Reduce hyperbole in your copywriting

There's a reason people hate marketers: marketers are liars.

A quick way to increase trust in your website copywriting is to make your copy honest.

Coined by marketer Ryan Kulp, objective copywriting is the process of removing falsifiable claims from customer-facing messaging.

A few examples:

• "Easiest" becomes "easy"
  


• "The best" becomes "we're proud of"


• 
  #1 shipping solution" becomes "rated #1 in Freight Magazine"

The following phrases are safe to use, so long as they're true.

• first


• most affordable


• fastest load time


• least downtime


• patent-pending

For all other claims you want to make -- you know, those falsifiable but good-sounding quips -- let your customers say it for you, then quote them.

Sometimes copywriting isn't falsifiable, but it also isn't provable. Calling your solution "the new way to ____" is one example.

In cases like this, consider whether "new" is actually "better."

The status quo earned that symbol because it works. By achieving your company's vision, your solution becomes the new status quo.

Ask yourself, if I become the market leader (the new status quo), would a competitor offering a "new" way to do things be innately valuable?

This is what your current competitors -- the incumbents -- are pondering about you right now. Don't just say you are new, don't just be new; be better.

If the market's best description of your service is indeed that it is "the new way to ____," simply quote them in a testimonial as recommended above.

Storytelling has an adage, "truth is stranger than fiction." In copywriting, truth is stronger than fiction.

Be honest with your prospects, and they'll be more likely to give you an opportunity to help them.