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I had to constrain myself this morning. Too many hacks to share with ya. So, I chose THE ONE and the rest are waiting on a pile of index cards atop my desk.

After I lay this hack out, I’ve compiled Monday’s Marketing News along with a tool to save your phalanges and time.

Let’s begin with the harmless Poll below.

Hack: How to Make Your Power Words Slobber-Knockers

There are untold power word lists scattered about the web. I often cling to this one from Optinmonster.

Most writers know power words are great for slamming into headlines. 

However, we writing weirdos are not using these muscled-up words enough, as you’ll see in a minute in a quick breakdown of their usefulness.

Also, we don’t mix them up enough. Prolly because of those lists I mentioned. 

Nothing wrong with swiping power words off lists, but here’s how to add filthy power words you may not find on a basic list or puritan list or scientology one either.  

Spotting Power Words to Wield Like Jason Voorhees Does a Machete

Read slower. And read things you normally don’t. That’s the way to spot unique power words to you and unique to your audience. 

Don’t worry, if you don’t have time to read more, you can do the same by watching / listening to videos and audio. 

Instead of reading slow, in this case, be mindful of what you’re hearing and note odd power words and phrases that make your mind shimmy and shake. 

And, yeah, you’ll have to listen / watch stuff you normally don’t. Else, you’re only gonna notice words you already have in your bag of tricks. 

You gotta get outside the box with your “inputs” before you can output anything that jars the pupils right out of your readers’ eye sockets. 

Examples of easy ways to do this:

• A Gen Zer could listen to some 90’s rap or 70s country music

• A Gen Xer could read a book written by a Gen Zer

• A Millennial could watch some black-and-white films or spaghetti westerns

• A Boomer could read one of 48 magazines dedicated to Taylor Swift (wish I were kidding - 48)

All this may seem silly, but how else can you get ahold of power words that aren’t overused? 

Remember, these attention-grabbing, conversion-causing words work in other ways besides headlines.

The Skinny on Power Words

• Changing a single power word in marketing copy can boost conversion rates by up to 139%

• Using power words that build trust is particularly effective, as 46% of customers increased their purchases from companies they trusted in 2024

• About 30% of customers see power words related to discounts and special offers as a good reason to buy

Mini-report on how power words are typically used.

News organizations use power words to create urgency and emotional impact:

• "Breaking" and "Exclusive" for immediacy

• "Shocking" and "Devastating" for emotional response

• "Revealed" and "Exposed" for investigative pieces

Headlines with specific terms to boost click-through rates:

• "Secret" to imply insider knowledge

• "New" to suggest fresh information

• "Facts" to promise authoritative content

Sales Pages

Trusty power words establish credibility:

• "Guaranteed" and "Proven"

• "Authentic" and "Legitimate"

• "Expert" and "Authoritative"

Words that highlight benefits:

• "Transform" and "Revolutionary"

• "Exclusive" and "Limited"

• "Premium" and "Elite"

Upsells & Cross-sells

Terms that create urgency:

• "Last chance" and "Ending soon"

• "Only X left" and "Limited time"

• "Exclusive offer" and "Special access"

Words that justify additional purchases:

• "Upgrade" and "Enhanced"

• "Bonus" and "Complementary"

• "Premium" and "Advanced"

Check-out Pages

Terms that build confidence:

• "Secure" and "Protected"

• "Safe" and "Guaranteed"

• "Risk-free" and "Money-back"

Words that prevent abandonment:

• "Now" and "Today"

• "Instant" and "Immediate"

• "Don't miss out" and "Act fast"

Abandoned Cart Emails

Terms that drive recovery:

• "Reserved" and "Waiting"

• "Running out" and "Almost gone"

• "Popular" and "In demand"

Words that create connection:

• "Exclusive" and "Special"

• "Selected" and "Chosen"

• "Reserved" and "Saved"

Good swipeable resource for you in that mini-report. But, here’s how you could use new and improved super-power words…

6 revisions from above with odd or orphaned power words.

1. “Running Out”… changes to… “Even Looters are gonna miss out”

2. “Exclusive”... becomes… “As if, Peons”

3. “Instant”... converts to… “Whiplash-Speed”

4. “Secure”... changes to… “Hulk-Proof”

5. “Only 4 left”... becomes… “No idea how many are left, it’s been hell at check-out”

6. “Expert”... becomes… “Elon-Level”

7. “Shocking”... converts to… “Pants-Wetting event”

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Thanks for reading Inbox Hacking. Please share it with a friend or good-looking -strangers — it’s a romantic ice-breaker.

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

Bonus:  Made-up “robustness” in AI medical notes.

P.S. Tired of overpaying to get new subscribers to your newsletter? Check out TrafficGrid. CPL is under $1 & leads are filtered by their content preferences. You need 15k active subscribers to qualify.