A word of warning:
You don’t wanna use too many cliches in your sales copy. (They’ll roll right off, like water off a duck’s back.)
But there are exceptions.
Some phrases are just so powerful that it doesn’t seem to matter how much they’ve been overused.
Here’s a collection of a few such cliches, taken from a couple of winning magalogs written by one of the most successful copywriters working today, Parris Lampropoulos:
1. “But that’s not all”
Once you’ve wowed your readers with an amazing benefit, you don’t want to let them sit and ruminate on it. You gotta keep ’em reading. And that’s what this phrase will do. (Its more proleish cousin, “But wait! There’s more…” might be a little too much these days.)
2. “A whopping 34%”
Is 34% good? Or not? Don’t let the reader wonder or draw his own conclusion. Whop him over the head with the statistic so he knows what the point is.
3. “The truth about X”
This isn’t a cliche that’s used by civilians, but copywriters and Internet marketers use it, and use it a lot. Because it works. People love secrets, and they want to be in on the know.
4. “What they found amazed them”
Back in 1942, when Victor Schwab wrote How to Write a Good Advertisement, he noted that the word “amazing” had long been overused, but it still seemed to have some pulling power. And so it continues, 80 years later.
5. “If you’re sick and tired of X”
I’m sick and tired of people using this phrase. But it’s so compact, and it gets the point across so effectively that it will probably never die.
6. “We’re putting our money where our mouth is”
Where else would you put it?
7. “We’ll refund every penny you paid”
I’m not sure this qualifies as a cliche. But it certainly seems to be a common trope in advertisements. It works because it’s specific and it paints a picture.
8. “The most amazing breakthrough in X ever”
Yep, making the most amazing promise in the history of advertising still works. However, be warned. This appeared in the close of the sales letter, not in the beginning.
And there you have it.
Eight amazingly easy ways to write just like one of the greatest copywriters of all time.
Of course, you might need some meat to connect these cliches if you do decide to use them.
And in case that’s not your core competency, or you’re really looking to improve ROI, you might find a win-win solution in the following offer: