“Bye” and “buy” sound the same — and our brains actually mix them up when written.

This one is so weird to me, but it’s proven.

In a study by Davis & Herr, readers finished a blog post that ended with “bye-bye” instead of “so long.”

Then they were asked how much they’d pay for a dinner-for-two package.

It was an A/B test:

The “so long” group offered around $30.
The “bye-bye” group offered closer to $45.

A 50% bump, from switching two short word pairs!

When we’re distracted or overloaded, homophones sneak in the back door.

The brain links sound-alikes and lets them steer behavior.

We actually DO get thinking about the complimentary homophone, i.e. the word that sounds the same.

“Bye” becomes “buy,” more effectively than if we’d used the latter one.

That’s why smart marketers seed micro-primes into their copy.

A simple “Bye-bye” in a cart-abandon email isn’t a farewell.

It’s a nudge.

Want to make your product irresistible? That’s what we do as product marketing consultants at Graphos Product, helping innovators turn need-driven ideas into market-ready successes.