Have you ever stopped to think about why you clicked on something?
Maybe it was an emotional trigger or a spark of curiosity; words that made some kind of connection in your brain.
The reason we click may differ from user to user, but the goal of these words remains the same: to convert. To many marketers, the ability to influence people with language is fascinating. As such, copywriters, advertisers, and marketers have invested more time studying which words and phrases fulfill business and communication goals. Today we have access to hundreds – if not thousands – of public studies analyzing how people react to different words.
Let’s explore a couple dozen of these words, specifically those that grab attention and help convert. As you begin navigating through this list, try to keep your business and respective goals in mind as this will help you extract more value.
The Two Most Important Words
As target audiences become increasingly exposed to new marketing trends and methods, they become increasingly desensitized to advertizing. As such it can be difficult for new business ventures to cut through the noise while drawing attention to their brands and attempting to create new leads.
Fortunately, there are two words that have been crowned the King and Queen of all marketing-related copy. They are:
1. You
This tiny, three letter word is one of the most persuasive words of all as it shows a brand is conscientious about its customers and provides a personalized touch. As such it has become every marketer’s best friend in this complex and fast-paced modern world where we still get a plethora of general propaganda messages.
2. Because
A recent study conducted into the persuasiveness of the word “because” found that when faced with sound reasoning as to why they should do or buy something, a person’s natural instinct is to react positively.
As such, the word entered into slot number two of this list of words that convert.
In continuing, this article will focus on which words work best for certain types of calls to action and where they might be used most appropriately. Read on!
Words to Improve Sales
In sales, influential language is often the difference between someone clicking and someone navigating away. While there are more than a few marketing words that have been proven to drive conversion rates, let’s focus on a select handful.
3. Sale
Every time you walk into a shopping center around Christmas or any other holiday for that matter you’ll likely observe this particular word hundreds of times over. This word also made another list – the ultimate list written by Kevan Lee – and is notable for its power to motivate customers. This word is best coupled with urgency, such as “Huge Sale – Ends in 4 hours!”
4. Off
The word “sale” is rarely seen without a certain percentage figure “off” and it’s not difficult to imagine why as sales really only appeals to the customer if they believe they can get a good deal. The implication is reduction – a reduction in price – and consumers factor that into purchasing decisions.
5. Now
A sense of urgency is a vital factor, without which calls to action simply wouldn’t perform as well. The other reason why this is such a popular word in advertising is its versatility and ability to work successfully across multiple marketing channels.
6. New
With technology constantly in a state of flux, marketers and business owners are able to capitalize on the constant outpouring of “the latest model” as you can see in the following image.
In fact, the concept of “new” has been around for decades. It appeared in the New York Times in 1961 (possibly earlier) and it’s no wonder that it is still considered to be one of the twelve most persuasive words in the English language.
Words to Encourage Action
Encouraging readers to take action is a skill often developed and perfected in the headlines of online articles written by journalists and copywriters. The idea is to create a “curiosity gap” that compels the reader to click through for the full article.
7. Be the first
Who doesn’t like having exclusive access to something, and more specifically, who doesn’t like to be the trendsetter? If you give your potential customers something to aim for you might be surprised at how quickly conversion rates pick up.
8. Instantly
Again we have another word that showcases the benefits of delayed gratification and taps into an interesting aspect of human nature – namely, that we want things right now, or preferably by 5pm yesterday.
Words to Help Guide Users
Sometimes you’ll need to lend a helping hand to your customers if you want them to take you up on your offer. What’s important to note about the following words is that their function is secondary to providing direction.
9. Best Sellers
If you can relate the information about a product’s popularity you will increase your chances of making a sale based on the comparisons the individual will make. Some people like to be early adopter and others like to play safely so don’t forget about them.
10. Remember
When direct email marketing to your target audience, casually reminding them to do something can and often does spur them into action as soon as they open the message. Use can also use this word to bring up any deadlines that may be approaching for added impact.
