The SLOPP Test
Slop is content that costs the reader time and gives nothing in return. The SLOPP Test catches it with five pass/fail checks. One fail sends the draft back for revision.
Run it before anything else. A draft that fails SLOPP is not worth scoring.
| Letter | Check | Fails when… |
|---|---|---|
| S | Swappable | A competitor’s name could replace yours and nothing else would need to change. |
| L | LLM-made | It reads like unedited AI output. |
| O | Obvious | Your audience already knows it, or it is a platitude. |
| P | Pointless promotion | It promotes you with no benefit to the reader. |
| P | Payoff missing | The hook promises more than the post delivers. |
S: Swappable
The swap test: replace your brand name with a direct competitor’s. Read it again. If nothing else needs to change, the post has no perspective, experience, data or voice of its own.
- Fails: “Great customer service is at the heart of everything we do.” Any company could post this.
- Passes: “Last year we answered 94% of support tickets in under an hour. Here’s the one rule that got us there.” Nobody else can post this.
L: LLM-made
Using AI to write is fine. Publishing something that reads as AI-written is not, because readers recognize it and stop trusting it.
Phrases that give it away: “in today’s fast-paced digital landscape”, “delve”, “navigate the complexities”, “unlock”, “elevate”, “game-changer”, “seamless”, “robust”, “Let’s dive in”, “Here’s the thing:”, and “In conclusion” or “Ultimately” as a closer.
Patterns that give it away:
- “It’s not just X, it’s Y.”
- Lists of three, everywhere.
- Opening with a rhetorical question.
- Every sentence the same length and rhythm.
- Heavy use of dashes.
- Emoji bullet points.
- Hedges stacked on hedges.
- Closing with “What do you think?”
Absences that give it away: no first-hand detail, no named example, no opinion, no specific number. Nothing that required the sender to be involved.
It fails if:
- any marker appears in the hook; or
- three or more different markers appear anywhere; or
- it contains no human signal: a first-hand experience, a specific example, an original opinion or data only you have.
O: Obvious
Fails when the audience already knows it, or when it is true for everyone and actionable by no one.
- Fails: “Consistency is key on social media.” Every reader has heard this.
- Fails: “Know your audience.” Correct, and useless without a method.
- Passes: “Post less often, but answer every comment within a day. Here’s what happened to our reach when we tried it for six weeks.”
The test depends on the audience. “Use alt text on images” is obvious to accessibility specialists and new to many small-business owners.
P: Pointless promotion
Promotion is allowed. Pointless promotion is not.
The “you” test: rewrite the opening so it starts with “you” or “your”, from the reader’s side. If you can’t do it honestly, the post fails.
- Passes: “We’re launching scheduled exports” becomes “You can now get your weekly report without logging in.” The reader gains something.
- Fails: “We’re proud to have won Best Agency 2026” has no honest “you” version. Nothing changes for the reader.
Promotion also passes if it:
- changes a decision the reader could make: a price, a date, availability, a deadline or a new option;
- teaches something on its own, like a case study with a lesson the reader can use without buying; or
- is shown to the people it helps, like a job posting shown to job seekers, not to clients.
Common fails: award announcements, follower milestones, “we’re thrilled”, team photos with no story, vanity metrics with nothing for the reader.
P: Payoff missing
Fails when the hook promises value the post itself does not deliver:
- Bait: a curiosity or outrage hook with nothing behind it. “You won’t believe what happened next.”
- Withheld value: everything held behind a link. The post should be worth something to someone who never clicks (why).
- Engagement bait: “Agree?”, “Comment YES if…”, “Tag someone who needs this.”
After SLOPP
A pass means the draft is not slop. It does not mean the draft is good. Next, score it with the SMC Value Score, which rates relevance, clarity, novelty, payoff, efficiency and fit.