Easy isn’t Always Best

Easy is a word that's easy to use for copywriters. Its meaning is clear:  something’s not hard or difficult.

And who doesn't like easy?

Easy can be used in a lot of different ways to express all kinds of variations of easiness, like “an easy online application,” meaning there’ll be no great effort required by you to complete it, or “easy pickings,” meaning a particular item or items is readily available. 

However it’s used, whether as an adjective or adverb, the message is clear:  Using the word easy says to a reader, “Hey, you won’t encounter complexity here.”

For this reason, easy is a word that's an easy choice for copywriters. Made up of just four letters, it’s a particularly popular word in catalog copywriting, where word space is often restricted.

But consider this:  Is your interpretation of easy the same as mine? More importantly, is your interpretation of easy the same as your customer’s?

Using “easy” when you write copy can sometimes be the easy way out. This catch-all term helps prospects understand that your product or service isn’t complicated, which is an excellent selling point to get across. But is it enough to convince prospects to buy?

What if your competitor’s product is easy, too? How do you differentiate your product’s ease from theirs? Try this:  give details and concrete examples in your copy. 

Let’s say you sell an app designed to streamline your potential customer’s client communications. Your copy states that the app is “easy to use.” But, what if you wrote instead, “Customers have told us that they downloaded the app and were accessing patient records in less than five minutes.”

Which copy version do you think would have prospects raising their eyebrows and nodding their heads? (Hint:  the second one.)

Illustrating in your copy how easy your product or service is versus just saying that it’s easy makes copywriting more challenging, but your product's appeal will be greater because it stands out from the crowd.