Claims, disclosure and tests on buyers

Load this file when a brief involves a comparison, a quotation, a "free" or discounted offer, a partner or creator post, a sponsored segment, or a request to test copy. The legal notes summarise what writers need to notice; they are not legal advice, and the questions they raise go to the owner of the offer.

A claim needs its evidence before the sentence

Keep one row per factual claim the copy uses: the claim, every reasonable reading of it, the evidence, the version tested, the date and who tested it. Write only sentences that have a row; otherwise describe the mechanism or mark [VERIFY CLAIM: evidence needed].

Draft	Reading a buyer can take	What the copy needs
"Opens every format a type designer meets"	a complete list	the enumerated format list
"Saves hours on every family"	a measured time saving	a timed test on a real task, or the mechanism: "spacing and kerning suggestions that run on your computer"
"The only converter that ..."	a survey of the market	evidence of the market, or drop "only"
"Your settings come across"	it works from every earlier build	the builds actually tested

Expert opinion reads as fact: a company that writes as the authority in its field cannot turn a claim into an opinion with "we think".

Quotations are our claims

A sentence from a customer that we publish becomes our claim. Beside it, show the date, the product version it refers to and the source. Disclose any connection: employment, partnership, a free license, a pre-release build ("tested a pre-release build supplied by Fontlab Ltd."). Retire a quotation about a version the speaker has not used. Offer nothing in return for a quotable sentence.

"Free", earlier prices, comparisons

• "Free" carries its condition in the same unit everywhere: subject line, preheader, post, notification, translation. "Free if you bought TransType 4 in 2026" passes; "TransType 5 is free for you" to a mixed list fails. If the condition does not fit, the word does not go out.
• A "was" price or a "later" price is one that was or will actually be charged.
• A crossgrade or upgrade rule appears in copy only once the store applies it.
• In a comparison table every cell states what that maker publishes, with source and date read; where a maker states nothing, the cell reads "not stated on [page], read [date]" in the same type size. Like is compared with like (a time-limited full license and a reduced app go in separate rows); prices in different currencies carry a note in the row. Names only, no competitor logos. A comparison is rechecked whenever a competitor changes.

Disclosure in partner, creator and founder posts

The reader learns the relationship before the recommendation, in their language, where the recommendation is read.

• Video: say it and show it on screen; a description field alone is not enough.
• German readers: "Werbung" or "Anzeige" at the start of the post. A sponsored segment of ninety seconds or more is announced as "Dauerwerbesendung" at the start. Affiliate links are labelled on the whole post, on each link, or in a note before the post. Mark German wording [NATIVE REVIEW].
• A founder or employee posting about the company's products names the role in the post and writes private views as "I", not "we".
• A business profile used by a person needs an Impressum link for German readers; flag it, do not draft legal text.
• Affiliate invitations state terms only, never what a partner might earn.

A test on buyers

When a brief asks for variants to test, deliver them as a test, not as a choice of favourites:

1. One variable per test, in this order of usual effect: the promise (headline or subject line), the price or terms, any bonus, the format.
2. Two variants making different supported promises; body, offer and trial identical.
3. A key per variant (a code or a tracked link) that reaches the store's records; mark [CONFIRM DESTINATION: tracking] if none is supplied.
4. The verdict is purchases or revenue per recipient over a stated window; clicks per delivered address decide when purchases are too few. Opens are indicative only (privacy features inflate them); never resend to "non-openers". Report group sizes, and call a difference that could be chance "no detectable difference".
5. The winner becomes the version to beat; it is not rewritten on a schedule.

Never write a variant that the evidence does not support because a test will "settle it". A test chooses between true promises.

Rejected

Draft or tactic	Why it fails
"If you don't act now, you'll regret it"	Guilt and fear as the reason to act
"Your colleagues will wonder how you did it"	Status imagery; invented reader feelings
An order form for a product that is not ready	A dry test; use a waitlist that says what it is
An advertisement styled as a magazine article	Editorial disguise
"Faster than ever, more precise than anyone"	A claim enlarged to beat a rival's
Resending the same email to non-openers and calling it a test	Not a controlled test, and a deliverability risk
"#ad" at the end of a long caption	Disclosure placed where it is not read
A price rise announced without its date and new price	Invented urgency by omission
"Leave a review and get 20% off"	Rewarded review: advertising, and a distorted rating
"Most designers forget to back up their masters"	Negative norm: teaches the behavior it names
"Our team will get back to you" when one person answers	Implied staff
A stock photo beside a real customer's quotation	Misattributes the person
"Our AI personas told us designers want..."	A model's output cited as research
A generated image presented as the product's output	False demonstration
"Only a few left", "limited quantity", "we are the number one"	Scarcity and rank claims that software cannot support
"I know how defeated I felt"; "You picked a special day to stop by"	Invented feelings; manufactured intrigue
Coupons only for readers a tool marked price-sensitive; "one-time offer" downsells	Hidden personal pricing; pressure
A testimonial drafted for the customer to sign	Not the customer's words
Competitor names in tags; "best, top-rated" in metadata	Misleading metadata

Words that need a fact

In a count of more than seven hundred thousand press releases, "innovate", "unique", "leading provider", "world class" and "cost-effective" were among the most frequent words, and editors named "leading", "we're excited about" and "solutions" as the most overused. Each one in a draft is a prompt to supply the specific fact it stands in for, or to delete it.

Numbers not to quote

Do not repeat figures that circulate without a traceable source: the Netflix recommendation billion, Amazon's 35 percent from recommendations, the "rule of seven", "95 percent of decisions are subconscious". Mark any such number [VERIFY CLAIM: primary source] or remove the sentence's number.