The Psychology of
Copywriting

Services feel more valuable in the present tense.

After inspecting a home, a contractor might say:

• Past: Faucet looked good.
• Present: Faucet looks good.

Each sentence activates a different mental image:

• Faucet looked good. Work is completed.
• Faucet looks good. Work is still happening. Even now.

In one study, people believed that John painted more houses when they read an ongoing action (John was painting houses) instead of a completed action (John painted houses; Matlock, 2011).

Ongoing frames depict a mental image of the labor:

It also happens with customer reviews.

Researchers analyzed 2 million Amazon reviews, and they confirmed that reviews get more helpful votes when they're framed in the present tense (Fang & Maglio, 2024).

• ...was great. Benefits have stopped.
• ...will be great. Benefits haven't happened yet.
• ...is great. Benefits are still happening.

Takeaways:

• Check Your Service-Related Copy. When possible, frame completed actions in the present. Check service reports, sales calls, outreach messages, and customer support.

• Fang, D., & Maglio, S. J. (2024). Time perspective and helpfulness: Are communicators more persuasive in the past, present, or future tense? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 110, 104544.
• Matlock, T. (2011). The conceptual motivation of aspect. Motivation in Grammar and the Lexicon, 27, 133.

Copy should flow seamlessly.

How can you tell whether copy is flowing? Read it aloud.

Copy is read through inner speech: You speak these words in your mind (Yao & Scheepers, 2015).

Thus, copy that is hard to say will be hard to read.

Add variety too (e.g., different words, sentence lengths). Eating the same food becomes repetitive and boring without variety (Rolls et al., 1981). Copy is no different.

What to Diversify

• Starting Phonemes. I found a patio set on Target that described “sling-style seating” and “space-saving storage" which are tongue twisters. Alliteration can be persuasive in branding and advertising, but it can be a detriment in long-form copy. People are slower to read sentences with repeated sounds: The sparrow snatched the spider swiftly off the ceiling (McCutchen et al., 1991).
• Ending Phonemes. Likewise, replace “sling seating” with "sling chairs."
• Adjoining Phonemes. It's hard to read “chairs sling” because of the adjoining “s” phoneme.
• Word Length. It's hard to read many small words (e.g., free you up to do the things you love).
• Sentence Length. Read these short sentences. The writing might seem fine. Heck, it might seem engaging. But soon you’ll notice something. This writing is becoming repetitive. Your brain wants a change. It's bored with short sentences. It wants a long sentence. So let’s add a long sentence. Notice how this new sentence feels refreshing and invigorating because of its lengthy prose; it feels like a breath of fresh air that your brain has been seeking.
• Emotional Content. Movies and written copy are more successful when they shift unpredictably between different emotions (Berger et al., 2021).
• Bold and Italics. Especially on emotional words—like exciting or frustrating. Readers internally speak these words with stronger emotionality, intensifying their engagement (Yao & Scheepers, 2015).

Related Applications

• Sequence Words in Alphabetical Order. Customers preferred the slogan Bufferil eases pain because each word was positioned in alphabetical order. Something felt right (King & Auschaitrakul, 2020)

• Berger, J., Kim, Y. D., & Meyer, R. (2021). What makes content engaging? How emotional dynamics shape success. Journal of Consumer Research, 48(2), 235-250.
• King, D., & Auschaitrakul, S. (2020). Symbolic sequence effects on consumers’ judgments of truth for brand claims. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 30(2), 304-313.
• McCutchen, D., Bell, L. C., France, I. M., & Perfetti, C. A. (1991). Phoneme-specific interference in reading: The tongue-twister effect revisited. Reading Research Quarterly, 87-103.
• Rolls, B. J., Rolls, E. T., Rowe, E. A., & Sweeney, K. (1981). Sensory specific satiety in man. Physiology & behavior, 27(1), 137-142.
• Yao, B., & Scheepers, C. (2015). Inner voice experiences during processing of direct and indirect speech. Explicit and implicit prosody in sentence processing: Studies in honor of Janet Dean Fodor, 287-307.

Are emojis persuasive?

They can be. AirBnb hosts increase their bookings when they include smiling emojis in messages (Shuqair et al., 2024).

But you need to be careful.

Emojis Should Be

• Supplemental. Don't replace copy (e.g., it's so 😂). You should be to remove emojis without reducing comprehension (e.g., it's so funny 😂). Indeed, supplemental emojis get more likes, retweets, clicks, and purchases (Maiberger et al., 2023).
• End of Sentences. Use them as a supplement conclusion. Keep this in mind 🧠.
• Facial. Smiling faces activate contagion — viewers are triggered to smile because their facial muscles become activated. Indeed, anthropomorphized emojis induce more engagement (Shuqair et al., 2024).
• Positive. Facial emojis activate whichever emotion is depicted. Researchers confirmed this effect in a text exchange with AirBnb hosts. Compared to no emojis: Happy emojis increased satisfaction while confirming the booking, whereas sad emojis decreased satisfaction while mentioning a delay (Shuqair et al., 2024). No emojis are better than sad emojis.

