Top 20 Power Words that Sell!

We were asked, by some of the attendees of a recent webinar we held, to write a definitive list of power words that will help sell any product or service, in any market.

I thought this was a fantastic idea so I’ve been busy compiling a list of my ‘Top 20 Power Words that Sell’, which I hope will help you create the necessary desire in your customers to take the action you want them to take. After all, this is something we ALL need, right?

Power words have historically been used in advertising and sales media as well as things such as creative copy and even CV and letter writing.

They have been finely tuned over hundreds of years and are tried and tested ways to make people feel positive enough to commit to something. Whether it be buying a new sofa, applying for a job or simply clicking a button, power words can help convince people to make decisions, however important they may be.

So, here are my ‘Top 20 Power Words that Sell’:

• You – It’s so simple, right? This word personally involves me and makes me part of the conversation. Use it early on in your copy.
• Can – This tells me that this is something I can do.
• Easy – Suggests that I won’t have to put in much effort to get what I want.
• Get – Tells me I’m going to actually get something out of this conversation.
• New – I’m going to be the first person to own it.
• Exclusive – This thing is just for me – great!.
• Exciting – If you say I’m excited, maybe I am excited.
• Free – I don’t have to spend anything!
• Gift – Something given to me for FREE? Yay!
• Love – A word that will connects with me on an emotional level.
• Delivered – It will arrive at my home safe and sound.
• Direct – It’s coming straight to me, fast!
• Immediately – I’m going to get this straight away!
• Lifetime – Tells me that this is going to last.
• Results – This is going to work for me.
• Savings – I’m saving money by doing this.
• Bargain – I’m getting something that is worth more than I’m paying.
• How – Because people like to know the details.
• Hurry – Creates urgency and tells me I need to act fast.
• Offer – Suggests that this isn’t a permanent arrangement.

So, How Should You Use Them?

I think you’d be hard pushed to use all of these words in one campaign but the majority of these words can be used to promote any product or service you could possibly offer.

However, I believe there is an order in which you should approach your customer with these powerful words and it goes something like this:

1. Create a relationship – you
2. Create a need – can, easy, get
3. Offer benefits – new, exclusive, free, gift
4. Create an emotional tie – exciting, love
5. Tell them what’s going to happen – delivered, direct, immediately, how
6. More benefits – lifetime, results, savings, bargain
7. Create urgency – hurry, offer

Then all you have to do is give them an option, a button to click, a number to call, a form to fill out, basically something to say ‘here’s the next step, all you have to do is take it’.

Implement & Test

Why not try it on one of your sales pages and see how your customers react to using different power words in your copy? There are many ways you can test and record the results but we like to test our new content against our old content to make sure we get better results so we would use something like Google Website Optimizer or Visual Website Optimizer.

I’d be very interested to hear about anyone’s results so if you have any luck with my list of power words, leave me a comment or get in touch.