Write For Your Customer, Not For Yourself

Write For Your Customer, Not For Yourself:

We are in the midst of a website overhaul at my company right now. What that involves is looking at the flow of the content, what the content contains and how it is presented, what formats we are delivering content in and many other things. As we were writing the revised content, I found myself describing the company and what we do the way I would say it; the way I envision it being described to me. I wasn’t necessarily putting my customer first, I was writing it the way I liked and wanted to write it.

I come across so many sites today that have the company name smothered across the page. Choose us! You should choose us because we do this! We do this the best!

The customer wouldn’t talk that way or want to be sold to that way. How is that helping them? Yes, we do need to have a conversation about why our product or service should be considered over another, but that is not initial conversation we present to the customer.

It’s extremely difficult to take yourself and your opinions out of it. How many times do we say ‘I don’t like this color’ or ‘I wish the video looked this way’ or ‘should the navigation flow this way’? Probably a lot.

There is no stopping our mind from thinking and having an opinion. But at the end of the day if blue resonates with your customer and converts your customer, then who really cares if you don’t like it?

So how do you take yourself out of it and write for your customer and not for yourself?

Talk to your customers and ask them to describe your company – in their own words. This will give you a good idea of how you are being talked about in the market amongst colleagues. Have some new content for your site, a new tagline, logo or navigation flow? Share it with your trusted customers and ask their opinion.

Don’t do it all alone. If you are responsible for copywriting and are the ‘voice’ for your brand, ensure that you are not muddying the public image with your own personal voice. Ask for other’s opinions and feedback on the content you produce.

Look at what your competitors are doing. May seem obvious but if you spend some time reading your competitor’s websites, you will get a sense for how other players in the industry are describing themselves and talking to the market.

Test everything. One thing I consistently do is to test content. I may try to say something in a slightly different way in a headline, place more emphasis on testimonials or even restructure the flow of how the pages are consumed and travelled. You could have the tone spot on, but if something is not in the best order for consumption then you have missed the mark.

How many times have you worked for a company or a boss that wants to keep talking about how great the company or products are? Yes, that’s great they are great and I assume you agree but that’s not how you win customers. You need to get on their level and feel their pain. How would you want to be spoken to if you were in their shoes? What would be helpful? What does that conversation look like?

Forget all about what you like and why you like it. Start thinking about what your customers and your future customers like and why they like it. It’s not always as easy as it sounds but in order to deliver truly effective content that resonates, you need to get down on their level and immerse yourself in their world.

Go take a look at your site and your content. Did you write in the style you like or the style that will connect with you customer?

{image taken by seasonal wanderer}