How to make boring copy interesting
It’s accurate, it’s on brief, and nobody will remember a word of it. Dull copy usually isn’t a writing problem. It’s a detail problem.
You’ll recognise it
- Every sentence could be about any company
- Adjectives are doing the work: innovative, seamless, leading
- You’d skim it if someone else had written it
Why it happens
Copy goes dull when it stays general. Readers notice specifics: a number, a name, a place, a moment they can picture. These steps swap general claims for things a reader can see, then find the tension that makes them care.
Three tactics, in order
Each one comes from the ProCopywriters tactics library. Do them in order: each step gives the next one something to work with.
Specificity
Tactic · about 5 min · Read the tactic ↗Find every adjective and vague claim in your copy. Replace each one with a number, a name, a place or a time.
BeforeFast, reliable delivery across the UK.
AfterOrder by 9pm and it’s on your doorstep in Truro by lunch.
Show, don't tell
Tactic · about 5 min · Read the tactic ↗Take your main claim. Write three small scenes that prove it without saying it.
TellingOur cleaner is extremely powerful.
ShowingTakes ten years of kebab grease off a takeaway floor in one pass.
Conflict calls attention
Tactic · about 5 min · Read the tactic ↗What’s the tension in the reader’s day that this solves? Write three openings that start with it.
FlatCloud backup for small businesses.
With tensionThe laptop with your whole business on it is in a café. Unattended.
Try it on your own copy
Three steps, one tactic each. Write as much as you like. Everything stays in this browser until you choose to save it.
Keep it here while you work. You’ll see it next to every step.
Step 1. Specificity
Tactic ↗Find every adjective and vague claim in your copy. Replace each one with a number, a name, a place or a time.
See an example
Fast, reliable delivery across the UK.
Order by 9pm and it’s on your doorstep in Truro by lunch.
Step 2. Show, don't tell
Tactic ↗Take your main claim. Write three small scenes that prove it without saying it.
See an example
Our cleaner is extremely powerful.
Takes ten years of kebab grease off a takeaway floor in one pass.
Step 3. Conflict calls attention
Tactic ↗What’s the tension in the reader’s day that this solves? Write three openings that start with it.
See an example
Cloud backup for small businesses.
The laptop with your whole business on it is in a café. Unattended.
Pick your best
Read everything back once. Choose the line that does the job best, then tidy it.
Something else wrong?
Every fix works the same way: the problem, why it happens, three tactics and space to try them.
Good to know
What if the product really is boring?
Nobody buys the product. They buy what changes for them. Industrial cleaners and cloud software get interesting the moment you find the person whose day gets better.
Won’t specifics date the copy?
Some will. Specific copy you update once a year still beats general copy nobody reads.
Do I need an account?
No. Your work stays in this browser. Sign in with ProCopywriters to keep it as a board in Ideas, or to work through a whole brief.
Where do the tactics come from?
A library of 87 named techniques collected by ProCopywriters, the UK’s professional body for copywriters. You can browse them all for free.
Fixes get you unstuck. Ideas is where the work happens.
Keep every attempt on a board, work through a whole brief step by step, and pull in any of the tactics when you need them. Included with ProCopywriters Pro.