What is a Power Verb?

Standard verbs suggest action. Power verbs suggest action that will produce a positive result.

The words “suggest” and “produce” in that first sentence are both considered action verbs. What made them power verbs is the positive results expected when they are used in a sentence.

The word made that I just used is not found in the list of 350 Power Verbs below.  Why not? Isn’t something that’s made describing a positive outcome? Well, it is, but…

Consider the word develop. Developing something has a much more value-driven association than the word made. Therefore, develop is considered a power verb where make is not. Even the word make is better than made because make anticipates something in the future.

Where are Power Verbs Used?

Power verbs can be used anywhere in your sales copy, including your:

  • Speaker website
  • Speaker page
  • One-sheet
  • Emails
  • Book sales page
  • Back cover of your book
  • Amazon book description
  • Services page
  • Products pages
  • Facebook ads
  • Social network profiles
  • Social network posts

Not only can power verbs be used in written and visual form, but they can also be applied to your speeches, presentations, recorded video, virtual lives, and one-on-one conversations.

Power verbs are most effective when used in benefit statements.

How to Use Power Verbs in Benefit Statements

Benefit statements are one-liner suggestions of hope, usually packed together in a series of bullet points or an ordered list.

Power verbs are used to begin the benefit statements. They combination of the two (power verb and statement) pave the way for inspiring people to consider how their lives will be improved by accepting the offer you’re providing to them.

> Get a great butt in 30 days!
> Make more money than your parents did last year!
> Save five hours a week with our amazing formula!

When people buy from you, no matter what type of product or service you might be offering, they want to DO (or receive) something as a result of their purchase.

Power action verbs are a great way to start your benefit statements because they suggest exactly what the consumer will be able to do or acquire by listening to you speak, reading your book, or engaging your service or using your products.

2 Ways to Use this Power Action Verbs List

You can use this list of power action verbs in at least two ways:

  1. Evaluate Your Current Sales Outlets
  2. Write New Sales Content

Evaluating Your Current Sales Outlets for Effective Use of Power Action Verbs

The fastest way to start using Power Action Verbs is take a look at something you’ve already written where you hope to lead a reader to a next action step.

If that page has any less than three benefit statements, you are simply leaving money on the table!

Find the spot in your document where you describe why a person should hire you or buy your products and make a shortlist of benefit statements starting with Power Action Verbs from this list.

You can literally scroll through the list below and wait for action verbs that have something related to what you offer to literally jump out at you! Then, simply complete the sentence.

If you’ve never created a benefits list before, my hunch is that this list will give you 10 or more ideas for potential benefits to list.

I was able to scan through the list below and add some benefits statements to my speaker mentoring page in under three minutes.

Writing New Sales Content with Power Action Verbs

When writing new sales content, the process is a bit (okay, a lot!) more involved.

Before writing your benefit statements, try writing the pain your audience, readers, and future service or product users have right now.

For every pain point, you should be able to find at least five Power Action Verbs on the list below to present in the form of benefits statements.

After you’ve considered those pain points, scan this list and start writing!

Verbs that Start with A:

Accelerate
Accomplish
Accumulate
Achieve
Acquire
Act
Activate
Adapt
Adopt
Address
Administer
Advise
Alert
Alter
Amaze
Amplify
Analyze
Announce
Anticipate
Apply
Appoint
Appraise
Approve
Arrange
Astound
Assemble
Assess
Assist
Associate
Assure
Attach
Attain
Attract
Audit

Verbs that Start with B:

Balance
Begin
Believe
Boast
Boost
Break
Brief
Budget
Build
Burst
Buy
Bypass

Verbs that Start with C:

Calculate
Captivate
Capture
Catapult
Challenge
Chart
Check
Choose
Claim
Clarify
Classify
Cleanse
Click
Close
Coach
Collect
Command
Communicate
Compare
Compile
Compete
Complete
Compose
Compress
Compute
Conceive
Conceptualize
Conclude
Conduct
Confront
Connect
Conserve
Consolidate
Construct
Consult
Continue
Contract
Control
Convert
Coordinate
Correct
Correlate
Counsel
Create
Critique

Verbs that Start with D:

Dare
Deal
Decide
Dedicate
Defend
Define
Delegate
Deliver
Demonstrate
Depend
Deploy
Design
Detail
Detect
Determine
Develop
Devise
Diagnose
Direct
Discover
Dispense
Display
Disprove
Dissect
Distribute
Divert
Double
Draft
Dramatize
Draw
Dream
Drive

Verbs that Start with E:

Earn
Edit
Educate
Effect
Electrify
Elevate
Eliminate
Embody
Empower
Enable
Enact
Encourage
Endure
Energize
Enforce
Engage
Engineer
Enhance
Enlist
Ensure
Entertain
Establish
Estimate
Evaluate
Examine
Exceed
Excite
Execute
Exhibit
Expand
Expedite
Explain
Experiment
Express
Extract

Verbs that Start with F:

Facilitate
Fascinate
Feature
Feel
File
Finalize
Finance
Fix
Flourish
Follow
Formalize
Form
Formulate
Find
Found
Fuel

Verbs that Start with G:

Gain
Gather
Generate
Get
Give
Govern
Graduate
Grasp
Groom
Guarantee
Guide

Verbs that Start with H:

Handle
Harvest
Have
Head
Heal
Hear
Help
Hire
Hone
Host
Hypothesize

Verbs that Start with I:

