Self-praise being no commendation

The copy review contains one recurring comment: “According to whom?”

Seamless. According to whom?

Trusted. According to whom?

World-class. Which class, and was there an exam?

The writer replaces the first adjective with a task completed in three clicks, the second with renewal figures and the third with nothing at all. The page becomes twelve words shorter and considerably more confident.

Specifics involve a useful risk. Buyers can check “99.95 per cent uptime over the last twelve months”. They can only admire or ignore “outstandingly reliable”. They understand the difference, even when the approval committee prefers the warm fog of an adjective.

Give figures some context as well: the denominator for a percentage, the question and sample for a satisfaction score, and a named comparison for speed. Otherwise the decimal point is just an adjective wearing spectacles.

The reviewers keep one adjective: automatic. It describes what the system does and changes the buyer’s understanding. Nobody has to praise the product to justify the word.

The legal reviewer reaches “industry-leading customer obsession” and types the familiar question again. This time the writer replies with three service measures. Two support the claim. The third reveals a weekend gap nobody had mentioned. They delete the adjective and start discussing the rota.

Behavioural principles

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

Short, plain-English explanations of the principles behind this post, with links to related books and examples in the archive.