what if you let customers write your copy?

Hey,

Any copywriter worth their salt advocates for looking at voice-of-customer data—VOC in short—before writing a single line of copy.

That’s because your buyers—past or future—are ready to tell you what they want, if you just listen.

So I devised a fun exercise which you can repeat in 3 simple steps:

1. Go to any company’s G2 page.

2. Find a detailed customer review. (Ideally, an organic one.)

3. Replace the company’s homepage hero copy with the words from the review.

I’ve done a series of these, and they all—so far—read way clearer and livelier than the original. See for yourself:

• EP01: SimpleTexting

• EP02: Vector

• EP03: DealHub

• EP04: Fireflies.ai

• EP05: Numeral

• EP06: folk CRM

• EP07: Air Traffic Control

EP08—written using the words of a 5-year-old [redacted]—goes live on Monday. You’ll see it in your feed if you click the Follow button here.

Case studies

I like doing the work, but have historically been trash at showing the work.

I’ve changed that by adding a few case studies to the website:

• Relato

• Ringover

• Quotation Factory

Positioning, messaging, copy, next step

People keep debating the difference between positioning, messaging, and copy. I’ve seen a good explanation through a movie metaphor.

My view is a bit more simplistic and physical — it’s all a stacking tower toy, like this:

Carhartt lingerie

I initially posted this as a jab at “obviously ridiculous” products thinking too much of themselves.

After the ladies—and some gents—in the comments have repeatedly praised the idea, asking for the link to order, I’m eating my words, with a hearty piece of humble pie.

Until next time!