Other Applications

• Use Many Emojis to Grab Attention. Based on 200k AirBnB listings, new sellers increase their bookings when they insert multiple emojis in their listings because they stand out (Orazi et al., 2023). But the emojis needed to be supplemental; substitutive emojis reduced conversions.
• Don't Mix Emojis and GIFs. Including both reduced app subscriptions and usage because the UI looked cluttered (Bashirzadeh et al., 2022).

• Bashirzadeh, Y., Mai, R., & Faure, C. (2022). How rich is too rich? Visual design elements in digital marketing communications. International journal of research in marketing, 39(1), 58-76.
• Maiberger, T., Schindler, D. & Koschate-Fischer, N. Let’s face it: When and how facial emojis increase the persuasiveness of electronic word of mouth. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. (2023).
• Orazi, D. C., Ranjan, B., & Cheng, Y. (2023). Non-face emojis in digital marketing: Effects, contingencies, and strategic recommendations. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 51(3), 570-597.
• Shuqair, S., Pinto, D. C., Herter, M. M., & Mattila, A. (2024). Emojis as heuristic cues: The multifaceted role of emojis in online service interactions. Journal of Consumer Behaviour.

Do you know what zal means? Me neither.

Researchers found that meaningless descriptions (e.g., zal fried chicken) reduced sales. These products seemed more expensive, yet worse in quality (Baskin, & Liu, 2021).

It’s not just zal. Marketers sprinkle impressive words (e.g., industrial, disruptive, esoteric) in their copy, yet these words remain meaningless to many customers.

Exceptions might exist, but you could probably remove these words from your materials:

• Beverage: full-bodied
• Restaurant: artisanal
• Furniture: industrial
• Tech: disruptive
• Fashion: esoteric
• Beauty: opulent
• Household: eco-friendly
• Luxury: avant-garde

• Baskin, E., & Liu, P. J. (2021). Meaningless descriptors increase price judgments and decrease quality judgments. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 31(2), 283-300.

Your copy should have linguistic continuity.

Customers imagine a series of mental images:

...subjects try to integrate each incoming sentence into a single coherent mental model (Ehrlich & Johnson-Laird, 1982, p. 296).

Write your copy to maintain this seamless flow of imagery.

Keep the Typical Sequence

Arranging products on a shelf?

Follow the sequence in which these products are typically used:

• Shampoo, conditioner
• Detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets
• Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash

Customers will envision this usage more easily. And if it's easier to imagine, they feel stronger emotions.

Keep the Same Protagonist

Sometimes I'll catch myself intermingling subjects:

• Customers are influenced by...
• We are influenced by...
• You are influenced by...

But different protagonists create a disjointed story.

Same with graphics:

Constrain narratives to a single person so that you build a coherent story for customers to imagine.

Keep the Same Visual Perspective

Read these sentences:

• Mary was reading in her room; John went in to talk to her.
• Mary was reading in her room; John came in to talk to her.

The first sentence is harder to read because you start by immersing yourself inside Mary's room, but it quickly forces you to imagine the outside of her room.

Similar effects happen with product images. A collage of hotel images (e.g., pool, lobby, beach) can make it difficult to imagine a consistent narrative because of these shifting perspectives (Jiang et al., 2014).

You can (and should) show different perspectives. Just don't pair these images with narrative-driven copy because it will be harder to imagine.

Linguistic Tips

• End Sentences With a Concrete Image. Avoid ending sentences with prepositions: What time are you leaving at? Prepositions often imply that an object is appearing next, so an abrupt ending feels jarring. Plus, it's harder to expand this imagery in the proceeding sentence because there is nothing tangible to expend.
• Begin Sentences With the Previous Object. Imagine this setup: The knife is in front of the pot. The glass is behind the dish. The pot is on the left of the glass. Confusing, right? But you can ease the readability by swapping the last two sentences: The knife is in front of the pot. The pot is on the left of the glass. The glass is behind the dish. Start sentences with the ending idea from the previous sentence so that you maintain an unbroken flow of imagery (Ehrlich & Johnson-Laird, 1982).

• Jiang, Y., Adaval, R., Steinhart, Y., & Wyer Jr, R. S. (2014). Imagining yourself in the scene: The interactive effects of goal-driven self-imagery and visual perspectives on consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(2), 418-435.
• Kamalski, J. (2007). Coherence Marking, Comprehension and Persuasion on the processing and representations of discourse (Doctoral dissertation, Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics).
• Langer, E. J., Blank, A., & Chanowitz, B. (1978). The mindlessness of ostensibly thoughtful action: The role of" placebic" information in interpersonal interaction. Journal of personality and social psychology, 36(6), 635.

Customers group nearby objects.

Two nearby objects can fuse into a single object.

Same with words.

Customers translate clusters of words, not individual words. A small $5 fee seems cheaper than a $5 fee because smallness infuses with the price (Rick et al., 2008).

Or compare these descriptions:

• Customers find that the chair is comfortable.
• Customers find the chair comfortable.

The second version conveys more comfort because chair and comfortable are closer together (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980).

Brands

Negative frames depict the absence of something harmful.

Our product:

• Doesn’t leak.
• Has no BPA.
• Won’t scratch your car.

Yet customers need to imagine these negative events to understand the meaning (see Béna et al., 2023).

Always depict a pleasant image. Replace won't damage skin with soft and gentle on skin.

