If you’ve casually heard the term “power words” you may be asking yourself, what is a power word? And better yet, how do you use power words to up-level your copy?

Many copywriters consider power words to be conversion gold. They’re the type of words that trigger a response. Whether psychological or emotional, a power word tends to be persuasive and many writers count on evoking emotion to seduce readers (and potential readers) to stay engaged.

In this blog post, you’ll have a full list of 200+ power words to bookmark and use for your copywriting.

Use Power Words to Boost Conversions

When we read the right words in marketing materials or in website copy, we can’t help but take action, because they pack a serious punch. This is great news if we’re reading them on your website!

How to Get Started

If you’re just learning about copywriting and marketing in general, you may be looking for a free training on how to improve your conversion rates and get your readers to take action. But according to research, simply adding the right word or words (like new power words) can increase your conversions by more than 10%!

Think about it this way. You have a landing page and you have written out the facts for visitors to read when they get there. While they may read through your content, you may have unintentionally used boring words that failed to do their job. The right word choice elicits emotion and grabs the reader’s attention!

With emotional words – power words – your content will take your boring headline and content and turn them into a persuasive copy that does exactly what you need it to – convert.

What Action Should Your Site User Take?

There are a few reasons you may want to use power words on your site, and most often, they involve driving the user to take action. If you think of the last site you visited, you will likely remember a button that said “contact us” or “buy now.” These are examples of actions you may want a user to take on your site – and how using persuasive words from our power words list can help achieve more conversions.

Below are a few specific ways that adding power words can help persuade a site user:

– To encourage a user to read your blog

– To encourage a user to click “read more” or access another page on your site

– To encourage a user to submit their email or contact information

– To encourage a user to sign up for a course or service

– To encourage a user to buy a product

More Places to Use Power Words

Using power words is a great way to boost conversions on your website but why stop there?

How to Use Power Words in Email Subject Lines

Power words aren’t just for your main website pages. Think about your email subject lines. Whether you’re sending out one email to a prospective client – or using email as part of your ongoing sales and marketing strategy, using power words in your subject lines can improve your open rate in a snap! Think about a subject line that simply says, “Following up,” versus a subject line that adds a few magic, action words. Instead of a boring email, your new subject line might say, “Wonderful to Meet You!” By adding two of everyone’s favorite power words, the email just got a little more interesting!

How to Use Power Words on Your Sales Pages

Your sales page is a great time to use emotional power words that encourage your visitors to take action. After all, the goal of any sales pages is to convert a user to make a purchase, whether it be for a product or course. If you create online courses and regularly use sales pages for your own business, adding attention-grabbing words is a sure-fire way to convert your target audience. Try new words in your next iteration, and be prepared to experience more conversions overnight!

How to Use Power Words for Your Blog Post Headline

Chances are, you have pages where conversion rates are slightly less important. Often, that is the blog post section. Business owners can add valuable content that over convert over time but typically is used as a resource for their customers. It’s also a great way to boost SEO when done properly. Either way, it doesn’t have the same purpose as a sales page might. That being said, using powerful words like encouragement power words can be a game-changer for getting your users to read the blogs in the first place. Strategically placed curiosity words in your blog post headline will help you grab attention and keep users engaged, rather than dropping off your site altogether.

How to Use Power Words to Post a Job Description

Are you in the market for new team members? Believe it or not, candidates on the job search will be attracted to strong words in your job description over nondescript, boring listings. If you want to find the best candidates, attract a solid pool to choose from by adding power words into every listing.

Power Words – By Category

As you’ve probably discovered by now, different types of power words are right in different situations. The same power words you might use for your job listing may not make sense on a sales page. Keep reading to learn about the seven categories that most power words fall into.

Greed Power Words

As humans, we constantly find ourselves craving more things. And there are plenty of opportunities to shop and buy. when we do! If you’re trying to encourage your site visitors to make a purchase, you may want to choose a couple of power words from the greed category to spice up your copy!

Here’s how greed words might work – Instead of the following:

“Add your items to the cart and check out when ready.”

The same message with power words (in bold) would sound more like this:

“This sale ends soon – grab your items now while they last.”

See the full list of greed words below:

Fear Power Words

Fear can be a powerful motivator, and the same is true when we incorporate fear power words into our copy. Rather than thinking of these power words as invoking fright in your reader, you want to use fear words in a way that makes your visitor scared they might miss out!

Instead of a blog headline that says – “Learn how to drive a car,” imagine the intrigue you could elicit with a headline that read, “Don’t make the painful mistake of being fooled by other programs that don’t work – learn how to successfully drive a car today!”

