Google, Facebook, Social Media: Words That Convert: Write Copy That Gets Your Customer’s Attention Every Time

“Sign up!”

These phrases litter the huge variety of email newsletter boxes you’ll come across online, and they generally serve the same purpose: Click here to give us your email address. They serve the same purpose, but do they say the same thing?

Can one word change the way you feel about a button?

In my experience, yes. I subscribe to the copywriting school of thought where every single word is absolutely worth stewing over and A/B testing because one single word can change everything. The difference between “joining” and “signing up” is the difference between fellowship and enlisting. A word changes the meaning, the mood, and the motivation.

To connect the dots then, you’re probably wondering: If a single word makes that much difference, then what words should I be using? Which words and phrases convert?

The science of copywriting, the psychology of headlines, and the art of CTAs has revealed quite a number of go-to moves for marketers looking to gain a linguistic edge in their words and pitches. I’ve enjoyed saving several lists of these so-called power words and pulling them out to use in a pinch. I’m happy to share my lists with you of the phrases and words that convert . Do you have any power words that work magic for you? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

Research reveals how a single word makes all the difference

You likely know inherently that specific words matter. You click on a headline because a single word strikes you. You click a signup button because a word creates an emotion.

The research behind this power of words is incredibly deep. Researchers have found that the word you use to describe a car accident (“contacted” vs. “smashed”) paints the way eyewitnesses view the event. Another study found that simple stock names that are easier to pronounce lead toquicker gains post-IPO.

Perhaps my favorite study is one shared by  Brian Clark of Copyblogger. Social psychologist Ellen Langer tested the power of a single word in an experiment where she asked to cut in line at a copy machine. She tried three different ways of asking:

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” – 60% said OK

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?” – 94% said OK

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?” – 93% said OK

I don’t know about you, but I thought Langer’s third request was rather elementary. Yet it didn’t matter. The trigger word “because” was all she needed. The takeaway: When you want people to take action, always give a reason.

Neurologically, we have an instinctual reaction to words and language. Researchers have found that we are hardwired to associate sounds with images, even in words we do not comprehend. Here’s a test for you, pulled from a study by Wolfgang Köhler. Which of the two shapes below is a maluma and which is a takete?

The vast majority of respondents label the smooth, rounded image a maluma and the hard, jagged image a takete.

To go one step further into the power of words, you can look at Patrick Renvoise and Christopher Morin’s book about neuromarketing (see Peep Laja’s article at ConversionXL for a great analysis of the book). Renvoise and Morin highlight the three different brains we have: the new brain, the middle brain, and the old brain.

The old brain is the part that controls decisions, and it also happens to be the most primitive. In this way, the words you use to market to the old brain will often be the most direct, simple, arresting, visual words you have.

You’ll likely see a lot of these “old brain” words in the lists below.

The ultimate list of words and phrases that convert

A quick Google search can reveal pages of results for persuasive and powerful words. There’s no trouble finding them; there’s sometimes trouble applying them. The words you see below are split into a number of categories, along with some ideas on how I’ve used them in the past (and how you can use them, too).

The 5 most persuasive words in the English language

• You
• Free
• Because
• Instantly
• New

You’ve seen these words countless times before—and for good reason. The research behind these words has shown over and over that they work. Gregory Ciotti wrote about these five in a post for Copyblogger, showing exactly how each is vital for persuasive speech and copy. For instance, immediate words like “instantly” trigger mid-brain activity and feed our zest for quick gratification.

Where to try these words: Calls-to-action, headlines, email subject lines, headings, opening sentences and paragraphs

The 20 most influential words, via David Ogilvy

• Suddenly
• Now
• Announcing
• Introducing
• Improvement
• Amazing
• Sensational
• Remarkable
• Revolutionary
• Startling
• Miracle
• Magic
• Offer
• Quick
• Easy
• Wanted
• Challenge
• Compare
• Bargain
• Hurry

David Ogilvy is to advertising as Jimi Hendrix is to the electric guitar. His list of influential words you see above was first published in 1963, and many remain in vogue today.