Or morph negative words into positive frames:

• Leak-proof
• BPA-free
• Scratch-free

Doesn’t leak implicitly conveys something leaking, but leak-proof conveys durable material.

But you can still include regular negations:

• Nike: There is no finish line.
• Coke: Can't beat the feeling.
• Google: Do no evil.

Brands get more social engagement with negations because these statements seem powerful and truthful (Pezzuti & Leonhardt, 2023).

Just avoid placing your brand next to a negative valence (e.g, damage, leaking, scratching). Even healthy food should probably relocate fat free or low sodium to be further away because of these negative connotations (Mai & Hoffmann, 2015).

Calls to Actions

See a purchase button? You'll imagine the purchase to gauge how it feels.

Well, any nearby statement (e.g., Instant Access, 100% Secure) can infiltrate this mental image, depicting this behavior as more pleasant.

Which statement is best? Try to validate the purchase.

Researchers tested assurances at the largest fashion retailer in China:

• Supply Pressure - Only X products left
• Time Pressure - Deal ends in X hours
• Social Pressure - X people bought this item in the last 24 hours
• Choice Assurance - Won't it be your best choice?
• Style Assurance - This item especially fits your casual style
• Fit Assurance - Check out the perfect size for you
• No Message - Control

Pressure messages boosted short-term sales, but they reduced long-term profit due to a sharp increase in returns:

Pressure-driven nudges slightly outcompete the assurance-initiated equivalents, as the former increase sales by 2.2 times, and the latter do so by 1.9 times… However, assurance nudges reduce product returns by more than 69.3% relative to the levels achieved with the former (Ghose et al., 2024, p. 519).

• Béna, J., Mauclet, A., & Corneille, O. (2023). Does co-occurrence information influence evaluations beyond relational meaning?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(4), 968.
• Coulter, K. S., & Coulter, R. A. (2005). Size does matter: The effects of magnitude representation congruency on price perceptions and purchase likelihood. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(1), 64-76.
• Ghose, A., Lee, H. A., Nam, K., & Oh, W. (2024). The effects of pressure and Self-Assurance nudges on product purchases and returns in online retailing: evidence from a randomized field experiment. Journal of Marketing Research, 61(3), 517-535.
• Rick, S. I., Cryder, C. E., & Loewenstein, G. (2008). Tightwads and spendthrifts. Journal of consumer research, 34(6), 767-782.
• Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). The metaphorical structure of the human conceptual system. Cognitive science, 4(2), 195-208.
• Mai, R., & Hoffmann, S. (2015). How to combat the unhealthy= tasty intuition: The influencing role of health consciousness. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 34(1), 63-83.

Most behaviors involve a motor action.

Therefore, try activating the muscles involved in this behavior.

In one study, participants were asked to turn a knob once they understood a sentence, and they turned the knob faster when this rotation (e.g., counter-clockwise) matched the rotation depicted in the sentence (e.g., Katie opened a water bottle) because their muscles became activated (Zwaan & Taylor, 2006).

How to Apply

• Say Click, Tap, or Type. Merely reading these words can ease these behaviors.

• Tell Retail Passerbys to Walk In. Replace "we're open" with a more direct "Walk in, we're open."
• Show Hands. Add hand graphics on tip jars, donation bins, vending machines, or any medium where customers insert money. Customers feel ownership of these hands (Luangrath et al., 2022).

• Show Graspable Cues Near Writing Tasks. Shoppers were 3x more likely to write their contact details for a loyalty program when the tabletop poster showed a vegetable peeler with the handle on the right, which primed the motor action of writing for right-handed shoppers (the majority of the population; Maille et al., 2020).

• Insert Textures Near Buttons. Customers can imagine this bumpy texture, and they misattribute this ease of touching with a desire to touch

• Luangrath, A. W., Peck, J., Hedgcock, W., & Xu, Y. (2022). Observing product touch: The vicarious haptic effect in digital marketing and virtual reality. Journal of Marketing Research, 59(2), 306-326.
• Maille, V., Morrin, M., & Reynolds-McIlnay, R. (2020). On the other hand…: Enhancing promotional effectiveness with haptic cues. Journal of Marketing Research, 57(1), 100-117.
• Zwaan, R. A., & Taylor, L. J. (2006). Seeing, acting, understanding: motor resonance in language comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135(1), 1.

Buttons shouldn't impact a purchase.

But they do.

Customers evaluate purchase decisions by imagining two scenarios:

• Consuming a product (outcome)
• Acquiring a product (process)

Easy-to-click buttons can strengthen process simulations. Customers can easily imagine themselves completing the next step, blaming this vivid imagery on their desire to complete the next step.

Place Buttons In These Locations

• Bottom. Bottom locations feel physically closer to us. That's why purchase buttons on iPhones are located at the bottom of the device. Interestingly, though, it depends on height. In a pilot study, I confirmed that short people prefer buttons at the bottom of a screen, while tall people prefer buttons at the top of a screen.
• Right. My pilot studies confirmed that right-handers prefer buttons on the right, while left-handers prefer buttons on the left. Right-handers comprise most of the population, so these locations will usually convert better. That's why product pages typically place buy buttons toward the right side of desktop viewports.
• Foreground. Insert something behind buttons so they look physically closer.