11. Tips
If you’re struggling to capture high volumes of traffic on your website it could be because you are underutilizing this word. Coming up with creative headlines for your blog such as “# Tips to Have More Fun in 2015” for example is a good way to increase your content’s shareability and market capture.
12. Discover
Social media is notorious for occupying people’s time as there are some many interesting links with the word “discover” in the title.
Additionally, if you use this word correctly in your other forms of online content – especially in any product landing pages – you should begin to see a marked increase in lead generation and overall sales.
Words to Spark Curiosity
Marketing is premised on the function of words being able to communicate a variety of ideas all at once. The following words represent those that are shareable and are able to attract attention, drive action, generate leads and convert across whichever platform they are implemented.
13. Improvement
The word “improvement” has positive connotations as constant revisions to a design or product speaks to the consumer’s desire to have the most up-to-date object or software in today’s fast-paced technological world.
14. Amazing
This is a foundation of a lot of “click-bait” headlines. Articles that tend to offer interesting information that you wouldn’t exactly expect tend to go viral, and nobody knows more about how to do this than Upworthy.
15 Remarkable
Again, this is another word with positive connotations but can really create a lot of interest if the word is used sparingly. After all, if something is to be truly remarkable it is to be unique and seem like a rarely witnessed thing.
Words to Promote Community Values
Keep it in mind that your target audience is also your community and fan base. Anything you can do that appeals to them and presents your business or company in a positive light is a good thing. Below you’ll find a few words that can help you do exactly that.
16. Help
While this is a word popular with not-for profits and crowdfunding campaigns as it is as persuasive as it is honest and in the context of effective email subject lines, this is a word that all but guarantees your email will be read.
17. Thank you
Everybody likes to be thanked and in most cases, it is kind of expected as the polite thing to do. Sending your customers a thank you note as they complete the transaction process is also one other way you can help facilitate repeat business.
Words to Imply Exclusivity
Consumers nowadays have the ability to hone in on the exact information they’re looking for with only a few clicks This process from beginning to end is known as the consumer journey and the following words have a lot to do with this.
In fact, this is the stage in which marketers tend to seduce high numbers of visitors with creative and subtle strings of words. Whether it’s a pay-per-click ad campaign displayed to the right of a Google search result page or a Facebook text post, exclusivity goes a long way.
18. Exclusive
As you might now expect the word “exclusive” can be an effective tool in your arsenal as an online business attempting to grow and expand your market. If you implement this word correctly in your product advertizing, you’ll see higher levels of lead generation.
19. Subscribe
This is a great call-to-action that usually implies no up-front payment so long as the option is there when they subscribe to your email list. The last thing you’ll want to do after all is force your potential consumers up against a pay wall and expect them to convert.
20. Members Only
If you can successfully use this word to create a sense of community (and we’ll assume that you can) you might find that you’re able to convert more visitors into active participants, which can only be a good thing.
Words to Encourage a Lack of Risk
Now we come to the final part of this article and discuss how to make your audience feel safe and secure. While this may sound strange it’s often one of the most effective ways to convert the visitors coming to your site.
21. Guaranteed
Be upfront and address the need of security openly as you’ll want to establish trust as quickly and efficiently as possible. Perhaps your customer’s concern stems from an expensive price tag that they aren’t quite sure about or maybe you’ve developed a new product. Either way, inserting the word “guaranteed” into the conversation is a great way to increase sales.
22. Risk-free
Customers are a skeptical lot in general and so you’ll need to take risk of the equation. If you are to be successful and convert your visitors into buyers, perhaps consider leading with an offer of a money-back guarantee if you can.
23. Authentic
Lastly, the word “authentic” is one of the more relevant words to find use in today’s modern world of impressions and deals too good to be true. This is also an arguably aggressive word to use for its utility against competitors; it makes our products and services seem like the original crowd-favorite, not a knock-off or late adopter.
Choosing the Right Words
While there are no silver-bullet words guaranteeing conversions, it’s important to understand why certain words are more effective than others and how to use them in our own campaigns.
Which words and phrases grab your attention?
Research has shown that “challengers” win more deals. Are you a challenger? Visit our website or download the free e-book to find out.
