You will be able to replace vague claims with specific ones and attach a piece of proof to each.
"Fast delivery." "Affordable prices." "Experienced team." "Trusted by many." You have read these words so often that your eyes slide over them. So have your customers. Vague claims are not exactly false. They are simply impossible to check, so readers give them no weight at all. Every business says it is fast and trusted, and the reader knows it.
This lesson is about the opposite: claims so specific that a reader can picture them, and proof attached so they can believe them.
Take "fast delivery". It says nothing a reader can use. Now take "Delivered anywhere in Singapore the next working day if you order by 2pm". That one tells the reader exactly what to expect and lets them plan around it. If they order at 1pm on Tuesday, they know when the parcel comes.
That claim only works if it is true. A specific claim is a promise you have made in public. If your courier sometimes takes three days, write what actually happens, such as "most orders arrive within two working days". A smaller claim that holds is worth more than a bigger one that breaks.
To make a claim specific, ask what exactly you mean. Fast compared with what, and how fast? Affordable for whom, and how much? Experienced in what, and for how long? Each answer turns an adjective into a fact.
For Priya's tuition centre, "experienced tutors" became "every tutor has taught upper primary maths for at least three years" after she checked that it was true of all four. For Mei Ling's bakery, "made fresh" became "baked the morning of delivery". For Farah's workwear, "great fit" became "sizes XS to 3XL, with bust and hip measurements for every size on the product page". Each one gives the reader something to hold on to.
A specific claim is easier to believe. Proof makes it believable. Most small businesses can use five kinds.
Reviews and testimonials from real customers are the most familiar. They work best when they are specific and come with a name, used with the customer's permission. "My son stopped dreading Saturdays, Mrs Tan, Bedok" (an example) beats "Great centre" by a long way.
Numbers from your own records are the second kind. How many families you have taught, how many orders you have delivered on time, how long your average client stays. These must come from data you have and can show.
Credentials are the third: qualifications, certifications, registrations, awards from bodies that exist. They work when the reader recognises them and they are relevant to the claim.
Guarantees are the fourth. "If your cake is not delivered on the day we agreed, we refund it in full" shows you are confident enough to take the risk. A guarantee is a commitment, so offer only one you can afford to honour.
Demonstrations are the fifth: showing the thing working. A short video of a lesson, photos of real cakes rather than stock images, a before-and-after of a blouse on a real person. A demonstration lets the reader judge for themselves.
Place proof right next to the claim it supports. A review about punctual delivery belongs beside the delivery promise, not on a separate testimonials page nobody visits.
Round, impressive numbers make readers suspicious. "Over 1,000 happy students" sounds like something a business made up, because it looks like a number chosen for how it sounds. "312 families since we opened in 2019" sounds like a count, because it is one. (Both figures here are examples.)
The same goes for results. "Students improve dramatically" invites doubt. "Of the 41 students who joined us in P5 last year and stayed for the full year, 29 moved up at least one grade band" is precise, modest in tone and checkable, if you really have the records. Use numbers you have counted, say what they count, and do not round them up to sound bigger. (These figures are also examples.)
If you do not have numbers yet, do not invent them. Start counting now, and use other kinds of proof in the meantime.
Here is the test for every specific claim: if a customer, a journalist or a regulator asked you to prove it tomorrow, could you? Could you show the delivery records, the review with the customer's permission, the certificate, the spreadsheet of results?
If the answer is no, either find the evidence, soften the claim to what you can prove, or cut it. This is partly about the rules, which lesson 3.3 covers. It is also about trust. A reader who catches you in one unprovable claim discounts everything else you say, including the true parts.
Keep a note of where the evidence for each claim lives. When you build your benefit and proof sheet in lesson 3.4, that note becomes its third column.
The activity asks you to find five vague claims in your own copy. They are usually easy to spot once you look: adjectives like fast, quality, trusted, affordable, experienced and best, with nothing after them. For each one, ask what exactly you mean, write the specific version you can stand behind, and name where the proof would come from.
Find five vague claims on your website or social pages and rewrite each with a specific detail and a named source of proof.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).