Reading triggers inner speech.

You speak these words in your mind (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015).

Since buttons represent a 1st person declaration, they should produce inner speech that feels natural. Otherwise, something will feel wrong. And users will blame this negative emotion on the requested action.

How to Apply

• Mimic Their Tone of Voice. Avoid cutesy text (e.g., Count Me In) and exclamations (e.g., Buy Now!).
• Mention the Immediate Next Step. The text Buy on Amazon can feel weird because this step isn't immediate. After clicking this button, users would still need to read the product details and evaluate the purchase. The text View on Amazon feels more natural and less effortful.

Caveats

• Measure Conversions in Later Stages. Even though Buy on Amazon might reduce click-through rates, this text could increase conversions in later stages by extracting more commitment. Clicking this button will spark a battle of cognitive dissonance that requires users to reject this commitment to the purchase.

People distribute resources equally:

…[for] decision tasks in which people are called on to allocate a scarce resource (e.g., money, choices, belief) over a fixed set of possibilities (e.g., investment opportunities, consumption options, events)…they are biased toward even allocation. (Fox, Bardolet, & Lieb, 2005, p. 338) Investing $10,000?

If your options are stocks and mutual funds, you are biased toward equal dispersion—$5,000 in stocks, while $5,000 in mutual funds.

But now, you see a third option: Treasury bonds. Your dispersion will be further diluted—$3,333 in stocks; $3,333 in mutual funds; $3,333 in bonds.

The same effect occurs when pulling resources.

Suppose that you see two trays of food:

• Healthy
• Unhealthy

You are biased to pull an equal amount of food from each category.

But aha, we can influence this choice by partitioning the “healthy” category into multiple categories:

• Healthy—Vegetables
• Healthy—Fruit
• Unhealthy

The “healthy” category now comprises a larger percentage of the group. Less food will be chosen from the “unhealthy” category.

• Fox, C. R., Bardolet, D., & Lieb, D. (2005). Partition dependence in decision analysis, resource allocation, and consumer choice. In Experimental business research (pp. 229-251). Springer, Boston, MA.

Purchase buttons should look pretty.

When customers view a button, they contemplate the decision: Hmm, should I click?

A pretty button can activate positive emotions that become attributed to the decision: Hmm, something feels right. I must want to click.

Rejections are different. You don't want clicks. Follow the opposite advice and reduce the fluency of these options.

How to Apply

• Make Them Ugly. Weird fonts, wide spacing, or unbalanced designs. Customers blame this disfluency on the decision: Hmm, my gut is telling me to click the other option.
• Insert Unnatural Phrasing. Customers read button text inside their head; it's called inner speech. If it sounds natural — something they would typically say — they are more likely to click. But you want the opposite. Try replacing "No Thanks" with "Postpone the Decision."
• Insert Mean Phrasing. "No thanks" is common, yet polite and natural. Try a blunt "No."

Be careful with empty space.

Even though it can optimize visual layouts, it can also reduce persuasion.

Across 7 studies, messages were less persuasive when they were surrounded by empty space (Kwan, Dai, & Wyer, 2017).

Empty space is most harmful below arguments. Readers infer that you were unable to fill this space with additional reasons, so your message seems less credible.

"a communicator who intends to convey a strong opinion is likely to use all of the space available to elaborate his or her position, whereas a communicator who is less confident... may leave space unused." (Kwan, Dai, & Wyer Jr, 2017, p. 450)

Plus, it triggers an anchoring effect. Your benefits might "feel smaller" if they consume a small fraction of available space.

Try shrinking this canvas so that customers receive 100% of potential benefits.

• Kwan, C. M., Dai, X., & Wyer Jr, R. S. (2017). Contextual influences on message persuasion: The effect of empty space. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(2), 448-464.

Help readers imagine using your product.

Stronger simulations wil induce stronger emotions (and desire).

Therefore, replace vague copy with concreteness:

• Features. Replace ounces or grams with bags or pieces (Monnier & Thomas, 2022).
• Actions. Replace sign up for an account with create a username and password.
• Benefits. Replace easy to use with a specific reason. Minimal features? Beautiful interface? Quick 2-min onboarding? Automates tasks? Same with durable: Can drop it? No tearing? Heavy? Long-lasting? Other vague culprits: quality, powerful, high-performance, fast, reliable, premier, best.

If a customer is trying a shirt, a salesperson could say:

• THAT looks great!
• That TOP looks great!
• That SHIRT looks great!
• That GREEN T-SHIRT looks great!

Each subsequent example is more concrete.

And this imagery is persuasive. Customers imagine themselves using your product, so this imagery intensifies their emotional response because they can simulate the benefits (Packard & Berger, 2021).

Replace any vague placeholders:

• This service can…
• This makeover can…

Or consider support messages.

• I can’t add a new product to your order. But you can cancel the current order, then add a new item.
• I can’t add those jeans to your order. But you can cancel the shoes, then add the jeans.

