How to create ads that stick in buyers' minds

Cognitive tension is the psychological phenomenon that makes ads impossible to ignore. When your brain encounters incomplete information or unresolved questions, it creates a mental loop that demands closure.

This principle, rooted in the Zeigarnik effect, explains why certain ads stick in your mind hours after you've seen them, even if they don't have the flashiest creative or most polished copy.

Here's what you'll learn:

• The psychological science behind why tension makes ads memorable
• How to create cognitive tension that drives engagement
• Three proven ways to resolve tension and convert attention into action
• Real examples from brands using this technique successfully

Ready to understand what makes ads psychologically sticky?

The science of unfinished business

In the 1920s, psychologist Kurt Lewin noticed the wait staff at a busy café could remember complex orders with perfect accuracy. 

However, as soon as they delivered the food and collected payment, they couldn't recall a single detail about what they'd just served.

Fellow psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik ran a series of experiments to figure out why. 

Turns out, our brains hold onto unfinished or interrupted tasks much better than completed ones – this is the Zeigarnik effect.

Incomplete information stays active in our working memory, demanding attention and mental resources.

Why we crave closure

The last psychologist I’ll mention is George Loewenstein, who found that curiosity is triggered when we perceive a gap between what we know and what we want to know. But the gap must be:

• Visible: We need to sense there's something missing.
• Relevant: It must feel important or personally meaningful.
• Close-able: We believe we can easily find or get the answer.

If the gap is too wide, we disengage ("this is too hard to figure out"). If it's too small, there's no intrigue. But when the gap is just right, our brain releases dopamine to drive us toward filling it.

So essentially, giving our audience incomplete information creates psychological tension, making them pay more attention to us motivating them to click the ad and learn more.

These are both big wins for advertisers, but there is some risk involved.

The emotional aftermath

If you’re going to create tension for your customer, you need to make sure you’re resolving it as well.

Creating and then resolving tension gives your audience a sense of relief, which transfers that positive emotional payoff to your brand. 

The flip side is that failing to resolve tension will damage your credibility and frustrate your audience. 

When you create tension without resolving it, you’re tricking people into clicking your ad. It’s a frustrating experience as a shopper, and while they will probably remember your brand – they won’t remember it fondly.

There are a few ways you can resolve tension.

Resolve within the ad

This is the most common way to resolve tension, probably because it’s the simplest. 

Your hook creates tension with a vague statement or bold claim, then the rest of your ad explains the hook. This ad from Grüns is a great example – they start with a bold statement “your probiotics might not be working” and then go on to explain why.

Simple, engaging, hooks the viewer. 

Resolve with a landing page

We don’t just want people to watch our ads, right? We want them to click our ads. When you resolve tension within an ad, the loop closes before they’ve clicked through.

What if we use our ads to create tension, but they have to visit our landing page to resolve it? This gives the audience more reason to click through and get a step closer to converting.

Here's an example from Lumē deodorant  that nails it. It creates tension with incomplete information, but the information is still specified – we’re offering a discount but we can’t tell you what the discount is.

You have to click through to the landing page to see the discount. You know how to close the information gap and you know it’s pretty easy, so if you’re interested in the product you’re going to click through.

My one complaint is they’re bleeping out a word in the hook, and while I have some guesses, the landing page doesn’t confirm anything. I doubt this hurts performance but I want to know!

Resolve with a demo

What if a landing page isn’t right for your product? 

I found this ad from Owner.com that builds tension with just a static. That’s a big number and a strong hook, I’m curious how they did it.

I clicked through hoping to read a case study, but was instead met with a form to book a demo.

At first, I didn’t like this. I just wanted to read a case study. But I’m not in the target demographic, so this isn’t relevant to me. I wouldn’t book a demo anyway since I don’t run a restaurant.

If it was relevant to me, this would be a great way to roll curiosity into getting demos booked. Just make sure your sales team knows the case study the ad refers to if you're going to run something like this!

FAQs

What is cognitive tension in advertising?

Cognitive tension is the psychological discomfort your brain experiences when it encounters incomplete information or unresolved questions. In advertising, this tension makes people pay more attention to your message and motivates them to take action (like clicking an ad) to resolve the tension. It's based on the Zeigarnik effect, which shows that our brains hold onto unfinished tasks much better than completed ones.

How do you create tension in an ad without frustrating your audience?

The key is following George Loewenstein's three criteria: the information gap must be visible (your audience can sense something's missing), relevant (it matters to them personally), and closeable (they believe they can easily get the answer). If the gap is too wide, people disengage. If it's too small, there's no intrigue. When you hit the sweet spot, their brain releases dopamine to drive them toward filling the gap.

Should you always resolve tension within the ad itself?

Not necessarily. You have three resolution options depending on your goal. Resolve within the ad when you want to create engagement without requiring a click. Resolve on the landing page when you want to drive traffic and move people closer to conversion. Or resolve through a demo or consultation when your product requires personal interaction to fully understand the value proposition.

What happens if you create tension but don't resolve it?

Failing to resolve tension damages your credibility and frustrates your audience. When you create tension without resolving it, you're essentially tricking people into clicking your ad, which creates a negative brand experience. While they'll probably remember your brand, they won't remember it fondly. Always ensure your resolution strategy is clear before deploying tension-based creative.

Does this technique work for all types of products and services?

Cognitive tension works particularly well for products where there's an information gap that potential customers genuinely want to fill. It's highly effective for new product launches, complex solutions that require explanation, or any offering where the "how it works" is compelling. It's less effective for purely transactional products where people already know exactly what they're getting.

Key Takeaways:

Creating psychologically sticky ads requires understanding three elements of cognitive tension: making the information gap visible, ensuring it's personally relevant to your audience, and keeping it easily closeable. When you master this balance, you create ads that command attention and drive action. Just remember to resolve that tension through your ad, landing page, or sales process to turn that tension into conversions.

Now, go create some tension! (Just in your ads though.)