Where to try these: Headlines, bullet points, subject lines

(Sidenote: For a fun blast from the past, courtesy of Ben Locker, here are a couple advertisements for power words that date back to 1961. A New York Times ad is on the left, a Washington Post ad is on the right. Ogilvy’s 20 influential words came out two years after these.)

3 words to encourage community

• Join
• Become a member
• Come along

These community phrases provide a sense of togetherness to the user; they feel like they’re taking part in something larger than themselves. (You’ll notice that we use the word “join” in our email newsletter form.)

Where to try these words: Email signups, trial offers, in-app messaging

10 cause-and-effect words and phrases

• Accordingly
• As a result
• Because
• Caused by
• Consequently
• Due to
• For this reason
• Since
• Therefore
• Thus

Author Darlene Price, the originator of this cause-and-effect list, has great insight into what makes these cause-and-effect phrases so useful: “Cause-and-effect words make your claims sound objective and rational rather than biased and subjective.”

Where to try these: Closing paragraphs, transitions

12 phrases that imply exclusivity

• Members only
• Login required
• Class full
• Membership now closed
• Ask for an invitation
• Apply to be one of our beta testers
• Exclusive offers
• Become an insider
• Be one of the few
• Get it before everybody else
• Be the first to hear about it
• Only available to subscribers

Garrett Moon of CoSchedule explains exclusivity as being like a club with membership restrictions. You want in because others are in. There’s a bit of social pressure with exclusivity wording, and it helps drive decisions and actions for the user.

Where to try these: Signup forms, links, calls-to-action, subheads

9 phrases that imply scarcity

• Limited offer
• Supplies running out
• Get them while they last
• Sale ends soon
• Today only
• Only 10 available
• Only 3 left
• Only available here
• Double the offer in the next hour only

The fear of missing out (often abbreviated as FOMO) is a common driver of action for marketers and advertisers. FOMO is essentially scarcity. By showing that an item or product is in limited supply, you hope to ratchet up demand.

Where to try these: Headings, promo copy

28 words and phrases that make you feel safe

• Anonymous
• Authentic
• Backed
• Best-selling
• Cancel Anytime
• Certified
• Endorsed
• Guaranteed
• Ironclad
• Lifetime
• Moneyback
• No Obligation
• No Questions Asked
• No Risk
• No Strings Attached
• Official
• Privacy
• Protected
• Proven
• Recession-proof
• Refund
• Research
• Results
• Secure
• Tested
• Try before You Buy
• Verify
• Unconditional

Boost Blog Traffic’s Jon Morrow collected a huge list of power words (his full list of 317 is well worth the read) and sorted the list by category. The above section is Morrow’s grouping of words that engender feelings of safety. It’s my favorite group from Morrow’s list because these safety words have an amazing effect on the person reading: They create trust.

Where to try these: Payment forms, signup forms, testimonials

48 ubiquitous power words

• Improve
• Trust
• Immediately
• Discover
• Profit
• Learn
• Know
• Understand
• Powerful
• Best
• Win
• Hot Special
• More
• Bonus
• Exclusive
• Extra
• You
• Free
• Health
• Guarantee
• New
• Proven
• Safety
• Money
• Now
• Today
• Results
• Protect
• Help
• Easy
• Amazing
• Latest
• Extraordinary
• How to
• Worst
• Ultimate
• Hot
• First
• Big
• Anniversary
• Premiere
• Basic
• Complete
• Save
• Plus!
• Create

Each employee on the circulation and email marketing teams at Interweave Press has these words printed and posted on their wall. The list, which was originally compiled Linda Ruth and Curtis Circulation Company, came from studying best-selling magazine covers, and Interweave’s Bob Kaslik found that the words work equally well on magazines as they do in promo copy and in email subject lines.

Where to try these: Email subject lines, headlines, calls-to-action

9 word for shareable content

• Secret
• Tell us
• Inspires
• Take
• Help
• Promote
• Increase
• Create
• Discover

Neil Patel put together the infographic you see below, based on research on each of the four major social networks: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. His list represents the words that can get your content shared on social media. I’ve found success grouping some of these words with other power words as well.