How to Apply

• Fill Sentences With Semantically Related Words. Your brain is a web of knowledge. Reading the words DEEP, SALTY, FOAM will activate the related concept SEA because of spreading activation (Collins & Loftus, 1975; Topolinski & Strack, 2008). Try fueling these flames of activation. Selling a coffee brewer? Replace make coffee with brew coffee so that these related words — brew and coffee — merge their activation into a stronger burst, resulting in more vivid imagery.
• Suggest Relevant Ideas For Your Product. A life insurance plan was preferred when it covered death by terrorism compared to death by any reason. Even though any reason was objectively better, people struggled to imagine possible scenarios (Johnson et al., 1993). Help people imagine buying food containers by providing specific examples of food they can store: soups, sauces, stews, meats, fruits, veggies. Sell copywriting services? Replace broad services of marketing or emails with specific applications of product launches, newsletters, etc.

• Monnier, A., & Thomas, M. (2022). Experiential and analytical price evaluations: How experiential product description affects prices. Journal of Consumer Research, 49(4), 574-594.
• Packard, G., & Berger, J. (2021). How concrete language shapes customer satisfaction. Journal of Consumer Research, 47(5), 787-806.

People like new stuff.

It's a recent finding called the mere newness preference (Jie & Li, 2022).

How does it work? 

Well, I just called it a “recent” finding. Based on this mere newness, you think the study is more important. Even though it could be garbage.

And it's been replicated: The same headphones seemed more innovative when they were a week old (vs. a year old; Min, 2023).

Innovative ideas are likely to be the most recent ones…  this observation is so prevailing that its reverse causality (i.e., recency  is innovative) may also seem to be the case (Min, 2023)

Why It Works

• Evolution. Researchers argue that it stems from evolution: "Over millennia of evolution, humans have developed a taste for fresh foods due to their greater nutrition content and disgust toward decaying foods due to their possibility for illness (Jie & Li, 2022, p. 2)"
• Proximity. New products feel subconsciously closer to you in the present. A study from 20 years ago might seem boring, while a new study – even the same finding – would seem relevant because it’s closer to you.

How to Apply

• Frame Products With the Most Recent Date. Production date, release date, purchase date, etc.
• Always Mention Products That Newly Arrived. Fresh cars at a dealership seem better than identical cars that have been sitting on the lot, even if nobody has driven them.
• Embrace the Word Today. An ice cream shop could mention "Today's Flavors" even if they're permanent.
• Reframe Scarcity For Fresh Products. Only 2 left can boost sales for limited editions. But in other scenarios, this message could imply leftover options that nobody wanted. Perhaps try the opposite framing — newly arrived 2 days ago — to motivate customers to buy fresh options that won’t stay fresh much longer.

• Jie, Y., & Li, Y. (2022). Chronological cues and consumers’ preference for mere newness. Journal of Retailing, 98(3), 527-541.
• Min, B. (2023). Because it is brand new! Recency heuristic for product innovativeness evaluation. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 47(3), 1023-1041.

Most products do [something] for [someone].

Imagine a course on writing.

Which side is more persuasive: A course...

• ...on writing?
• ...for writers?

I'd argue that roles are more persuasive than actions.

1. Roles Are Permanent

Compare these:

• Jennifer enjoys dogs a lot
• Jennifer is a dog person

Both seem similar, but Jennifer seemed more enamored with dogs when she was described as a dog person (Walton & Banaji, 2004).

Same with these examples:

• ...is a coffee-drinker VS. drinks coffee a lot
• ...is a night person VS. stays up late
• ...is a baseball fan VS. watches baseball a lot

Verbs are fickle — they depend on the day, time, and more.

But nouns? They're permanent.

Therefore, a course "for writers" will convey permanent benefits.

2. Implicit Social Proof

Consider each mental image:

• ...on writing: Prospects imagine the act of writing.
• ...for writers: Prospects imagine a group of writers taking your course.

Roles contain social proof. And these hypothetical people belong to the same ingroup as prospects, so this effect is further magnified.

3. Validation for Newcomers

Some purchases can validate a role.

If writers are buying your course, they will inherit this designation (i.e., become an official writer) by merely purchasing it.

Takeaway

• Sprinkle Roles Throughout Copy. You can still mention actions too. Just don't forget to include roles.

Caveats

• Foster a Growth Mindset. Customers were less likely to sign up for a training program for "leaders" because it seemed difficult (Savani & Zou, 2019). But this hesitation was resolved by describing leadership as a skill that could be developed.
• Harder With Diverse Segments. You might need action-framing if your product caters to many types of people.

• Savani, K., & Zou, X. (2019). Making the leader identity salient can be demotivating. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 25(2), 245.
• Walton, G. M., & Banaji, M. R. (2004). Being what you say: The effect of essentialist linguistic labels on preferences. Social Cognition, 22(2), 193-213.

How is your product made?

Try describing your enjoyment with this process (Paley et al., 2024).

Describing enjoyment:

• Boosted a Facebook ad CTR by 40%
• Enhanced perceived quality
• Increased willingness to pay

And this strategy is underused — e.g., only 0.1% of Etsy sellers and 4% of Upwork freelancers mention their enjoyment in creating products or services (Paley et al., 2024).

