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You've probably heard before that you should use active voice in copywriting. But why? Does it harm your copy if you use passive voice?
Short answer: Yes. If you want the long, more detailed answer, read on.
Does active voice sound better in this example?
Passive voice: Over 500 companies have been helped by me.
Active voice: I have helped over 500 companies succeed.
So, does active voice sound better? Yes, right?
See, active voice is easier to read and understand. In any sentence, you'll have the Subject, the Action, and the Object. The Subject does the Action, which the Object receives.
In the above active voice example: "I" is the Subject, "have helped succeed" is the Action, and "over 500 companies" is the Object. We easily identify all three.
In the passive voice example, our brain takes more time to decipher the information cause the sequence of the the Subject, Action, and Object is all over the place.
Let's do another example.
Active voice takes charge.
Passive voice: This post is created by me.
Active voice: I created this post.
Can you easily identify the Subject, Action, and Object in the active voice example? I would think so.
Subject: I
Action: created
Object: this post
It's because active voice takes charge. A sentence in active voice tells you exactly what's happening.
One more example.
Passive voice sounds weak and not credible.
Passive voice: Mistakes were made.
Active voice: I made a mistake.
We can all agree that we've all heard the passive voice example at some point in our lives. Either on TV (politicians) or in our actual life.
What's the feeling you get from reading the sentence in passive voice? It sounds weak, doesn't it? It sounds not credible.
Who's here to blame exactly? Nobody knows. That's passive voice. It's not clear. And that's exactly the opposite of what good copywriting should be.
Good copywriting is clear.
Copywriting is supposed to convert, it's supposed to sell. You can only achieve that through a clear, simple, to the point message.
Using (a lot of) passive voice in your copy is going to get people confused. We only have a couple seconds to grab people's attention with our headline. And a couple more seconds to get them interested to read the rest of the copy.
If they're already confused from the start, I can assure you they won't read the rest. Pay attention to how you scroll on Google and which articles you decide to read and which ones you leave within seconds.
Do you have an amazing product or service, but need help with the way you’re marketing it on your website? Do you need someone creating the copy or checking if it's in the right language? Send me a message and let’s get started.
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