Where to try these: Social media updates

Start Up Economy.... Paradise under Threat

We live in exciting times as far as the startup economy is concerned. Incubators are popping up everywhere, venture capital funds are seemingly more active than ever, seed capital and business angels are everywhere these days. In a way, this came to be in the aftermath of the financial crisis, with renewed entrepreneurial incentives all around the world. Even if we look outside of the U.S., which has been "the" place to be if you're an entrepreneur, for a long, long time, things are changing dramatically. European countries are buzzing with entrepreneurial projects. Main cities around the continent have invested significant resources in boosting facilities and the so-called "soft infrastructure" (promotion events, workshops, pitch academies, networking with national business community, etc.) to support local startups. The European Union even went as far as recognizing just last week as "European Entrepreneurial Regions" for 2015 the cities of Lisbon, Valencia and the territory of the Northern Ireland. Particularly in Lisbon, the capital of my home country, the startup scene has indeed exploded in the last 3 years. Incubators are everywhere, non-profit support organizations have been working tirelessly, organizing events of all types, workshops, bringing investors and entrepreneurs together. Organizations like Beta-i, Startup Pirates rank among the most innovative and dynamic that I know, anywhere in the world, and they are good examples to follow. Even the government pitched in, with some tax-incentives for startups, in the middle of a financial assistance program, which wasn't entirely expected. Elsewhere, there are some "hotspots" of entrepreneurial activity in Latin America that are worth mentioning, like the very successful Startup Chile program and others that are popping up in Colombia, Brazil, among others. There's still a long way to go, though.

So, all is well in the "startup world", right? Well, not really.

Two major developments are concerning a lot of people around the world, myself included: the fact that startup valuations are seemingly going through the roof, with significant implications in the economy and the way that the startup culture is evolving. Let's take a closer look at these issues.

Startup valuations

Let's start with an example. You probably heard and read extensively about the recent acquisition of Whatsapp by Facebook, for a jaw-dropping deal of US$19 Bn in cash and stock options. As an experienced financial analyst, I have to say I was as surprised as you probably were. Simply put, there's no fundamental basis for that much of a valuation... or is there?

Whatsapp boasted 500 million users by April 2014. Ignoring the meager subscription fee of US$1 per year, the company really didn't have any other large sources of revenue that would value the company anywhere near the value Mr. Zuckerberg agreed for its acquisition. Still, the basis of any good valuation is the value of future cash-flows, plus other considerations, like synergies, strategic value, brand value, etc. So, what exactly does Whatsapp have going for it in this regard?

1. Its large user base hints at Facebook's intent to monetize it as soon as an elegant solution to achieve it arises. Mr. Zuckerberg announced that Whatsapp is on track to become the first 1 billion-user messaging app in the world. So, monetizing a large and growing user base is definitely going to become a reality. We don't know the exact strategy that Facebook is developing for the app and its users, but it's more than obvious that a large part of the valuation already takes that into account.
2. Strategically, Facebook acquired the largest and most relevant messaging app in the market, a company that could conceivably be acquired by its rivals or grow into a competitor by itself. By acquiring Whatsapp, the company assured its dominance of the instant messaging market, quite possibly for years to come, while mitigating any short or medium-term threat.
3. Whatsapp can possibly be seen as complementary and even evolutionary to Facebook's own core business, like Instagram was when it was acquired. There's real value here to be unlocked by integrating services, user bases and even the wealth of business intelligence data to be mined out of it.

There are more aspects to consider in this particular deal, but my point is this: even if people doubt the US$19 Bn price tag, there is real and very significant value in Whatsapp for Facebook. Whether it justifies such a big valuation, it remains to be seen, but at the very least, there are several billion dollars there of "tangible" value.

I brought this example up to show that these valuations are far from being an exact science. While there's value in tech companies like Whatsapp, Instagram and others, there are startups where I admit I have trouble finding a business case for investment (Yo! comes to mind), particularly in the tech scene.