Why It Works

• Higher Quality. Enjoyment implies motivation and lack of automation.
• Less Reactance. Direct claims trigger suspicion: We help small businesses. Readers will question the previous statement, as if this agency doesn't help small businesses. Indirect claims can distract readers from questioning the core assertion: We enjoy helping small businesses. Now readers will question this enjoyment instead of the main benefit of providing help.

How to Apply

• Describe Products As Complex Yet Enjoyable. A bartender earned more money when they enjoyed making a complex cocktail, but not a simple cocktail (Paley et al., 2024).
• Charge Higher Prices. Researchers confirmed that Upwork freelancers charge lower prices when they enjoy their service, yet buyers are willing to pay higher prices for them (Paley et al., 2024).

Everyone is self-interested.

But not always.

Sometimes you can boost persuasion by describing how a specific action could benefit other people.

For example, a hospital influenced more people to wash their hands when they described the benefit toward patients (Grant & Hofmann, 2011).

• Hand hygiene prevents you from catching diseases.
• Hand hygiene prevents patients from catching diseases.

Why It Works

• Blind Optimism. Nobody expects a car accident to happen, so they feel unmotivated to buy something that might prevent one. Therefore, describe how this decision (or lack thereof) could impact other people. Suddenly readers are no longer gambling their own safety – they are gambling the safety of their family and loved ones.
• Emotional Transfer. Mentioning "your family" can transfer positive emotions to the product (Fisher et al., 2023).

How to Apply

• Frame Discounts for a Significant Other. Mention other people who can benefit from your coupon (Fisher et al., 2023). You'll also activate a specific budget (e.g., family budget), narrowing the scope and capability of these funds so they feel less painful to spend (Pomerance & Reinholtz, 2024).

• Grant, A. M., & Hofmann, D. A. (2011). It’s not all about me: Motivating hand hygiene among health care professionals by focusing on patients. Psychological science, 22(12), 1494-1499.
• Fisher, G., McGranaghan, M., Liaukonyte, J., & Wilbur, K. C. (2023). Price promotions, beneficiary framing, and mental accounting. Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 21(2), 147-181.
• Pomerance, J., & Reinholtz, N. (2024). Cut me some slack! How perceptions of financial slack influence pain of payment. Psychology & Marketing, 41(5), 1100-1114.

Copy should be clear and direct.

This advice is everywhere, yet it leads to copy like this:

• Our chair is soft.
• Our drill is powerful.
• Our software is easy.

Yawn. Booooring.

Plus, this copy seems less truthful. Customers are skeptical, so they subconsciously imagine the reciprocals of direct claims:

• Our chair isn't soft.
• Our drill isn't powerful.
• Our software isn't easy.

Strive to imply your benefits instead (Kardes, 1988).

• Our chair is soft. Hmm, is it actually soft?
• Your new home. Hmm, must be soft and comfortable.

In the second version, a slight tweak has allowed readers to become the source of this meaning — and naturally, they trust themselves more than marketers.

Another example:

• Tide will clean your clothes really well. Hmm, does it clean clothes really well?
• The freshness of the outdoors, now in liquid form. Hmm, must be refreshing.

How to Apply

• Display Safety Certifications. Asserting that your product is safe doesn't inspire confidence because of the harmful reciprocal (e.g., your product isn't safe). Imply safety through certifications, case studies, and other indirect ways so that readers infer that your product is safe.

• Kardes, F. R. (1988). Spontaneous inference processes in advertising: The effects of conclusion omission and involvement on persuasion. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 225-233.

What is your product benefit?

Some products create an increase or decrease:

• Skin creams reduce wrinkles
• Shampoos increase silkiness
• Air fresheners remove odors

And you might depict a separate change:

• Increase in skin cells
• Increase in blood flow
• Reduction of hormones

Both directions should be consistent even if they're unrelated (Bharti & Sussman, 2024).

Customers preferred:

• An energy supplement that increased a hormone
• A sleep supplement that decreased a hormone

Why It Works

• Processing Fluency. Something feels right, and we blame the product.

How to Apply

• Tweak Your Explanation. Does your cream reduce wrinkles? Describe the reduction of collagen, rather than the increasing turnover of skin cells (Bharti & Sussman, 2024).
• Tweak Your Branding. Does your supplement reduce anxiety by increasing chemicals? Fix these inconsistent directions; perhaps it should increase calmness instead.
• Describe an Increase When Possible. Explanations with an increase often converted better. Similar effects occur with size: Bigger seems better, even if size is irrelevant to actual benefits (Silvera et al., 2002).
• Borrow the Right Metaphors. Citizens preferred different solutions for crime depending on a surrounding metaphor: They preferred social reforms and treatments for a crime virus, yet they preferred attacking the problem with harsh enforcements when it was a crime beast (Thibodeau, 2016).

Related Applications

• Align Directionality of Discounts. Which is better: save 30% or get 30% off? It depends on the directionality of the purchase: Discounts should reduce losses for prevention needs (e.g., save 30% on a first aid kit), but increase gains for acquisition needs (e.g., extra 30% off for bulk purchases; Ramanathan & Dhar, 2010).

