You get only 2 seconds to convince your visitors about your relevance. If you fail, the visitor clicks the back button and leave your site for good. Here’s how you can stop it.
If your copies are suffering from poor conversion rates, chances are you are using one or more of the following copywriting clichés – words that put off your potential customers.
Overused and Filler Words
Often times, copywriters tend to get easily inspired by the overused words and end up sounding unauthentic and salesy. The following words have been used to often in copies that they have lost their charm.
Word-class – Don’t say “word-class” unless you are. If you’re truly world-class, you probably needn’t say it in the first place.
State-of-the-art (or Cutting-edge) – This sounds almost vague and unauthentic. If you think your products/services are advanced, explain how they help get things done better.
Industry-standard – Blame it on overuse, this phrase has become the perfect substitute for “average”. Your customers expect your offerings to be superior to your competitors’.
Breakthrough – Unless you’ve invented something that is unique to mankind, you’re simply exaggerating it.
Innovative – If you think your product is innovative, simply explain what it does to help solve a problem.
Pioneering – Another adjective that simply shows you’re bragging unless you have invented something that has never been done before.
Superlatives
Amazing, Stunning, Fantastic, Ultimate: These are the words that look good (and authentic) when your customers use them to describe your products.
Loose Phrases
Fast Delivery – Your customers would be assured if you could just tell them the exact number of days instead. After all, everybody loves an ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival).
Top Quality Products – Instead of saying top-quality material, it would be more useful to your customers if you could tell them the exact material used.
Excellent Customer Service – Sounds like Fast Delivery? If you could just say you reply to a customer’s email within an hour, that’d be great.
Jargon
Jargons are copywriting killers. They may confuse your audience.
Leverage – How about easier alternatives like “benefit from” or simply “use”!
The Takeaway
Copywriting is an art in that it makes your brand stands out and cut through the noise. Using the same words that your customers are already familiar with and tired of reading are unlikely to impress them. Be original, innovative and creative in using words that uniquely put your brand proposition. When your customer has landed on your sales page, being derivative is the quickest way to blow it.