Identify
Ignite
Illuminate
Illustrate
Imagine
Imbue
Immortalize
Implant
Implement
Impress
Improve
Improvise
Incite
Increase
Induce
Influence
Inform
Initiate
Innovate
Inspect
Inspire
Install
Institute
Instruct
Insure
Integrate
Intensify
Interpret
Interview
Introduce
Invent
Invest
Inventory
Investigate

Verbs that Start with J:

Jettison
Join
Judge
Justify

Verbs that Start with K:

Keep
Know

Verbs that Start with L:

Launch
Lecture
Lead
Lean
Leapfrog
Learn
Let
License
Lift
Lighten
Limit
Listen
Locate
Log

Verbs that Start with M:

Magnify
Maintain
Make
Manage
Maneuver
Manipulate
Manufacture
Map
Market
Match
Maximize
Measure
Mediate
Meet
Memorize
Mentor
Mobilize
Model
Modify
Monetize
Monitor
Motivate
Multiply

Verbs that Start with N:

Name
Navigate
Negotiate
Nest
Network
Nominate
Normalize
Note
Notify

Verbs that Start with O:

Observe
Obtain
Offer
Officiate
Open
Operate
Opine
Optimize
Orchestrate
Order
Organize
Orient
Originate
Overcome
Oversee

Verbs that Start with P:

Paint
Participate
Pay
Penetrate
Perceive
Perfect
Perform
Persist
Persuade
Photograph
Pilot
Pinpoint
Pioneer
Place
Plan
Play
Possess
Post
Praise
Predict
Prepare
Preserve
Prescribe
Present
Preside
Prevent
Print
Proceed
Process
Procure
Prod
Produce
Profess
Program
Progress
Project
Promise
Promote
Prompt
Proofread
Propose
Protect
Prove
Provide
Publicize
Publish
Purchase

Verbs that Start with Q:

Quadruple
Qualify
Quantify
Quench
Question

Verbs that Start with R:

Race
Raise
Rank
Rally
Rate
Rationalize
Rave
Reach
React
Realign
Realize
Reap
Reason
Rebuild
Receive
Recognize
Recommend
Reconcile
Record
Recover
Recruit
Recycle
Redesign
Reduce
Refer
Regulate
Rehabilitate
Reinforce
Relate
Relax
Remodel
Remove
Render
Renovate
Replace
Reorganize
Repair
Report
Represent
Research
Resolve
Respond
Restore
Retrieve
Restructure
Reveal
Review
Revise
Risk

Verbs that Start with S:

Satisfy
Save
Schedule
Secure
Seek
Sell
Select
Sense
Separate
Serve
Service
Shape
Share
Show
Sketch
Simplify
Solve
Sort
Spark
Specify
Speak
Stimulate
Streamline
Structure
Study
Succeed
Suggest
Summarize
Supervise
Supply
Surprise
Support
Symbolize
Synthesize
Systematize

Verbs that Start with T:

Tabulate
Tackle
Tackling
Talk
Tally
Tap
Target
Teach
Tell
Tempt
Test
Thrive
Tighten
Trade
Train
Transcribe
Transfer
Transform
Translate
Transport
Treat
Travel
Troubleshoot
Trust
Tutor
Tweek
Type

Verbs that Start with U:

Uncover
Underline
Underscore
Understand
Underwrite
Unearth
Unify
Unite
Unleash
Unlock
Unravel
Unwrap
Update
Upgrade
Upsell
Urge
Use
Utilize

Verbs that Start with V:

Validate
Value
Vary
Venerate
Verbalize
Verify
Vet
Video
Vie
Visit
Visualize
Vocalize
Voice
Volunteer
Vow

Verbs that Start with W:

Wake
Warm
Warn
Warrant
Wash
Watch
Wear
Weave
Weigh
Welcome
Widen
Win
Wipe
Withstand
Witness
Work
Wrap
Wring
Write

Verbs that Start with Y

Yearn

Verbs that Start with Z

Zap
Zip

Other Uses for Power Action Verbs

I focused this post for speakers, authors and business owners wanting to create benefits statements using Power Action Verbs for their speaker pages, book sales pages and services/product sales pages.

But, there are plenty of additional uses for benefit statements that start with verbs.

Power Action Verbs for Video

Next time you create a video, state the problem your video will address. Then, prepare a list of benefits statements starting with Power Action Verbs to tell the viewer how they will benefit from what you are about to present on video.

Attain increased viewer engagement.

Power Action Verbs for Your Blog Posts

Blog posts can be thought of as a way of practicing good sales copywriting skills.

Just as with a video, or vlog, try using Power Action Verbs to suggest why a person should read your blog post post…just like I did with my 3 things a person could expect to get at the beginning of this post.

Benefit statements can also be the main component of your content for a blog post, like in this post where I provide more than 35 reasons why WordPress is a good option for a website.

Audit your Google Analytics and see for yourself that your website traffic and engagement numbers will increase by adding Power Action Verbs to your writing.

Power Action Verbs for Your Social Media

Once you post a video or blog post, use your one-liner benefits statements to begin your social media posts.

Acquire more connections because people are more likely to share social media posts that benefit their followers.

As you can see in those quick three blurbs about using Power Action Verbs in video, blog posts, and social networking, I was able to create three benefit statements using only verbs in the “A” section.

What to Do Next

Use this page frequently as your resource to assemble powerful benefit statements beginning with Power Action Verbs and you could soon be inspiring more audiences, inviting more followers, and enjoying more sales.

Feel free to add a link to this post from your website and share on your social media outlets as this is a seldom presented topic that needs more awareness in the professional community.