• Bharti, S., & Sussman, A. B. (2024). Consumers Prefer Products That Work Using Directionally Consistent Causal Chains. Journal of Consumer Research, ucae066.
• Ramanathan, S., & Dhar, S. K. (2010). The effect of sales promotions on the size and composition of the shopping basket: Regulatory compatibility from framing and temporal restrictions. Journal of Marketing Research, 47(3), 542-552.
• Silvera, D. H., Josephs, R. A., & Giesler, R. B. (2002). Bigger is better: The influence of physical size on aesthetic preference judgments. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 15(3), 189-202.
• Thibodeau, P. H. (2016). Extended metaphors are the home runs of persuasion: Don’t fumble the phrase. Metaphor and Symbol, 31(2), 53-72.

Immerse readers into a narrative of buying.

Read this sentence:

• If you win the lottery, what would you do?

You just read an IF-THEN statement. Even though the IF portion is hypothetical, winning the lottery now feels more realistic because you imagined this scenario.

It works in any scenario:

• If you [desired behavior], how would…

Examples:

• If you watch this course…
• If you work with our team…
• If you create an account…

...if–then statements trigger a mental simulation process in which people suppose the antecedent (if statement) to be true and evaluate the consequent (then statement) in that context... evaluating a conditional will heighten belief in its antecedent more than in its consequent (Hadjichristidis et al., 2007, p. 2052).

But ideally, replace if with a stronger hypothetical:

• If is uncertain
• When is more certain, but not guaranteed
• After is most certain (and vivid) because it already happened

Why It Works

Customers make decisions by simulating the outcome and process.

Buying a new suit? You imagine the outcome (e.g., looking good, getting hired), then you subtract the negative emotions of the process (e.g., spending time and money).

A surplus of positive emotions will affirm this decision.

Intensify these outcomes and processes:

• Vivid imagining your suit will increase positive emotions
• Vividly imagining the purchase will make this behavior seem easier

How to Apply

• Say You or Your. These pronouns increase engagement through heightened immersion (Cruz et al., 2017).
• Show the Unboxing. Purchase simulations are more motivating than usage simulations. Show somebody opening a delivery with your product: Hmm, do I want these pans? I can see myself buying them. Guess I want them (Zemack‐Rugar & Rabino, 2019).

Caveats

• Leave Something to Be Desired. Too much vividness can satiate desire. People eat less candy if they just imagined eating candy because they satisfied their craving (Morewedge et al., 2010).

• Hadjichristidis, C., Handley, S. J., Sloman, S. A., Evans, J. S. B., Over, D. E., & Stevenson, R. J. (2007). Iffy beliefs: Conditional thinking and belief change. Memory & cognition, 35(8), 2052-2059.
• Johnson, E. J., Hershey, J. C., Meszaros, J., & Kunreuther, H. (1993). Framing, Probability Distortions, and Insurance Decisions. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 7(1).
• Cruz, R. E., Leonhardt, J. M., & Pezzuti, T. (2017). Second person pronouns enhance consumer involvement and brand attitude. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 39(1), 104-116.
• Morewedge, C. K., Huh, Y. E., & Vosgerau, J. (2010). Thought for food: Imagined consumption reduces actual consumption. Science, 330(6010), 1530-1533.
• Zemack‐Rugar, Y., & Rabino, R. (2019). The impact of visualizing use versus acquisition of a product on the appeal of its complement. Psychology & Marketing, 36(4), 251-265.

Doesn't 100% feel enticing?

• 100% organic
• 100% guarantee
• 100% effective

And sure, those examples are likely persuasive.

But consider these claims:

• 100% juice
• 100% milk
• 100% tasty

Some marketers inject 100% claims into questionable phrases:

...the term “100%” is sometimes coupled with an otherwise informative attribute (e.g., “juice” or “tasty”) to create a claim that, upon closer inspection, is meaningless—because the concept of perfection is not well defined with respect to the focal attribute (Munichor & Levontin, 2024, p. 720)

Are customers persuaded by these pseudo claims?

Turns out, no. They actively resist them (Munichor & Levontin, 2024).

In fact, they preferred 99% juice to 100% juice.

They even scorned people who bought 100% juice, believing them to be less successful, intelligent, and high status.

Takeaways

• Stick to Relevant Claims. Don't needlessly insert 100%.
• Shift from 100% to 101%. Ironically, this framing — a number that seems even less relevant — can be more persuasive. Customers preferred a hotel with a 101% (vs. 100%) satisfaction guarantee (Munichor & Levontin, 2024). Still unclear why.

• Munichor, N., & Levontin, L. (2024). The effects of pseudo‐relevant 100% claims. Psychology & Marketing, 41(4), 719-733.

Need to motivate someone?

Try emphasizing a completed step.

For example, customers visited a coffee shop more frequently when they were given a loyalty card that started with existing progress (Kivetz et al., 2006).

It happens with any sequence of tasks.

Like this email from Change.org:

Insert any completed task, even if it's trivial (e.g., opening an email, visiting a website, reading a description).

Why It Works

• Law of Inertia. Objects in motion stay in motion. Well, we use motion to imagine abstract ideas. If we're moving across tasks, we imagine physically moving across these tasks. Additional progress feels easier because we're inheriting the law of inertia. Since we're moving, it feels easier to continue moving.

