Yes. Actually it's the SOUND of the word that is having the effect. When a person gets to the call to action, they have a positive action path and a "no" path. If you have used the word "No" a few times in your sales copy, you've planted the seeds of self-destruction.

Or "Know".
Or even "now".

whoa -6
throw -8
toe -11
tow -11
stow -11
stowe -11
towe -11
mow -14
moe -14
mo -14
tho -15
though -15
pro -20
show -23
doh -34
doe -34
dough -34
noh -37
noe -37

You can see from this rhyming list that even letter sequences aren't the cause of sales impact. Actually it looks like there is a "Homer Simpson" effect causing sales to drop.

The exception being "flow", which is one of Clayton's "water" words.
Thanks to the cool rhyming tool , I've been able to test my hypotheses.
Unfortunately, there is no "Yes" equivalent to "Doh!"

Let me correct that....I havn't found one yet. I need to work with the rhyming tool some more. Maybe rapp'as are on to something.

I've always wondered why "You" is negative? I guess from what I've read it is negative because it sets up a selling situation. Although it's tough to get personal and talk to the reader without it.

I hope I haven't sidetracked the thread, just one of my why's as far as negative words.

Then again, I still have many why's..

"You" is not a big deal.

us - Score: -62,
them - Score: -51,
you - Score: -6

I thinks there is a hard "YOU" and a soft "you."

The soft you is harmless. "Ya know what I mean?"

The hard you pokes a finger in the customers face "YOU KNOW what I'm talkin about."

I'd say it's DIVIDES up groups needlessly. Us & them is very bad. You & me is not a problem.

Pay attention to how you structure a sentence when you try and replace it. That's where the learning comes from. Its the same with any word that gets a low score. The way you rethink a sentence to avoid those words is the interesting part.

What's fascinating is how well Gary Halberts newsletter scores. His casual conversation was "profitable." You could actually make more money just by listening to him speak.

It depends on the context.

If the word 'no' can be used to remind of their pain, hit their pain button and drive them into action then it can be a powerful motivator to close the deal.

Here's a made-up example:

"If you're content with slapping together a headline and hoping it works...

If you have mounds of cash to burn by not testing and tracking your results...

Then you don't need to do anything different.

BUT... if you're ready to take your online business to the next level...

If you want to put more money in your bank account instead of putting in the PPC's accounts...

Then you need to grab your copy of the <product xyz>."

Cialdini covers getting the reader into agreement with you in a lot more detail in his book Influence which I highly recommend reading.

There's some times in takeaway selling or certain types of sales closes where using negative words can work quite well also.

Take care,

Mike

I'm not confident that the negative approach works BETTER than the positive approach....which is all I'm commenting on. And your example didn't include the word "No" a few times.

Some words like "Video" may have a negative score because of high use in short term advertising. "Not" may be one those words. "Not" is very likely a poor sales motivator for long term sales. For short term success, likely it's used a lot.

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