Aarggh.
A thumping headache.
Does it ever happen to you?
You should work, but you can’t. You don’t want to deal with your to-do list, an overflowing inbox, an incessant stream of tweets.
You find your walking boots and get out.
The smell of rain lingers in the air. A gentle breeze soothes your aching head. You watch the sun rays play with the golden leaves.
Can you picture the scene?
That’s because of the sensory details
You might think that sensory words are for poets and novelists. For creative spirits. Not for serious business people like you and me.
But that’s not true.
Using sensory details can help you captivate your audience—a business audience, too. Sensory words help you write with warmth, drawing your readers closer to you. They add personality and flavor to boring content. They help you stand out in a sea of grey voices that all sound the same.
Shall I explain?
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The science behind sensory words
Sensory words are more powerful and memorable than ordinary words because they make your reader see, hear, smell, taste, or feel your words.
When reading non-sensory words, your brain processes text. But when you read sensory words different areas of your brain light up. Your brain processes sensory words as if you taste a sweet cake, as if you see a dazzling display of colors, as if you feel a rough texture.
And we also know from research that when we can hold a product the desire for the product increases. Might we be able to increase desire simply by using sensory words so people can imagine holding our products?
Sensory words can even boost sales. Research into menus suggests that describing dishes using sensory words makes more people buy them.
What are sensory words?
Sensory words are descriptive—they describe how we experience the world: how we smell, see, hear, feel or taste something.
- Words related to sight indicate colors, shape, or appearance. For instance: gloomy, dazzling, bright, foggy, gigantic.
- Words related to touch describe textures. You can use them to describe feelings and abstract concepts, too: gritty, creepy, slimy, fluff, sticky.
- Words related to hearing describe sounds. For instance: crashing, thumping, piercing, tingling, squeaky. Often these words mimic sounds—that’s when they’re called onomatopoeic.
- Taste and smell are closely related. Most taste and smell words are easy substitutes for bland words like good, nice, or bad. For instance: zesty, tantalizing, sweet, stinky, stale.
- Motion is sensory, too. By using active words or describing movement, you help your readers experience your words. For instance: vibrating, soaring, mind-boggling, staggering, bumpy.
Want to know how to use these words?
Here’s how to apply the magic of sensory phrases
You can use the list below to start using sensory phrases, and expand this list by to the words other writers use.
Whether you’re reading a novel, a wine brochure or your favorite blog, notice the words that make you feel something. How does the writer conjure up images? How does he describe scenes? How does he make abstract concepts concrete?
Create your own list of favorite words, and start using them. For instance, in headlines:
5 Tips for Turning Boring Information Into a Practical Tutorial
With sensory words:
5 Tips for Turning Drab Information Into a Tantalizing Tutorial
In business emails:
Unfortunately, I’m currently too busy to take on new projects.
With sensory words:
Unfortunately, my schedule is jam-packed; and I’m unable to squeeze in new projects.
In product descriptions:
The long-lasting cabinets are made from the best material, guaranteed for 10 years.
With sensory words:
Our cabinets remain squeak-and-creak free. That’s guaranteed for 10 years.
On your About page and social media profiles:
Irreverent copywriter on a mission to eradicate gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs interesting.
With sensory words:
Irreverent copywriter on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to add sparkle to business blogs.
To make your metaphors more vivid so your message sticks:
Imagine your writing is slowing readers down.
With sensory words:
Imagine your readers trudging. Their shoes feel heavy. Squelch. Sploosh. Squelch. Sploosh.
Want to write better? Get my best writing tips here > > >
A list of sensory phrases
Sensory power words #1: Visual words
Gigantic
Teeny-tiny
Bulky
Glitter
Sparkling
Shimmering
Shiny
Glowing
Crooked
Hazy
Shadowy
Gloomy
Drab
Murky
Dull
Knotty
Vibrant
Sensory power words #2: Tactile words
Fluffy
Gritty
Rough
Smooth
Slimy
Sticky
Creepy
Crisp
Hairy
Chilled
To stifle
Woolly
Crisp
Sensory power words #3: Auditory words
Buzz
Hubbub
Humming
Faint
Deafening
Squeaky
Earsplitting
Serene
To sizzle
To hiss
To shriek
Snappy
Boom!