How to Apply

• Start Progress Above Zero. Need users to complete their profile? Don't say it's 0% complete. Say 5%. Or start referral programs with 1 referral instead of 0.
• Acknowledge Trivial Completions. Survey takers give more details when they see occasional completion screens because they can see their progress (Gu et al., 2024).
• Remind Customers They're Already at Your Store. Why postpone? They would need to revisit.
• Reframe Finished Goals As a New Starting Point. Customers bought more wine if their selection became the first product in a bundle (Bauer et al., 2022).

• Bundle Past Purchases With New Items. After a customer buys a shirt, you could bundle it with a "casual night out" bundle of clothes. Since they already collected one item in this bundle, they'll be motivated to collect the remaining items.

• Bauer, C., Spangenberg, K., Spangenberg, E. R., & Herrmann, A. (2022). Collect them all! Increasing product category cross-selling using the incompleteness effect. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 50(4), 713-741.
• Kivetz, R., Urminsky, O., & Zheng, Y. (2006). The goal-gradient hypothesis resurrected: Purchase acceleration, illusionary goal progress, and customer retention. Journal of marketing research, 43(1), 39-58.
• Gu, Y., Chan, E., & Krishna, A. (2024). The trivial-task motivation effect: highlighting completion of an initial trivial task increases motivation for the main task. Marketing Letters, 35(2), 219-230.

Time is categorized into brackets.

Customers prefer a more expensive UberX if it arrives within the same hour (e.g., 1:58pm). Crossing a time bracket (e.g., 2:01pm) feels longer even if the difference is trivial (Donnelly et al., 2022).

Therefore:

• Minimize brackets for negative events (e.g., layovers).
• Maximize brackets for positive events (e.g., lunch break).

Why It Works

• Anchoring. This effect resembles just-below prices in which $4.99 feels cheaper than $5.00. Much like a one-cent difference, a one-minute difference can be deceptively powerful because your brain overemphasizes the unit difference.

How to Apply

• Shipping. Imagine that today is August 23. Free shipping feels worse if the product arrives in September, while expedited shipping feels enticing if the product arrives within the same month of August.

• Store Hours. Perhaps extend store hours from 8:30pm to 9:00pm so that you reach a new time bracket. This extra 30 minutes will feel like 60 minutes.
• Length of Benefits. Access to customer support might end on the final day of a month (e.g., August 31). Why not shift this timeline a single day (e.g., September 1) so that it feels like an extra month.
• See Results By. Frame results within the current time bracket (e.g., end of the month, quarter, or year).
• Meetings. A 45-minute meeting is preferred from 1:00pm to 1:45pm (vs. 1:30pm to 2:15pm). However, meetings seem more productive when they span more time brackets. People estimated they could accomplish more tasks during seemingly larger time windows.

• Life Decisions. Would a 17-year old be tempted to pursue a 2-year degree that finishes in their teens? Would an 18-year-old be less intimidated with a 4-year degree since both programs end in their twenties?

• Donnelly, K., Compiani, G., & Evers, E. R. (2022). Time periods feel longer when they span more category boundaries: Evidence from the lab and the field. Journal of Marketing Research, 59(4), 821-839.

Customers believe that:

150% more than [number] = 150% of [number]

But these variations are different:

• 150% of 100 = 150
• 150% more than 100 = 250

Customers equate these statements, but they differ by a full 100 percent. That’s why it’s called the Off by 100% Bias (Fisher & Mormann, 2022).

Therefore, be careful with percentages that depict a relative change. Suppose that you increased a product’s battery life from 4 hours to 9 hours.

• Don’t say: Battery lasts 125% longer.
• Say: You doubled the battery life.

The latter is technically smaller, but it sounds bigger.

• Fisher, M., & Mormann, M. (2022). The off by 100% bias: the effects of percentage changes greater than 100% on magnitude judgments and consumer choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 49(4), 561-573.

Suppose that today is July 10.

You could frame a 5-day deadline as:

• Due in 5 days.
• Due on July 15.

Remaining time (e.g., in 5 days) is more motivating.

A 2-week goal to lose weight was more motivating with remaining time (e.g., within 2 weeks) rather than calendar dates (e.g., between now and July 15; Munichor & LeBoeuf, 2018).

And this effect has been replicated with other contexts (e.g., coupons, longer durations of 120 days; Jeong et al., 2023).

Why It Works

• Calendars Trigger Obligations. July 15 depicts a calendar with finite slots, reminding people of their competing obligations (Munichor & LeBoeuf, 2018).
• Deadline Feels Closer. July 15 feels stationary, while 5 days feels like it's moving closer with greater urgency (Xu et al., 2023).

How to Apply

• Frame Deadlines in Remaining Days. Sale ends in 2 days.
• Describe Time With Motion. Say "the deadline is approaching' instead of "we're approaching the deadline."

• Jeong, Y., Hwang, S., & Suk, K. (2023). Ten days (vs. May 10) make you rush: The effect of time descriptions on task scheduling. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 53(2), 121-133.
• Munichor, N., & LeBoeuf, R. A. (2018). The influence of time-interval descriptions on goal-pursuit decisions. Journal of Marketing Research, 55(2), 291-303.
• Xu, X., Jia, M., & Chen, R. (2023). Time moving or ego moving? How time metaphors influence perceived temporal distance. Journal of Consumer Psychology.