Words That Convert

I just told an art director buddy I was writing a blog post about verbs. I could see her rolling her eyes all the way from South Carolina...and we weren't using Skype. But then she knows I'm a word nerd.

I love words, especially verbs. If you're a marketer, you should love them, too, because a well-chosen verb has the power to increase opens and clicks that convert to traffic and sales.

Spoiler Alert: For those who slept through grade school grammar, a verb is a word that describes an action, condition or experience. For example, the words run, click, keep, share and feel are all verbs.

With most marketing messages including at least one call-to-action (CTA), verbs are very valuable. That's why you should choose them carefully. Specificity really does count when it comes to choosing a verb that engages, motivates and persuades readers to convert.

For those of you on Twitter, here's an ah-ha. According to Hubspot Social Media Scientist Dan Zarrell, "Verbs beat all--adverbs, adjectives and nouns--in terms of attracting the highest number of shares. In fact, Twitter updates that include verbs have a 2% higher shareability than the average tweet."

So, whether you're writing a tweet, subject line, headline, envelope teaser or CTA button, the right verb can dramatically amp up the clicks, calls, opens, and visits by which your writing is measured. Here's a list of 55 verbs to get you started. Test for the best.

act
add
apply
boost
buy
build
call
choose
claim
click
compare
confirm
connect
contact
discover
download
explore
find
follow
get
grab
go
improve
increase
join
kickstart
keep
like
learn
make
master
pack
plan
perfect
polish
read
receive
reduce
register
reply
save
see
send
share
shop
sign (up)
start
take
talk
try
tweet
update
view
visit
watch

If you want scientific proof of the power of verbs to encourage a physical motor response (aka a click or call), read this. Caution: Be prepared to dig through the science-speak. This is not marketing copy.