Roaring
Thundering
Crunchy
Sensory power words #4: Words related to taste and smell
Bland
Rotten
Fragrant
Stale
Juicy
Stinky
Gooey
Bitter
Yummy
Lipsmackingly
Pungent
Zesty
Sweet
Spice
Sensory power words #5: Motion words
Soaring
To resonate
To breeze through
Staggering
Blown away
Paralyzed
Eye-popping
Gobsmacked
Shocking
To grab
Jaw-droppingly good
Turbulent
Choppy
Swirling
To wriggle
The truth about captivating your audience
You can use the same words every business writer uses.
It’s a quick way to write a lot of text.
But you sound the same as everyone else, and the noisy internet machine drowns out your words. Your message gets lost.
Instead, release your inner poet and pick your words with care and precision.
Make your readers crave your next article.
Get them to fall in love with your writing, and your voice.
Recommended reading on word choice:
How word choice shapes your voice
4 types of weak words: How to spice up bland content
172+ power words for persuasive content
This is really useful stuff, Henneke, which I hadn’t really thought about before.
The examples you provide really bring it to life! Thank you.
Great to hear that. Thank you, Emma 🙂
Even though I’ve learnt this from you before, this post really grabbed my attention and hammered the point home. 😉
I hope my hammering had a soft touch 😉
Thanks for the tip!
Still trying to remind myself to use more metaphors in my writing. Will make sure these get applied in my next post.
Have fun!
This is quite enlightening, thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome 🙂
We’ve seen you do it week in, week out! You’re the wizard of enchantment with sensory words 😉
Ha yes, you have a keen eye 😉
I’m a historic preservation architect. Do you have a list of words for giving meaning to experiencing history through your senses in historic buildings
When thinking about architecture, we usually think of visual words first. But design has its rhythm, too, so you can also borrow ideas from music. Also, think about what scenes the building conjures up, and what sounds and smells go with that? If you describe the scenes that people can imagine while walking through a historic building, you conjure up a multi-sensory experience, and there’s no limit to the sensory words you can use.
Hi Henneke,
Here you are , with yet another brilliant article that stimulates our thought process and to make us think and write like a poet.
Job well done.
I appreciate your effort to bring us this all time reference for our writing exercise.
Thank you Henneke,
Always your admirer,
Singaravelu A.P
Thank you. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Crazy useful … as always. Loved the practical (very practical) examples.
I just gave a presentation based on Frank Luntz book Words that Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear.
While I don’t agree with Luntz politically, his sixth “Rule” of successful communication — “Sound and Texture Matter” — lines up perfectly with this post: “The sound and texture of language should be just as memorable as the words themselves” (16).
I use CoScheduler’s free Headline Analyzer tool a lot — http://coschedule.com/headline-analyzer. It rates headlines by four categories, two of which are “Emotional Words” and “Power Words.” I don’t always trust their numerical score, but it’s really helpful to spark the kind of “sensory” ideas you wrote about in this post.
Have you tried it?
I’ve found these headline analyzers quite limited. For some headlines they work, for others they don’t.
I’ve looked at them for fun. For instance, I’ve used the analyzer to review the headlines for 5 of my most popular Copyblogger posts and Co-schedule rates them between 53 and 64, so none of them is considered good, and some are considered bad. Still these blog posts generated thousands of social media shares (one was the most shared post in 2013). So, it can’t be that those headlines are bad?
Headline writing is part science part art, and it feels to me that the analyzers haven’t quite got it right yet. I trust my own instinct 😉
Ha! Totally agree.
Fun … but I don’t really “trust” ’em.
What’s helpful is using them as jumping off points and for brainstorming.
My most popular post on Copyblogger, “The Ultimate Copy Checklist: 51 Questions to Optimize Every Element of Your Online Copy [Free Poster]” — which was the very first link in the Best of 2014 post (http://www.copyblogger.com/best-of-2014/) — got a 48/100. 😉
May I suggest ESOL teachers (English for Speakers of Other Languages) all over the world use Henneke’s blog? Level 2 / Level 3 students would be delighted to discover how alive and kicking a language course can be. I’ve been bored to death when I trained for my ESOL a few years ago in the UK 🙂
It’s surprising how few teachers think from the student’s perspective, isn’t it? I don’t know why that is.
Feel free to send people here 😉
I couldn’t agree more! I teach Dutch for speakers of other languages. Students like to live the language and using sensory words helps. Like a lens they bring the world into sharp focus, which makes them easy to remember. The more students know, the more they want to know. Thank you for sharing!
A good way to get better at description is poetry. It teaches you to see life in a different, more evocative, sensual way. I keep meaning to take a class!
Strangely enough, I’ve not read any poetry for years. Maybe I should try again 😉
Wow! i am turned to an enchanting person.
Thank you for this sensory words tips. Hopefully it will boost up my writing skill.
Nice to “meet” you, Azizul. Welcome 🙂
Ohhh wee Henneke,
Was this post ever good. You said it best when you wrote “if you want to sound like everyone else, you can use the same drab language and get lost in the land of noise.
One thing I’m doing now is working on future content for next year. And I’m making it much more descriptive, vivid and full of stories.
Like you told me one time, editing is the fun part of writing. I’m finally getting a taste of that and you’re 100% right.
Truly great job here and I can’t wait to sprinkle some of this delectable wisdom in my posts.
– Andrew
Wow, you’re planning ahead for next year already? I could (or should?) learn something from you!
Lovely to hear that you’re enjoying your editing 🙂
Oh yea,
I’m learning that if I prepare early, I have a lot more time to do proper marketing. Plus, it’ll allow me some leeway to not have to rush to write something.
Thank you for this illuminating post! Sensory words do make a world of difference. They’re like a little like a dash of spice in a dish. You may not even notice the subtle flavoring, your mind absorbed with the texture of the food or the content of your conversation, but they still enhance the flavor. I found your illustrations particularly revealing because the contrast between abstract words and sensory ones makes your point clear.
Ha yes! I like cooking metaphors 🙂
Thank you again Henneke for another piece of your writing wisdom. You’ve given me new insight in how to make things real through sensory words.
I’m writing a book for carers of people with dementia. Everything associated with dementia affects the 5 senses of both the person with dementia and the carer. Many health care books are heavy on clinical jargon and less on the emotional aspects of care. Thanks again
Sounds like an important book, Paul!
It certainly is! Over 340,000 people with dementia in Australia. Most are cared at home with up to a 1,000,000 untrained family carers.
Sensory words pull you in. A cracker of a post Henneke that will help my writing going forward.
Kind regards
Mark
P.S. No mention on England’s weather in your email? 😉
Ha yes… I missed out on the weather as it was the same beautiful autumn weather as the last two weeks. Would you have believed that? Unfortunately, today it’s raining, and it looks like it might rain all day!
Hello Henneke, loving and sharing your gooey, delicious recipes for creating tasty messages that stick. 🙂 Sometimes I/we shy away from sprinkling a little sensory enchantment in our business writing – feeling it’s just not the done thing. I appreciate the myth-buster very much.
Keep sharing the not-so-secret recipes.
Thank you
Nicole
Yes, it can be a little scary to use different words, but when we use the same words as everyone else, we all sound the same, right?
I see you’ve also adopted the word “stinky” for a headline. I had a long discussion with another blogger about this word. She didn’t understand why I wanted to use it, but in my experience, the word “stinky” in a headline grabs a lot of attention.
Thank you for popping in, Nicole 🙂
Cheers coach-in-a-post! I wrestled with ‘stinky’ for a long while – scared, nervous circling in my head. Then just thought to heck with it. I’m still learning to go with the flow. 🙂
P.S Where’s the English weather update?
Hot and rainy greetings from Antigua
The start of the week was beautiful, but it’s turned rather grey, cold and drizzly …
Well done for flexing your word muscles 😉
Cheers!
Thank you Henneke for this amazing post. I’ll surely try this tactic from now on.
Should I start making a list of sensory words and organize them by category?
You can create a list by category or one long list, whichever you find easier. I’m not so organized, so I had just one list with words I liked. When I got stuck, I would look at my list and try the thesaurus.
Happy writing!
I’ve learnt so much from reading your blog posts, thank you 🙂
Thank you. Happy writing! 🙂
wow! Another great post. Thanks for sharing this, Henneke.
🙂
That is really attention-grabbing, You’re an overly skilled blogger.
