Product #62
How to Write Great Product Copy, A Mathematical Theory of Communication and More.
Where Stellar Messages Come From · Joanna Wiebe · 2011
Key Highlights
The best copy messages come from customers and prospects, not copywriters. Get to know your customers before you write a word. You’re selling your prospects a better version of themselves.
Your segment are the people who are most likely to become your customers. People who won’t derive enough value to talk about your product after using it are not your target audience - don’t work at acquiring them.
Target a pain or reflect a motivation. Think about how your solution benefits addresses or eradicates those pains. Use that in your copywriting. 12 to 15 one-on-one interviews will generate about 80% of all possible pain points for your segment.
You cannot create motivation on your site, so you must reflect your visitors’ primary motivation on the primary pages that are part of user flow. All you have to do is remind people why they need your solution.
Your copy should matching their state of awareness. ****With highly aware visitors? You can spend less time educating... and more time closing. With less aware visitors, you may need longer copy, and more artefacts.
Go narrow to convert more visitors into customers. Target your copy at the perfectly matched few. Take the risk of being highly desirable to a select few. Write copy targeting 20 to 35% of your visitors, not all of them. Not all visitors are prospects. You can’t write for all of them. Write for the visitors who are most likely to: Do what you want them to do, be pleased with the results of doing it, be open to talking about your product and spreading the word..
The best copy comes from visitors, customers and prospects and is written in natural language, speaks specifically to the very features that lead to certain desired benefits, uses a tone and voice that influences your brand personality decisions
The best copy can be found in testimonials, customer support channels, social media posts, customer interviews, and surveys. Mine any user-generated content available to you. OR go where your customers and ask permission to listen in on their conversations and speak to them 1-on-1. Use UserTesting.com to watch users interact with your site and your competitors’ sites.
Identify and document impetuses and triggers for wanting your solution, your most desirable differentiators, the unexpected extras that will bring life to your copy and help set you apart and adjectives to use to describe your solution.
Audit your competitors. Your competition is whatever comes up in Google when you use the keywords your prospects use. Analyse their value proposition, messaging, calls to action, reasons to but and benefits they highlight. Understanding your competitors messaging can inform yours.
Analysing your customers' messages is crucial. Pay attention to frequency - recurring themes indicate important pain points. Familiarise yourself with rhetorical devices to make your copy more compelling.
Good copy keeps readers engaged, addressing objections and anxieties while highlighting benefits. Use these literary techniques:
Groups of three
Hyperbole and similes
Logical arguments
Relatable comparisons
Anthimeria (creative word usage)
Memorable sound patterns
Rhyming
Find a unique message that aligns with customer desires. Focus on benefits first, then connect them to features. Not all features need equal emphasis - prioritise those with clear benefits.
Create a Product Positioning Doc to track features, benefits, and customer pain points. Use this for every page you write. Don't dilute your message by over-summarising.
Anticipate and address common objections:
Perceived lack of need
Lack of buying authority
Resistance to being sold to
Prioritisation issues
Satisfaction with existing solutions
Doubts about company capability
Price concerns
Effort required to convince others
Overcome objections proactively. Use FAQs to redirect visitors toward value. Employ "reasons to believe" like guarantees, secure transactions, or best-seller status to build trust.
Start with excess information, then refine. Write in both positive and negative frames. Don't assume your audience is overly critical - they're seeking solutions.
Positioning is key - decide on it before writing. Remember, effective copywriting is challenging but worthwhile. Push through difficulties to create high-converting copy that resonates with your target audience.
Quick Links
Introduction to knowledge graphs · Article
The SPACER framework helps align PMs and PMMS · Article
Great article on the Amazon weekly business review · Article
Counterintuitive advice for building AI products · Article
Your pricing problem is a positioning problem · Article
Spotify Data → Insights → Beliefs → Bets framework · Tweet
A Mathematical Theory of Communication · Shannon · 1848
In the present paper, we will extend the theory to include a number of new factors, particularly the effect of noise in the channel and the savings possible due to the statistical structure of the original message and the nature of the final destination of the information.
This paper introduces information theory and establishes the foundation for understanding the quantification, transmission, and efficient encoding of information.
Shannon introduces the concept of entropy as a measure of information, providing a quantitative method for assessing the information in a message. He addresses the issue of noise in communication systems and establishes the Shannon limit, which defines the maximum rate at which information can be transmitted over a noisy channel with no errors. This concept is crucial for understanding and enhancing the reliability of communication systems. Additionally, Shannon lays the theoretical groundwork for error detection and correction codes, which are essential for ensuring dependable data transmission across noisy channels.
The theories outlined in this paper form the basis of much of our modern technology infrastructure, including the internet and cellular networks.
Book Highlights
CAC (the cost to get someone “in the door”) can be misleading. Some businesses, often those selling understandable and functional products, or products that are impulse buys, or products that are common purchases at low price points, can convert a customer with minimal time after they hear about the product.
Paul Orlando · Growth Units
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from design thinking is its focus on building empathy—teamwide—for the end user.
Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden · Lean UX
Moments of truth can be thought of as a special type of touchpoint. They are critical, emotionally charged interactions, and usually occur when someone has invested a high degree of energy in a desired outcome. Moments of truth either make or break the relationship.
James Kalbach · Mapping Experiences
It is particularly hard for people to make good decisions when they have trouble translating the choices they face into the experiences they will have.
Cass R Sunstein and Richard H Thaler · Nudge
Quotes & Tweets
Saying yes to one thing, means you’re secretly saying ‘no’ to hundreds of other options in the future. Saying no to one thing, is just no to that one thing.
Jason Fried
It’s Okay to live a life others don’t understand.
Jenna Woginrich
Great insights!