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5 Common Words that Should Be Banned from Sales Copy

by Henneke | 39 enchanting opinions, add yours? :)

world-class cutting-edgeBanned words?

Yep. Forbidden. Prohibido. Interdit.

Why?

Because these words are just filler – padding sentences without adding meaning.

These words waste your reader’s time; and squander precious pixels.

  1. Innovation. If you have to point out you’re innovative, then you probably aren’t.
  2. World-class. Pretty meaningless unless you’re a world-record holder like Usain Bolt.
  3. Breakthrough or groundbreaking. Seriously? Or are you exaggerating your contribution to mankind? Have you discovered the God particle?
  4. Market-leading. Which market are you leading? And do your customers care?
  5. Cutting-edge or state-of-the-art. Come on. Do you have nothing better to say?

Don’t undermine your credibility with gobbledygook. Instead: Be specific. Use metaphors. Or simply shorten your sentence.

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Comments

  1. Jenny Orelle says

    March 28, 2014 at 4:04 pm

    Henneke, I’m reading and re-reading your books and will start working through them while I launch my own blog. Thanks for being an inspiration.

    I’m with Glenn. My body recoils every time I see “Killer” used as an adjective. It not just that it lacks sensitivity (which it does) but can sound a middle aged person trying to be hip. I feel bad because even people I respect have used it, on book covers no less.

    Amazing is one of those words I should replace, but like. I use it with little children. Plus it has a Z.

    p.s. I love your drawings.

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      March 28, 2014 at 4:12 pm

      Hi Jenny – thank you so much for stopping by. 🙂

      Yes, killer is a cheap way to attract attention – plus it’s getting overused.

      Good luck with launching your blog! Let me know if you have any specific questions, I can help with?

      Reply
  2. Nick Hall says

    February 4, 2014 at 9:12 pm

    I hate ‘solution’. I hate it with a passion.

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      February 4, 2014 at 9:14 pm

      Yep, I’m with you on that. Bleeergh.

      Reply
  3. Katharine says

    December 3, 2013 at 5:41 pm

    Worse than “innovation” is “NEW innovation”!

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      December 3, 2013 at 6:01 pm

      Yes, that’s ridiculous. Bah.

      Reply
    • Aaron says

      December 3, 2013 at 11:23 pm

      Ew. That is redundant again.

      Reply
  4. Chris Conner says

    October 2, 2013 at 10:17 pm

    Here are 2 more: “Designed to…” Don’t tell me your products is designed to do something. Tell me that it does. “Designed to” sounds like a legal department hedge in case it doesn’t actually do what it is supposed to.

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      October 3, 2013 at 10:08 am

      Yes, that’s a good one, Chris! I agree with you. 🙂

      Reply
  5. rose says

    June 1, 2013 at 5:40 pm

    a whiff of fresh air

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      June 1, 2013 at 6:32 pm

      Hi Rose, welcome to Enchanting Marketing 🙂

      I’m assuming you’re not suggesting to ban the phrase “a whiff of fresh air” but just agreeing that certain words should be banned?

      Reply
      • rose says

        June 2, 2013 at 4:44 pm

        hi henneke…..your site, your approach, your opinions……definitely a whiff of fresh air!
        i look forward to breathing in more.

        Reply
        • Nick Fielden says

          June 18, 2013 at 12:21 pm

          A rose by any other name would whiff as sweet.

          Reply
  6. luca says

    February 24, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    Hi everyone,

    Henneke, I remember you once were comparing ‘world-class security’ with ‘bank-grade security’. The second one is copy on Dropbox website, if I remember well. It would be nice if you can write a post with examples of compelling writing.

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      February 24, 2013 at 2:10 pm

      Well remembered – I wrote about it in this KISSmetrics post about the Destructive Power of Adjectives.

      And good idea about writing a post about compelling copy. I’ll add that to my list. I shouldn’t just rant about bad copy 😉

      Have you seen my guide to writing seductive copy like Apple (also on KISSmetrics)? You might find that useful in the meantime 🙂

      Thank you!

      Reply
      • luca says

        February 24, 2013 at 2:14 pm

        No, I missed it, thanks for the link 🙂

        Reply
  7. Jono says

    February 22, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    Slightly different question, but what do people think about the word “cheap”? On one hand, many people think it sounds “cheap and nasty”. On the other hand, who is going to search for or respond to “economical ipod”?

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      February 23, 2013 at 8:31 am

      “Cheap” is a better word than “economical”, “cost-effective”, or “low-cost” because as you say people search for “cheap”.

      If your positioning is to be cheap, then I think that’s the word you should use. The question is – do you want to position a product or service as cheap?

      Reply
      • Jono says

        February 23, 2013 at 11:09 am

        Indeed! I’m sure there are a thousand worthwhile articles to write about that issue too.

        Reply
      • Aaron says

        March 15, 2013 at 12:33 am

        While more people search for cheap, are they the kind of people you want to attract? If you are a small provider, it is almost always a mistake to compete on price. Also, if you are going that route, it may be better to put in the word “free.” You will get more traffic and more attention to your related, high-quality stuff. Finally, you can just show your prices and let other people decide whether it is cheap or expensive or just right for them.