I have joined your feed and look ahead to in the hunt for extra of your wonderful
post. Also, I have shared your site in my social networks
Thank you, John. Nice to “meet” you.
Have fun browsing around. And thank you for sharing with your followers.
As always, a great post loaded with tons of tantalizing info. 🙂 I love your emails and posts!
Hey Henneke, thanks for a great post yet again. Hope you’re doing well.
Quick question – Are there any specific exercises or tips you can share to find sensory words in a specific context are stuck with a drab copy? I understand reading a lot and keeping a doc will help over time. But otherwise, what’s the advice when you are just getting started on this mission to improve your writing skills by using sensory words?
Hi Smriti – I’m glad you enjoyed this post! I use a thesaurus a lot to keep my vocabulary “fresh.”
Thanks Henneke.
I’m in the process of setting up all of my social profiles and writing website copy so this is really useful.
I’m super excited to put the snap crackle and pop back into my business!
Yay for snap, crackle, and pop! 🙂
Good luck with writing your profiles and copy, Kerrie. Thank you for stopping by.
Hi Henneke,
Absolutely stunning!
Thanks for this.
Thank you, Najmul. Happy writing! 🙂
I really enjoyed this article and I have learned something already, thanks!
Great! I’m glad you found it useful, Larry.
Fabulous article Henneke. It’s delectable : )). You have turned me on to a wonderful world of writing. Thanks much.
Thank you so much for your compliment, Denise. Happy writing!
Great words Henneke
They really helped me
Thank you :)))
Great! Happy writing 🙂
Your writing is not only inspiring, its like it has a live current running through it.
I read a few of your blog posts and a couple of your snackable lessons, and already I feel like you’re my karate master, my sensei, and I’m your karate student.
And I wonder what rank will I reach
after reading all your blog posts, all your books and your courses?
I ask myself whether, I will end up being a green belt, a black belt, a double black or even a master myself?
After getting inspired by your writing, I wrote my business profile on business writing.
I took a lot of your tips and I unconsciously found myself mimicking you.
I worry that I may find myself being your copy cat instead of being myself.
It’s not that I have ever set down, looked at your work and set out to reproduce it.
No, no, I have never done that.
But still, I worry that what you have written, sticks too much on my brain. And a lot of your ideas find their way in my profile.
None of my sentences are the same as yours, though.
But your influence is clearly there on all all of my pages.
That’s how much your influence is on my writing.
Don’t get me wrong though, I like it of course, because you’re simply the best.
I am just concerned that the master might end up suing the student for cloning.
Or do I have your permission and license, to sound like you, Hennneke?
It doesn’t worry me at all. I see it as a phase. The Beatles also started out playing covers.
Over time, you’ll find more people whose writing you admire and you weave their techniques into your writing, too. That’s how you find your own voice.
You may find this blog post useful: https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/your-own-blogging-voice/
Happy writing, Lucas! 🙂
your sensory words make me sense the depth of sweet and touching English with the sparks of strength and power in my writings. You really helped a lot. Looking forward for more inspirational writings from you.
I’m glad my writing inspires you, Jessica. Happy writing!
Wonderful article I have ever read! This aids me more than I expected. Although I had thought about so, I don’t know how to do. So far I feel I clear some points. I really appreciate your work. Thank you, Henneke. I’m looking forward to your next brilliant one.
Thank you for your compliment, Hsumyat. Happy writing!
Since I went live with the new website in ’16 and employed sensory phrasing I feel so much more confident connecting my work (Luxury Fine Art Photography) with clients when they visit. Especially so with print media descriptions, and telling the stories of my experiences when capturing the fleeting moments. THX!
I so wish you were my English teacher back in school, Henneke 🙂
That might have been fun! 🙂
thank you for the tips.
awakening and inspiring
I am glad you enjoyed this blog post. Thank you for your comment, Ligaya 🙂
WOW!! These words helped me a lot with my homework!!☺️
What a DAZZLING article! Thx for the insights Henneke! 😊
I am THRILLED you like it, Tor! 😊
Love what you’re doing with words Henneke, I love words too but I never thought of using them like you suggest, so you’ve given me such me a smorgasbord of food for thought. Thank you for your most helpful emails.
Yay! Your comment makes my day, Caithline. Happy writing!
I am still chewing on it.
Be careful. Don’t choke on it.