to stay consistent, our habit of finding evidence for what's suggested, and our desire to feel understood.

It's not some mystical power—it's just how our brains work. Whether you're selling a product, building a relationship, or teaching a class, a well-placed question can be your best tool.

Top Tweets of the day

1/

Life's golden rule: Pareto is real.

• Most of your breakthrough ideas come from just a couple of key sources

• 20% of your closet gets 80% of the wears (same 5 outfits on repeat)

• Almost all global wealth sits with the top 1% of the top 1%

• A handful of TikTok sounds drive 80% of viral content

• A few winning stocks create the bulk of every portfolio's gains

• Just 5 Reddit moderators control 92 of the top 500 subreddits

• 80% of your leads come from 20% of your marketing channels

• The majority of your email revenue comes from a small percentage of subscribers

• A few websites—Google, ChatGPT, Wikipedia, YouTube—attract most global internet traffic

• The generative AI landscape boils down to few key players: ChatGPT, Claude, & Gemini

• Online advertising is essentially a 2-horse race: Google Ads vs Facebook Ads

• 20% of menu items generate 80% of restaurant orders

2/

People who dislike marketing: build a free tool and put it everywhere online. Sometimes that's all you need to get noticed.

Many successful indie hackers only do a few things for marketing—post on social media and create free tools that rank in search. Or sometimes programmatic SEO.

That's it.

3/

Love tricks like this. I've found so many deals myself using their own Deep Research tools. It essentially saved me big money.

Rabbit Holes

1. Social Engineer: YOU are Easier to Hack than your Computer by Rachel Tobac

2. WFH hacks/investments you wish you did sooner? by /r/sales

3. How To Use Killer Offers To Unlock Hidden Profits by Olly Richards

What'd ya think of today's newsletter? Hit 'reply' and let me know.

Do me a favor and share it in your company's Slack #marketing channel.

First time? Subscribe.

Follow me on X.

More Startup Spells 🪄

1. The Diary Of A CEO's Genius Thumbnail Strategy using Meta Ads (LINK)

2. IPInfo's Forum-Based Marketing Strategy using StackOverflow (LINK)

3. The Marketing Genius of Kelechi Onyeama: "Social Wizard" App, "Inherently Viral" Playbook, "Session One" Everything (LINK)

4. Unsplash's Growth Strategy (LINK)

5. Miss Excel: How Kat Norton Made Spreadsheets Go Viral (LINK)