        A great conversation, Henneke. Put another vote for me on “utilize.” It’s just senseless. 🙂

        Reply
        • Henneke says

          March 15, 2013 at 8:59 am

          I agree, Aaron. Better leave doing cheap stuff to the big companies who can scale their operations to drive down costs.

          Thanks for stopping by to leave a comment 🙂

          Reply
      • Azzam says

        May 23, 2013 at 5:47 pm

        Interesting one of the highest search term in our niche is ‘cheap xxxx’ but the adword copy or metadata has been changed to ‘low cost’ and consequently increased click through rate. Go figure

        Reply
        • Henneke says

          May 23, 2013 at 5:55 pm

          Wow, that’s interesting. I can’t imagine why that would be. Shows that you should always test these things.

          Thank you for stopping by, Azzam.

          Reply
  8. Dale L. Sims says

    February 22, 2013 at 8:53 pm

    Thanks Henneke. I’ve noticed lately many warnings against using these long-time favorites, especially cutting-edge and breakthrough. Time to relegate them to the dustbin of history–then shove that chiche’ in after them.

    Reply
  9. Patricia says

    February 22, 2013 at 6:34 pm

    I hate ‘limited time offer’ – you know they don’t mean it, they always come back and say – extended due to demand –

    Also – the mails that say they got something wrong and they are sorry – too many too often.

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      February 22, 2013 at 6:40 pm

      Yes! Extending your limited time offer is a quick way to lose your credibility. Extended due to lack of demand probably?

      Reply
  10. Richard says

    February 22, 2013 at 6:02 pm

    Anybody had enough of “thought leader” and “value added content?”

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      February 22, 2013 at 6:08 pm

      “Value-added content” is quite ugly. And you probably can’t call yourself a thought leader or a guru (that’s even worse) – I’d prefer specialist or expert.

      Reply
  11. Sarah Kellman says

    February 22, 2013 at 5:52 pm

    To this list I would add my single biggest bug-bear: “leverage”. No one actually says “leverage” in the real world of human speech, so why shouldn’t sales and marketing materials speak to people in a less jargon-laden manner?

    In my corporate communications work, I immediately replace that word when editing or revising texts. 9 times out of 10, when people write/say “leverage” they really just mean “use” or “benefit from”. Try to insert one of these alternatives the next time you come across the “l’ word, and I have a hunch you’ll find that it works just fine!

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      February 22, 2013 at 5:55 pm

      Oh yes. And shall we ban “utilize”, too?

      Thanks, Sarah!

      Reply
      • Sarah Kellman says

        February 22, 2013 at 6:35 pm

        Yes yes yes! “Use” will do nicely in every case 🙂

        Reply
        • Nick Fielden says

          June 18, 2013 at 12:08 pm

          I agree wholeheartedly that ‘utilise’ should be banned, because it is generally written as a synonym for ‘use’. However, I’ve understood its proper meaning to have a subtle difference from ‘use’ – viz, ‘to make use of’. That implies adoption, advantage or simply making a virtue of necessity. If it was written with any of those intentions I would applaud it. Sadly, I rarely have cause to clap.

          Reply
  12. Glenn says

    February 22, 2013 at 12:44 pm

    Here’s my own personal list of marketing hyperbole. Presence of any of these words now makes me stop paying attention immediately:
    Killer
    Awesome
    Unstoppable
    Massive
    Wildly
    Amazing
    Astounding
    Skyrocket
    Avalanche

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      February 22, 2013 at 3:23 pm

      I agree that these don’t work for sales copy because they’re exaggerated claims. You can never say your product is awesome – better leave it to your customers to say that 😉

      Interestingly, these words do seem to attract attention in blog post titles.

      Thanks, Glenn!

      Reply
  13. Martin says

    February 22, 2013 at 11:39 am

    “Premium” and “High-quality” are two words I would like to ban 🙂

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      February 22, 2013 at 11:43 am

      “Premium” sounds as if you’re charging too much. 😉

      Reply
  14. Julie says

    February 22, 2013 at 11:30 am

    Great article, as always, Henneke. The words that also get me grinding my teeth are those that describe what you *should*, by definition, be doing as a business owner, as if they are somehow special: ‘great customer service’, ‘fast delivery’, ‘excellent products or services’ — if you look at their opposites, ‘rubbish customer service’, ‘really slow delivery’, ‘very average products or services’, you realise how daft is to shout about anything that should be par for the course when you’re running a business. They are not features or benefits, they are a given.

    Reply
    • Henneke says

      February 22, 2013 at 11:38 am

      “If you look at the opposites…”

      That’s a good idea. It makes it immediately clear how silly it is to talk about “great customer service” without specifying what it means.

      Thank you for adding your thoughts, Julie. Much appreciated. 🙂

      Reply
      • Jono says

        February 22, 2013 at 9:28 pm

        Heh. Neat point. I’m probably guilty of this.

        Reply

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