Cringeworthy Words to Cut from Online Copy

Carefully chosen words can boost conversion, and empty ones can alienate users. The following words, expressions, and jargon make my top list of the most annoying and often meaningless terms that break trust and make scanning and comprehension difficult.

There are times when using a specialized word is the right choice, such as when you are speaking to an experienced audience or when the word conveys a special meaning in the context of your writing.  Impressing your audience is not a legitimate reason for using a fancy word.

5 Words (and Phrases) to Avoid

1. Utilize: It’s a bad idea to ‘utilize’ this word in marketing copy. In most instances, this term is just a fancy way of saying ‘use.’ Readers often appreciate simple words over complex ones because they are more familiar and thus easier to process.Don’t worry about using fancy terms to add flair. A study by Daniel Oppenheimer at Princeton University shows that readers attribute high intelligence and trustworthiness to authors who are easy to understand.

Before: We utilize all the tools available.

After: We use all the tools available.

2. Enables (allows you to …): Your voice takes on a paternal tone when you say your product lets people to do something. It sounds like you are granting them the privilege of reaping your product’s benefits. It’s better to emphasize what people can do with your product or how it benefits them.

Before: Our website enables you to find discount tickets.

After: Get discount tickets here.

3. Very (really, extremely, quite): Intensifiers rarely add value to a sentence and merely increase sentence length. We often hear empty intensifiers like these in our daily conversations. However, in writing, overusing intensifiers can undermine your credibility and flood your copy with needless clutter. Removing dull intensifiers retain the sentence’s meaning while creating a more confident tone and making the sentence shorter (and more scannable).

Before: This blog is very interesting.

After: This blog is interesting.

(As an April Fool’s joke, we once "recommended" using very, very many instances of the word “very” to add excitement to online copy.)
4. We understand that… (In today’s fast-paced world…): Sentences starting with such phrases often sound inauthentic. Cut blah-blah text. Relating a story from your perspective is unconvincing because it’s not proof that you understand the situation from the customer’s perspective. Better focus on facts and examples proving that you understand your customers’ challenges and have solutions for their problems.

Before: We understand that you are busy and don’t want to sit through a sales pitch.

After: We show prices upfront.

5. End user: This term is commonly used by user-experience professionals, product teams, and developers when they discuss a type of user. While the phrase is fine for internal discussions, it is not appropriate for external content because it can carry negative connotations. At best, your readers might not know what this term means, and at the worst, they might feel that they’ve been reduced to a generic label. Engage readers with user-centric language.

Before: Developers created this software with end users in mind.

After: Developers created this software with financial advisors in mind.

Conclusion

Express yourself plainly and simply instead of choosing long-winded sentences just for the sake of sounding sophisticated. Weed out vague jargon and complicated words and replace them with common terms. Your readers will like you more. What’s your favorite #CringeWorthyWord?
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Reference

Oppenheimer, D. M.(2006).Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: Problems with using long words needlessly. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 139-156.