Power Words

Copywriters--perhaps more than other wordsmiths and marketing professionals--are on the constant lookout for formulas. As Bob Bly writes,

I confess: I love copywriting formulas! Why? For two reasons.
First, the best formulas are simple, easy to remember and rapidly mastered. Knowing them can enable you to create copy that's twice as effective—in half the time.
Second, the reason they became formulas in the first place is that they work.

Some copywriters talk about using "power words" -- emotion-packed words that set off visceral reactions. They often cite a study by Yale University Psychology Department. But was there ever such a study? The Language Log blog has run a series investigating this alleged study:Yale University Researchers Reveal 12 Powerful Words To Increase Your Profits

Whether or not there ever was a Yale study, practitioners of the art of persuasion know there are words that are innately more persuasive.

Use them.

As David Ogilvy wrote in Confessions of an Advertising Man:

....words and phrases which work wonders are HOW TO, SUDDENLY, NOW, ANNOUNCING, INTRODUCING, IT’S HERE, JUST ARRIVED, IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT, IMPROVEMENT, AMAZING, SENSATIONAL, REMARKABLE, REVOLUTIONARY, STARTLING, MIRACLE, MAGIC, OFFER, QUICK, EASY, WANTED, CHALLENGE, ADVICE TO, THE TRUTH ABOUT, COMPARE, BARGAIN, HURRY, LAST CHANCE.
   Don’t turn up your nose at these cliches. They may be shop-worn, but they work. That is why you see them turn up so often in the headlines of mail-order advertisers and others who can measure the results of their advertisements.
   Headlines can be strengthened by the inclusion of emotional words, like DARLING, LOVE, FEAR, PROUD, FRIEND, and BABY.