Because when we log into our email accounts to check inboxes, or go online to find out what’s happening in the world, we are not so much reading as scanning. We scan for what catches the eye and captures attention. What words might make us stop and click?

Determined marketers have gone to work on this question and come up with a list of words that open rate and click-through statistics verify have the power to grab the most blasé of us.

Keep these words in mind as you attempt to dream up catchy subject lines or titles for content you post—-marketing/ sales emails, titles for videos you’ll upload to your website and social media, article headlines for white papers, blog, or newsletter articles, calls to action.

Free

Who can resist something that’s free? Even if it refers to a product you’ll never use, the word free has the power to stop the scanning and make you read an email, article, or advertisement, if only a few words. When an email subject line or a CTA contains this word, particularly when written in bold or brightly colored script, the open rate will increase significantly.

Easy

The great philosophers and observers of human behavior centuries ago recognized that humans will nearly always gravitate to what we perceive as easy and avoid what appears to be difficult. More recently, behavioral scientists reconfirmed those observations.

As a Christmas gift when I was maybe five years old, Santa gave me an Easy Bake Oven, an irresistible product that was sold to me by way of numerous television commercials featured during programs known to be popular with my demographic cohort. It was an easy sell.

I was thrilled to pieces to find it under our tree on Christmas morning. I had the greatest time as I poured the cake flour that came with my oven into a bowl, added a small amount of liquid (milk? water?) and then stirred it up and poured the batter into the tiny cake pan that also came with the oven. My little cake was baked with heat supplied by two 100 watt light bulbs.

I remember whipping up little cakes on Saturday afternoons to serve to girlfriends at our tea parties, or to Mom and Dad. Kenner brought out the Easy Bake Oven in 1963 and in the first year sold 500,000 units. By 1997, more than 16 million ovens had been sold.

Best

Quality counts for many of us. When hunting for a product or service, you may as well check out the item that’s better than the rest. Best is a filter. It cuts through the clutter of what could be a waste of time.

Magazines and newspapers often publish a “Best of” list annually—schools, restaurants, dry cleaners, hardware stores, you name it. Invariably, “Best of” issues sell considerably more than others (with the possible exception of a Christmas issue, if that is published).

Limited

Fear of Missing Out is real, as documented by behavioral scientists and marketers. Making a sale is often assisted by creating both exclusivity and a sense of urgency. This item is special and its ownership confers a coveted status. Buy it now.

You

When creating written content meant to persuade, whether it’s a political speech, a marketing/ sales email, or a television commercial, using the second-person pronoun when communicating with readers shifts the tone to one that is conversational, relatable, friendly and quite effective. You understand, don’t you?

Because

The thing to remember is that the human brain appreciates an explanation. We like to know why something is the way it is, the backstory of a certain condition or set of circumstances.

When selling, addressing the question of why the prospect needs the product, service, or feature being sold is most effectively addressed with the associated benefits and benefits are where the word because comes in.

This product or service is the best available to fit your needs because it will help you to fulfill your need, achieve your objective. Tie your product, features and the actions you want people to take in with a rationale or explanation and prospects will be more inclined to take action.

Numbers

From the Three Musketeers to the 12 Days of Christmas, people like to see a lust that suggests or ranks something that they find valuable—-100 easy dessert recipes, 10 free golf courses in Michigan, the 7 best words in sales. Curiosity is aroused and the click is made.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Scrabble tiles