The "HOLY SH*T" moment hack no marketer is using 👨🏻‍💻

Meta nailed this. Apple missed it completely.

Every marketer knows the golden rule: Benefits > Features.

• ❌ Feature: Our mattress has memory foam technology.

• ✅ Benefit: Fall asleep in minutes and wake up without back pain.

• ❌ Feature: Our AI uses 16 different writing algorithms.

• ✅ Benefit: Get perfect blog posts in 2 minutes.

But there’s something even more powerful than benefits…

First-time reactions.

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🤔 What are first-time reactions?

Raw “holy sh*t” moments when people try your product for the first time. They are marketing gold - and almost no one is using them right.

First reactions are extremely powerful:

🧠 Our brains mirror the emotions we see in others - it’s why we smile when we see someone else smile, or yawn when others yawn. When we see someone mind-blown (like this: 🤯), our brain starts anticipating that same feeling.

It’s like unboxing videos on YouTube. We’re addicted to watching strangers open stuff because their reactions help us imagine our own future excitement.

💡 The marketing idea

Fill your website with photos and videos of people using your product for the first time. Not staged testimonials. Not case studies.

Just real reactions like these:

You can put these WOW photos and videos everywhere:

1. LPs hero section

2. Demo videos

3. Across social media

4. Sales decks

5. Email campaigns

🧪 Good example vs. bad example

Meta nailed this when they revealed their new AR glasses concept a few weeks ago. After explaining the specs and features, they showed people trying them on:

The video went viral

Apple totally missed the same opportunity with Vision Pro.

They focused on features (“12 cameras!”) and benefits (“watch movies in the sky!”).

But walk into any Apple Store right now. Watch people try Vision Pro. Every single person makes the same face: 🤯 That’s powerful social proof they are not using.

Yeah, that’s me. I tried it last week. The reaction is genuine.

🎥 How to get these reactions

First, the logistics:

• Offer a 20% discount to new customers who agree to be filmed during implementation

• Send a small film crew to their office for the first product setup

• For remote customers, record the Zoom implementation call (with permission)

• Capture both their face and screen simultaneously

• Install a heatmap on your website’s analytics (so you can show how they moved the cursor with excitement)

• Bonus: consider stunts like connecting them to a heart rate monitor and show how they got excited when using it VS the competitors

😬 “But Tom, my product isn't that exciting...”

Well, here’s the big secret to making even “boring” products create WOW reactions:

The key is manufacturing contrast. Your product might not be AR glasses, but you can still create that “holy sh*t” reaction by strategically setting up the reveal.

🎩 Think like a magician:

The magic isn’t in the trick itself - it’s in the setup and timing. The bigger the gap between expectation and reality, the stronger the reaction you’ll get. These are moments of contrast. Here are 7 proven ways to engineer that gap:

🎪 7 tactics to create MIND-BLOWN first reactions

1. Force the painful “before” - Ask them to perform a task the old way, time it (usually takes minutes), then show your instant solution in seconds.

2. Hide your best feature - Start basic, build confidence, then casually drop your most impressive capability last.

3. Stage a competitor comparison - Demo the ‘industry standard’ approach first, let frustration build, then reveal your 10x better solution. The relief is visible.

4. Ship mystery boxes - Send an intriguing package before the demo containing half of something valuable. The demo reveals how to get the other half.

5. Solve their exact nightmare - Ask about their biggest pain point, let them vent, then show how you fix it instantly.

6. Personalize everything secretly - Load their logo, team photos, and real content into your product before the demo. The hyper-personalization catches them off guard.

7. Create artificial scarcity - Show them a “hidden” beta feature that "only 20 customers have access to." People react stronger to exclusive things

If you get it right, your social proof level will be over 9000.

⚠️ Warning: Don’t fake it!

• Never script reactions

• Don’t ask people to exaggerate

• Raw footage > polished video

• Customer’s natural language > marketing speak

In other words: Don’t be like Intel (they hired actors with scripted reactions):

🧠 The bottom line

Features tell. Benefits sell. But first “holy sh*t” reactions? They show potential customers exactly what they’re about to experience themselves. Not in the future, but now.

That’s more powerful than any testimonial, benefit, or feature.

See you next week ✌️

Tom

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