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anti-patternsAnti-patterns·4/8

Content authenticity

Real data, specific odd numbers, written copy, real photos. The opposite of lorem-ipsum and generated marketing tropes.

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The fastest way to detect AI-generated UI isn't the visual style — it's the content. Lorem ipsum, rounded numbers ("100+ customers"), placeholder names ("John Doe"), and generic marketing copy are dead giveaways.

What inauthentic content looks like

Lorem ipsum or "Coming soon"

  • "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet…" anywhere in a shipped product.
  • Headings like "Section Title" or "Description goes here."
  • Placeholder buttons labeled "Click here" or "Learn more →" with no clear destination.

The fix: write the real copy. If you don't know what the real copy is, the design isn't ready.

Rounded numbers

  • "100+ customers"
  • "1000+ projects created"
  • "50,000+ downloads"
  • "Hundreds of integrations"

These read as approximations because they are approximations. The fix is specificity:

  • "127 customers"
  • "1,243 projects created"
  • "52,841 downloads this month"
  • "26 integrations" (not "Hundreds" — be honest)

Specific numbers feel real. They suggest the team actually looks at the data. They're harder to fake because they imply a verifiable source.

Placeholder names

  • "John Doe" / "Jane Doe"
  • "Acme Inc." / "Acme Corp"
  • "user@example.com"
  • Stock-photo headshots with generic names

The fix: real names where possible. Anonymized real names where not ("Alex from Stripe"). Generic placeholders erode trust because they say "we couldn't be bothered to find real examples."

Generated marketing copy

The AI-default marketing voice:

  • "Unleash your potential."
  • "Transform your workflow."
  • "Take your X to the next level."
  • "Built for teams that ship."
  • "The all-in-one solution for…"

All of these are correct English sentences that say nothing. The fix is specificity, again:

  • "Send 12 emails in the time it used to take to send one."
  • "Saves our analytics team 4 hours a week on dashboard maintenance."
  • "Built for 3-person startups, not 300-person enterprises."

Concrete claims, real benefits, specific numbers. If the marketing copy could appear on any product's homepage, it's worthless.

Stock photography

Stock photos of "diverse business team smiling at laptop" are a tell. Better options:

  • Real screenshots of your product. Better than any photo at communicating what you do.
  • Real team photos for the about page. Imperfect, in-office, not posed.
  • No photo at all. A clean layout with strong typography often beats stock imagery.
  • Custom illustrations if you have the budget. Memorable; can't be replicated.

Generic testimonials

Bad testimonials:

"This product changed our company." — John Doe, CEO

Good testimonials:

"We went from 12 deploys per week to 47 in the first month after switching. Our SRE team finally took a Friday off." — Sarah Chen, Engineering Manager, Vercel

The good one is specific, attributable, and has the voice of a real person (verbal tics, partial thoughts, real metrics).

Missing context signals

Real products show evidence of ongoing human attention:

  • Timestamps on changelog entries.
  • Real version numbers (v4.7.2, not v1.0 forever).
  • Recent dates in "last updated" indicators.
  • Active social proof ("Used by 847 customers as of this week").

Their absence signals the page hasn't been touched. Their presence signals someone is home.

When this matters most

  • Landing pages and marketing copy. The first impression depends entirely on the content's authenticity.
  • Empty states. "Add your first project" beats "No data."
  • Error states. "Couldn't reach our API. Trying again in 4s…" beats "Error occurred."
  • About pages, team pages, changelogs. These exist to humanize the product.
  • Demo / staging environments. Realistic data here trains the team to think about real-world cases.

When NOT to apply

  • Non-customer-facing internal tools. Lorem ipsum in an internal admin panel is fine if the deadline matters.
  • Early prototypes where the visual is the focus and copy will land later. Just don't ship the prototype as the product.

Gotcha

"Authentic" doesn't mean "verbose." Real copy is specific, not long. A 4-word real headline beats a 12-word generic one.

Also: GDPR and similar regs may limit using real customer data. Use opted-in real customer quotes, fictional-but-realistic examples (clearly marked), or your own team as examples. Never fake testimonials.

Sources

anti-patternscontentcopy