Which five words would you choose?

May
If
Because
Therefore
You

Best,
Ewen

If
You
Now
Consider
Future

I'd be required to use these words in everything I write?

you
your
see
hear
feel

If I'm being forced down a path, I prefer it be a sensory path.

Because
Look
Listen
Imagine
Effortless

Risk-Free
Guaranteed
You
Order
Now

You
Your
[prospects name] (if available)
now
guarantee

see
imagine
what
feel
you

You, Feel, Better, Guaranteed, Now.

Ninja
Autopilot
Dirty
Little
Secret

Instant/Instantly
Easy/Easily
Your
Because
Guaranteed

Some great replies here guys. Keep 'em coming everyone. When I've got a load of them I'll aggregate them all and see if we can't find the five most popular words in copy.

One thing I like about Alex's contribution and a few others, is the five words would be enough for a transaction to take place if they were the only words allowed. Granted, they may not convert many without the supporting sales elements there to help them out, but they'd 'technically' be enough. And that's the mark of a good copywriter.

Word economy. -- Able to close the sale with as few words as possible when needed. Maximize the sales pulling power of your copy so it takes fewer words to pull even more sales.

For some examples: Think about classified ads and other ads where you are only given a limited preset number of characters. Could you come up with the words to pull the order?

Think about twitter, your signature in a forum, your video description where only given limited space, your author's bio at the end of an article or press release. And how would you improve an otherwise overlooked opportunity to increase your sales simply by tweaking a "caption" to a photo in your ad? (Remember, the captions on pictures almost always get read, so make sure you put some kind of sales-message-strengthening copy there too, even if it's subtle.)

The "tighter" you can make your copy, the more interest of your reader it will hold as you guide them toward your close and call to action.

I think this thread is a great idea, Glenn.

Someone could also see some solid examples in Glenn's current signature.

And Glenn, I hope you don't mind, but just for fun I critiqued the current version of your signature for you to help further illustrate the conversion-increasing power of killer copy.

Line 1: "Discover, Proven" (These are time-tested and proven good words to convert.
I know your use of 'more than' here implies the benefit of greater quantity. However, I'd be interested in the results of those words replaced with a specific number such as "21")

Line 2: "Get access, Exclusive, How to" (These are good. For this one, I believe a word to convey a sense of urgency could 'bump up' conversions such as Get 'Instant' Access or fix broken copy 'now'.

Line 3: "Personalized, Find out" (Personalization implies built-in value simply because it's unique and tailored just to your prospect. Find out, of course appeals to the sense of adventure and excitement combined with the thirst for knowing. To improve this final line and strengthen your conversion pulling power overall, I'd simply suggest this improvement...

A more clear, direct and specific call to action combined with your Find out more would get more clickthroughs for you...for example, Click here to find out more.")

Overall, you can tell just by reading your signature, you know your stuff and have the chops to convert views to orders. I'm sure the interview series will help many to increase their conversions, if for no other reason than it will get people thinking about why words work. So make sure to keep us updated! Best wishes.

Proven,
You,
Guaranteed
Indeed
Better

Top five words:

You

Imagine

Now

Guaranteed

Click here

...apologies in advance because this is not quite what you are asking for.

But I do say it to lots of my clients.

Postcards Get A Faster Response


Steve

I've tallied up the responses here along with some other responses I've had and posted the top five on my website here: All Good Copy.

As I get more comments and more votes come in I'll keep updating this top five accordingly.