Carl Thielemann

DTC copywriter & creative strategist. Breaking down what makes cold traffic convert.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@philhippoflynn The leverage is in how well you connect performance data back to creative.

Knowing which ad won means almost nothing if you don't know why it won.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@dylanevxns The page basically has to finish the argument the ad started.

If convenience got the click, the PDP needs to prove convenience instead of switching back to generic product benefits.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@batulkrr This is the difference between creative volume and actual message diversity.

Changing the format gives you more executions. Finding a different reason the customer cares gives you a genuinely new test.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@benradack The next step after finding the winner is figuring out why it won.

Otherwise it��s easy to turn one winning creative into 10 surface-level variations without actually learning which angle, hook, or pain point drove the result.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@therahulissar Expanding the audience usually means expanding the reasons to buy too.

Easy to make 10 different creatives that are really just the same argument in different formats.
The research has to uncover pain points or motivations your current creative isn’t speaking to yet.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@Alexwyatt47 The hypothesis field is probably the most important part.

Without it, even a winning ad can teach you almost nothing.

“This won” is useful. “This won because this avatar responds to X desire at Y awareness level” gives you something you can actually build the next batch around.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@CarlWeische The “replaces 16+ supplements” part is probably my favorite piece here.

It's not just another benefit. It changes what the customer compares the price against.

Instead of “how expensive is this powder?” the comparison becomes “what would I spend buying all of this separately?”

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

This is especially interesting when the creative test reveals why the angle works.

That learning shouldn't stop at the click. The same belief, desire or mechanism that won the ad should probably change what gets emphasized on the page too.

Otherwise you're validating a message in creative and then sending people into a generic sales argument.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@nicktheriot_ The 80/20 split is what most brands miss.

Finding a winner shouldn't create an immediate search for the next big idea.

It gives you a whole new iteration tree.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@EcomTable This is where a lot of “good” copy still falls apart.

Each section works in isolation, but the reader can feel the writer switching from story to mechanism to product.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

A $3 book ad from the 1980s has a better sales structure than most landing pages I see today.

Gary Halbert was selling a Social Security guide.

Boring product. Tiny price.

But he doesn't pitch the book first.

He asks one question:

"Do you know how much money you've put into Social Security?"

Then he gives you a way to find out. For free.

Before you've spent a cent, the ad is already useful. He's earned your attention.

Then he reframes the whole opportunity:

"You don't have to wait until retirement to collect."

You shift from:

"retirement money"

to:

"money I might be leaving on the table."

Then he stacks 15 specific examples of benefits you probably didn't know existed.

Each one does 3 things:

Proves the new belief
Opens a curiosity loop
Makes the book more valuable

By the time he mentions $3, the decision isn't:

"Is this book worth it?"

It's:

"Would I risk losing thousands to save $3?"

Most brands skip straight to:

"Our product is better."

Sometimes the stronger move is changing how the customer understands the problem first.

Sell the understanding before you sell the solution.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@adswithcami SAUCE

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

Writing good copy isn't really about saying more.

It's more about knowing what to leave out.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

Don't ask "How do I rewrite this?"

But "What made this go viral, and how do I preserve that?"

You don't have to reinvent the wheel.

You just have to understand why it worked.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

The hook doesn’t earn the sale.

It earns the next sentence.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@leondwolf DM ist raus.

[Carl Thielemann @carl_thie]

@dimvji Gotta love the Game