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For years I ended landing pages with 'Sign Up Now' buttons—until I realized just how exhausted users are from being ordered around by digital interfaces.
For years, I placed buttons saying 'Sign Up Now' or 'Download Today' at the end of newsletters and landing pages. I believed that issuing a crisp, direct command would inevitably boost conversions. I had confused clarity with bluntness. I assumed that standing in front of users and barking 'Do this' would spark an immediate reaction in their minds. That lasted until I realized just how exhausted people are from taking orders across digital interfaces, and what severe cognitive blindness these standard verbs trigger. Users weren't even seeing those buttons anymore; and when they did, they viewed them from behind a defensive shield.
In the early days, 'Click Here' worked because the digital landscape wasn't nearly as noisy. Today, however, there is a call to action (CTA) lurking around every single corner. When a user clicks a button, are they fulfilling the company's objective, or solving their own problem? This question forms the bedrock of conversion copywriting. Transaction-oriented verbs (Sign Up, Submit, Buy) signal an immediate cost or chore to the user. While the word 'Download' evokes friction in the mind (file size, waiting times, security risks), phrasing like 'Explore the Guide' offers psychological ease.
According to psychological reactance theory, users mount an unconscious resistance when confronted with direct commands; this resistance can be dismantled by highlighting the inherent value the action delivers. In other words, instead of commanding the reader on what chore to complete, we must promise the specific outcome they actually desire.
Successful SaaS companies like Figma don't settle for a generic 'Sign up' on their homepages; they elevate actions that directly resolve the user's immediate problem. Look at Figma's interface and you will see CTAs like 'Start designing' or 'Get started for free.' This transition is no coincidence. A/B tests conducted by Copyhackers consistently show that swapping 'friction words' for 'benefit words' lifts conversion rates. Figma transforms the button from a tollbooth into an open doorway. Instead of facing a cold, chore-heavy barrier like 'Create Account,' the user connects directly with their core intention: the act of designing.
When I first discovered this benefit-driven approach, I took the copy too far. Here is what we tried: we stripped away standard buttons and replaced them with lengthy, exaggerated first-person declarations like 'I want to read this life-changing e-book right now!' It failed for a simple reason: users found this synthetic enthusiasm utterly repellent. It was glaringly obvious as a cheap marketing gimmick and lacked any trace of authenticity.
There is another critical risk: benefit-led CTAs set an expectation of immediate access. If clicking 'Start Designing' lands the user on a 10-page onboarding form demanding everything from phone numbers to company revenue, you destroy their trust instantly. High bounce rates become inevitable. Delivering on your promise matters far more than dressing up that promise in clever phrasing.
Writing benefit-driven copy isn't about hunting for fancy words; it's about honoring the user's primary intent. In certain industries or specific B2B/B2C contexts, direct functional commands like 'Sign Up' can still prove clearer; benefit-driven microcopy won't win in every single scenario. However, issuing commands should never be your default setting.
Workshop Rule: When reading the verb on your button, ask yourself: does this action add a chore to the user's to-do list (Sign Up, Fill Form), or does it lighten an existing burden (View Solution, Start Designing)?