There is significant amounts of money flowing through venture capital funds, without a doubt. Low interest rates, sluggish economy in the U.S. and Europe, perceived investment risks in emerging markets, among other factors are probably diverting funds to the "startup economy". Some economists and analysts have pointed out that a second dot-com bubble might be inflating, but it's really hard to be sure at this point. If I were to offer an advice to investors, it would be to focus on startups with real solutions to everyday problems, even the ones we don't know we have yet. The keywords here are product and solutions.

Startup culture

A possibly more pervasive issue is the recent evolution of the startup culture itself. The success stories are in the spotlight, there's more publicity and awareness than ever. Entrepreneurship is cool and entrepreneurs are rock stars.

In my experience, this is having a detrimental effect on the approach that would-be (and many established) entrepreneurs are taking in their projects and companies.

An example. I've had the opportunity to work with a relatively well-known startup a couple of years ago (which I won't name here for obvious reasons). This company developed a really cool SaaS solution for B2B and B2C clients of a specific industry. Their timing was perfect, they started being talked about a lot, getting a lot of attention from the specialized media and the industry insiders. At the time, my company was brought in to assist in their financing and expansion plans. After a successful first financing round, the company had investors and money to burn in expanding the business. The company was not profitable and was not having any relevant revenues. The product was cool, however, and generated a lot of excitement among those who came in contact with it. Two years passed, and this company hasn't significantly updated its product, it's still not profitable and it does not have any relevant revenues. The CEO and the co-founders have been "on tour" for this period of time, winning awards and accolades in several startup competitions, in several countries. They are heralded as one of the great and promising startups of the European startup scene.
Can they be truly successful in the near future? Most definitely. But the main focus of the company is publicity, being in the media as much as possible, possibly trying their best to be acquired by a large player in the industry. But while this is their focus, the product remains the same as two years ago (an eternity in the tech scene) and the company completely lacks a business model that works or that generates excitement in the people that actually can purchase the service.

Reading an article on entrepreneurship, a few days ago, I remembered this example quite clearly. In his remarks, a well-known serial entrepreneur of the tech scene in Portugal, remarked that he was now understanding what older businessmen kept telling him, that companies are created to be profitable and not to be on the news. He concluded that that is a lesson you learn as an entrepreneur, sooner or later, and I couldn't agree more with him.

One of the most worrisome trends, in my opinion, is the fact that this type of approach by entrepreneurs is being reinforced by some investors, who actively push companies and their founders to focus more on growing their user bases and not on selling, much less being profitable. While this is an approach that has a reason to be, not all companies can be Whatsapp or Instagram. Ignoring the fact that companies are meant to generate profits for its shareholders, as a general rule, will surely cause more failures than successes in the future. Sadly, market conditions are indeed reinforcing these approaches.

To conclude, it's not my point to discourage anyone from pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams, much to the contrary. I am, however, trying to make would-be entrepreneurs more aware of the difficulties, the many highs and lows and the winding roads that they'll have to navigate should they "jump in the water". Entrepreneurship is not for everyone.

All in all, I remain highly optimistic about the startup scene and I'm very encouraged to see Europe as a whole becoming much more active in it. There's a long way to go, particularly in terms of venture capital funding, but the course is set.

Organized and Productive

Ways to Become Extremely Productive and Organized

 China: Shanghai, Home After Travel, Learning, Logistics, Overall Reflection Add comments

Jan272012

"Balancing" on the walkway of Old Town, Shanghai, China.

“Argh!” my friend emailed, “How are you able to juggle all your work and social and fitness obligations??”

“Help me organize my life!”

In the email I wrote back to her, I realized that I have, indeed, honed a set of concrete Life Juggling strategies that have enabled me to get a ton done (click here for examples of uber-productivity) while still staying sane.

Allow me to share these productivity tricks with you now, as you may find some useful. Accompanying these tips are some unrelated (but still delightful!) photos from Old Town in Shanghai, China this summer.

Feel free to share your own organization and productivity tips in the Comments section!

