Home / Sales psychology / The Von Restorff effect
Sales psychology for marketing, 8 of 14The Von Restorff effect
Also called Isolation effectMake the one thing you want noticed look different from everything around it.
- Stop the scroll
- Get the click or enquiry
- Price and package
When several things look alike, the one that looks different gets noticed and remembered. In marketing, that's your thumbnail in a feed, your button on a page and your recommended package in a row.
Why it works
Hedwig von Restorff reported it in 1933: in lists of similar items, the one item that differed was remembered far better than the rest. It is also called the isolation effect, and it sits behind most good design for buttons, badges and highlighted options.
Research: von Restorff 1933
Where to use it
Look at the feed your thumbnail will sit in, then break its pattern: a different colour, a real face instead of text, or one short line on a plain background.
If every ad in your industry uses glossy stock photos, try a plain phone photo or a simple text post. The goal is to look different from the ads around yours, not louder.
Give your main button a colour nothing else on the page uses, and use it only for that one action. If everything is bold, nothing stands out.
Make the plan you recommend look different with a border, a badge or a shade. Keep the others plain so the eye lands there first.
Read the other ads on your main search before you write yours. If they all say fast and affordable, lead with the thing none of them say, as long as it's true.
Steal these
Fill in the brackets and use them in your next post, ad or email.
- Everyone says [common claim]. We [true thing you do differently].
- Not [what every ad in your industry leads with]. Just [your different angle].
- Recommended if you [situation this plan suits].
- Get my [free quote or guide]
- Cover text: [one short line the rest of the feed isn't saying]
Before and after
Affordable, reliable, professional service you can trust
We send a fixed price before we start, and we stick to it.
Every competitor can say the first line, so it blends into the page. The second says something specific the others don't, which makes it the line people notice and remember. It has to be true.
Where it backfires
Highlighting everything. Three badges, four colours and a flashing banner cancel each other out. And never make the standout option a worse deal: the highlight should point people to the option that genuinely suits them.
Pairs well with
The compromise effectThree honest tiers with the middle one visually isolated: contrast draws the eye, and the middle position makes it feel safe.Common questions
How do I stand out without looking tacky?
What colour should my call to action button be?
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