Why you should use the word FREE

Free catches attention. It makes an irresistible promise.

Free excites us to take a closer look at the rest of your offerings.

Free is the happiest word in the English language…and from a copywriter’s perspective, it is darn near fool-proof.

Fool-proof is good. Fool-proof means it should be in your toolbox — not just mine.

Some time ago I blogged about why free is a better word choice than its counterpart, complimentary.

For starters, free is easy to spell, and you don’t get confused about the pesky “i” and “e” that completely change the word’s meaning.

Complimentary (the stand-in for free) is spelled with an i.

Complementary (note the middle “e”) means talking about contrasting colors that, when blended, become neutral. For the grammarians out there, here are other definitions.

More to the point — here’s what happens when you get it wrong:

Complementary 1/1 coaching today through July 9, 2010

Spell check won’t catch it, but eagle-eyed readers will.

What to do?
If it’s free, say so. No service — especially a free phone call — is so high-falutin’ that you can’t call it what it is: Free.

One more reason
In this instance, free is part of the call to action.
If you want your reader to take action NOW then your message should be clear, direct, easy to read and remember.

And that’s the end of today’s free advice.