Productivity Trick 1: Variety. I juggleabout 12 different obligations, along with necessities like exercise and fun time. Because each of these things is very different but very important, when I’m sick of one and want to procrastinate, I can just work on another, and still be productive. Further, several of them are true passions (especially this blog), so doing them is a joy!

The famous Tea House in Old Town... across from a Starbucks!

Trick 2: Put your To Do List on specific Google Cal days, not a list. I live by my Google Calendar, and it is also my To Do list. I’ve found this much more effective than a separate To Do list because it’s more in-your-face and concrete.

The moment I realize I need to do something (ex: “Do Teach Plus Homework“) or make a plan or appointment (“Doctor, 3pm“) I whip out my iPhone and enter the item directly on a day.

When a day is over and there are items I don’t complete, I drag them onto the next day. If they get dragged too often, I may decide they’re not worth it and delete them, or force myself and get them done at last, or ask for help with them.

For extra important Google Cal items, I set up email reminders– sometimes even multiple email reminders if the event is particularly important, or I’ve forgotten it in the past.

Inside Old Town's famous Tea House. Beautiful! And expensive.

Trick 3: Use Gmail Labels to Create a Secondary To Do List. I use Labels for my Gmail, which help filter and schedule my time.

The most important label is “A-Respond-To” (which has an “A” in front so it’s at the top of the Labels list).

What’s useful about this is it allows me to read email, and if I don’t have time to respond or follow up right then, I can mark it“A-Respond-To” and get to it later, rather than re-marking it unread and uncategorized. Then, several times a day, I filter to the“A-Respond-To” labeled items and respond to or act on them, then can remove them from that label. This functions as a different type of To Do list, and does not get repeated in the Google Cal.

A mother and son in Old Town watch the fish in the pond.

With this, I use sub-labels of, for example, “EdTech Conference Planning“ or “Meet, Plan, Go Events,” which I can filter to when I need to pull out emails on that responsibility. Some emails have several labels.

Trick 4: Don’t waste a minute. I use every free second to do something. This goes back to Trick #1; when I need a break from grading papers, I write a blog post. This does not, however, mean to never relax, because…

Trick 5: Make sure to schedule in some fun and relaxation! I’ve learned this year that fun, date nights, and exercise need to be scheduled in the calendar too, and honored just as meetings are! You don’t need to be totally robotic about it to the point where you kill spontaneity, but if you see you have a persistent complaint that, for example, “I never see my friend Bertha!” call her up and make a few concrete meetup dates that you both get in your calendar. Anyway, we’ll never be productive if we’re miserable and lonely and out of shape. Fun and fitness must be included in life balance!

One of many cool passageways in Shanghai's Old Town.

Trick 6: Get others to make you work. I ask loved ones to hold me accountable for getting certain things done, and give them permission to yell at me if I don’t.

What also works is to tell a lot of people what I’m doing, so they’ll harass me about the tasks, and whether I have to have done them yet. One reason I’m so active on Facebook and Twitter is because having an audience helps me perform!

Trick 7: Use Google Docs magic for project and event organization. I adore Google Docs and Spreadsheets and use them for everything from wedding and honeymoon planning (!) to organizing blog ideas for my websites, to curriculum design. These Docs and Spreadsheet can be shared with others for collaborative work and added efficiency.

Trick 8: “Throw your hat over the wall,” thus forcing yourself to climb onward. Buy a ticket and then plan later how you’ll do the trip. Tell someone you’ll have something done by a certain time who you know will be furious if you don’t. It works! “Someday” won’t make the exciting stuff happen. 

Love this photo of a woman and statue in Old Town!

Trick 9: Consider weird places to work. Sometimes I hole up in Logan Airport or South Station! And cafes and houses of productive friends are great, too. I also work at home a lot, in very strange physical positions. Kneeling on the floor works well for me to write… while eating Greek yogurt with chia seeds and listening to cheesy 80s songs.

Trick 10: Surround yourself with workaholics. We’re fun people, AND we help you get stuff done! It’s a lot easier to be productive when there’s peer pressure to work, versus pressure to watch TV. One of my favorite activities is working side-by-side with beloved folks.