Real content beats fake proof

A proof section from a product page. Six things on it would make a careful visitor trust it less. Find them.

The fastest way to spot generated UI isn't the visual style. It's the content. You can restyle a page in an afternoon, but "John Doe, CEO at Acme Inc." gives the game away in a glance.

Five kinds of fake

Placeholder text. Lorem ipsum, "Section title", "Description goes here", "Coming soon". If you don't know what the real copy is, the design isn't ready.

Rounded numbers. "100+ customers", "1000+ projects", "Hundreds of integrations". They read as approximations because they are. Specific numbers feel real because they imply someone looked:

Placeholder people. John Doe, Jane Doe, Acme Corp, user@example.com, a gray stock headshot. They say "we couldn't be bothered to find a real example".

Marketing copy that says nothing. "Unleash your potential." "Transform your workflow." "The all-in-one solution for…" All correct English, all empty. If a line could appear on any product's homepage, it is worth nothing on yours.

Stock photography. The diverse team smiling at a laptop. A real screenshot of the product explains more than any photo; a real, imperfect team photo beats a posed one; often the best image is none.

Testimonials that sound like a person

The good one is specific (12 to 47), attributable (a real name and role), and has a voice: the small aside about Friday is something only a person would add. Real quotes have tics and half-thoughts.

Never fake a testimonial. Use opted-in quotes from real customers, fictional examples clearly marked as examples, or your own team. Privacy rules like GDPR may limit what real customer data you can show, which is one more reason to ask.

Signs that someone is home

Real products show evidence of ongoing attention, and their absence reads as abandonment:

• Timestamps on changelog entries.
• Real version numbers, like v4.7.2, not v1.0 forever.
• Recent dates on "last updated".
• Live proof: "Used by 847 customers as of this week".

Where it matters, and where it doesn't

It matters most on landing pages, empty states ("Add your first project" beats "No data"), error states ("Couldn't reach our API. Trying again in 4s…" beats "Error occurred"), about and team pages, changelogs, and demo environments, where realistic data trains the team to think about real cases.

It matters less in an internal admin tool on a deadline, or an early prototype where the copy lands later. Just don't ship the prototype as the product.

Go through this page and list every piece of inauthentic content:
- lorem ipsum, "Coming soon", "Section title"
- rounded numbers ("100+", "Hundreds of") → ask me for the real count, or remove
- placeholder names and companies (John Doe, Acme), stock headshots
- testimonials with no specifics → ask me for real, opted-in quotes; never invent one
- marketing lines that could appear on any product's homepage → rewrite with a concrete claim
- missing dates and versions on changelogs and "last updated"
Don't fabricate numbers or quotes to fill a gap; mark the gap and leave it for me.