Did you catch the fear power words in bold?

Keep reading for the full list of these motivating power words!

Anger Power Words

Not to stay with the negative power words, but after greed power words and fear power words, we are going to add anger power words to the list. No one can argue that anger evokes weak feelings, which is why the following anger words list includes some emotional power words!

Just remember when you use these dicey anger words that the key is to make your readers angry enough to take action – but NOT angry at you. Think of a way to point this anger in a direction that makes you the key to their success.

A good example might be a headline that says, “Stop buying useless courses that waste your money with weak sales advice that doesn’t work!” These bolded power words incite the anger that will help your potential customers understand what makes you different. And how your solution is the anti-product to these failed options!

Choose a power word (or more) from the full anger power words below:

Curiosity Power Words

The old saying goes that curiosity killed the cat, but when it comes to the English language, curiosity words keep the cat – and people – alive and well! This category of power words has a tested track record of garnering attention that leads to action.

Think about it – you’re scrolling through your favorite social media platform and seeing words, words, and more words. But then, someone you follow has sprinkled in some high sensory words that have you curious to learn more! The same is true for our business copy, on our websites, and in all forms of marketing.

A few good words that raise curiosity can be just the thing to catch your user’s attention. Pull a single word from the list or grab multiple words to spice up a full paragraph!

Below is the full list of power words in the curiosity category:

Lazy Power Words

The next set of power words is ideal when you want to assure your reader that your solution is s-i-m-p-l-e. Also referred to as some as sloth power words, these words work to elicit the emotional response of ease.

Always remember that no matter your product or service, a consumer is coming to you to make their life easier. By understanding that you have the key to accomplishing that goal, your users will be motivated to take action! Unlike fear words that make a user afraid they’ll miss out, lazy power words or strategic power phrase will attract your reader to the solution they’ve been craving – with the least amount of effort.

“A solution that works”. is no match for “Our fail-proof cheatsheet will have you up and running quickly.” Our three power words, “fail-proof,” “cheatsheet,” and “quickly” spice up the other words in the sentence to pack a big punch.

Below is the full list of lazy power words to choose from:

Lust Power Words

When we think of lust, typically, we think of romantic or sexual relationships. But in fact, lust simply means intense longing. The type that could lead you to take action, in fact! Lust power words are some that may seem overtly sexual (the list includes “seduce” and “explicit,” for heaven’s sake), but when used as a power word, you can see how powerful they can be in boosting conversions. Lust power words can be just what your copy needs when you learn how to use them.

Let’s use “seduce” as an example of a lust word. If you sell a food product, using this power word could be just what you need. “Our new milk chocolate mints will seduce your taste buds and excite your senses!”

These sensory words (in bold) are the opposite of safety power words, but they do the job!

The full list of most powerful words is below:

Safety Power Words

Safety power words can also be referred to as trust power words because that’s what they should do – help your user feel safe and trust you! Using power words that invoke trust can be the key to letting your user know that you stand behind your product and service – and that they can feel safe aligning with your offering.

One power word from this list that you’re familiar with is “money-back” – another might be “guaranteed.” Use power words like these to convey a sense of promise or commitment through your writing.

The full list of safety power words is below:

How many power words should you use in your copy?

The simple answer is enough to boost conversions. Power words makes all your copy more interesting, but it can be overdone. If all your sentences only include power words or persuasive words, the message can get lost.

Choose a couple of visual words or power phrases for each small paragraph at least. And choose one word or more if you’re writing shorter copy, like a list of brief bullet points. The most common power words can be effective but be sure to choose other power words to make your writing more unique.

Choosing the Right Power Words

Once you start to learn all the power words, you’ll be able to easily choose from greed power words, safety words, lust words, and more at the right time to boost conversions and motivate your readers.

Don’t forget that along with the use of power words that delivering a real solution that works matters too. No amount of powerful words can save a bad product or experience – but the right use of a power word or power words can bring awareness and boost conversions consistently for a great service or product!

Getting Started With Power Words

Using power words doesn’t have to be complicated. By now, you understand what a power word is, the categories you can choose from, and how these powerful words can make a big difference in your marketing.

When you begin writing, continue to follow the steps for creating clear, concise copy and choose a power word or two to include. Using power words will become second nature eventually, so don’t overthink it! You can benefit from powerful words today.

In the market for professional copy?

At The MMC Agency, we follow a proven process to help you elevate your copy. Learn more about our foolproof copy packages that take the burden off of your team and add instant value to your bottom line. Schedule a call today at www.themmcagency.com/contact.