Look out for generic benefits

(This originally appeared in my newsletter. Sign up now to get content like this, for free, every Monday.)

Here are some words that come up a lot on home pages and landing pages:

"Simple"
"all in one"
"easy"
"seamless"
"save time"

So on, and so forth.

Every time I see them in a home page review, I put a big red line through them. I do this because they are nice sentiments, but they don't actually tell the reader that much.

My advice is usually something along the lines of "go a layer deeper than this." Then I'll explain what I mean in specific terms relevant to that specific client.

But, if you're not lucky enough to be my client right now, I'll work through what I mean when I give this advice - and how you can apply it to your own copy today.

The problem: these words don't mean that much on their own

The big problem with these words is that they don't mean a whole lot on their own. They're great if you have context about what that means for someone's life. But the problem is, your readers probably don't have that context!

Let me give you an example. I recently reviewed a home page for software used by subcontractors on big construction jobs. The words "easy" and "simple" were peppered throughout.

I thought that we could go a bit deeper, so I got my client on the phone to talk it through. And after a bit, I figured out that the value of simplicity is that anyone can use it. You can pass this app to anyone on the jobsite, and they can easily use it immediately.

It ended being a small change - from "simple" to "so simple, anyone on the jobsite can use it - today."

But do you see the difference here? One is a nice word; the other directly communicates to a problem that the audience faces.

How do we get there?

When you're copywriting, you want to really think about outcomes. What value does your product or service actually deliver? How does it make someone's life better?

Part of the way towards doing this is to just interrogate the copy by asking it "so what"? If you see a word like "simple," ask yourself "what does that mean?" Try to get your answer as specific as possible.

And if you don't have a ready answer to that "so what" question, you're going to need to get some customers on the phone. They'll be pretty forthcoming about what the actual implication of the benefit statement is. You just need to ask.

Look out for this trap

There is a trap to look out for, though: when you talk to customers, you'll often find that they use these exact generic words that I have been sneering at for this entire newsletter. The temptation can be to just use that as justification to use those words yourself - after all, they're straight from your customers' mouths!

But this is a trap. When people use these terms, they're using a shorthand that works for them because they have context. A potential customer does not have that same context that an existing customer has.

To find it, you need to go a bit deeper. Ask questions like:

• What does that mean for your business?

• How does that compare to the solution you were using before?

• What's the outcome of that [simplicity, all-in-one, etc]?

Or, you can just pause (I'm not great at this). People will often fill the gaps by explaining further - and that additional explanation can have the gold you need.

Point is, you need to talk to customers to get this insight - and you need to scratch a bit beyond the surface to find it.

It's hard work, but if you can crack it, you'll end up with much more persuasive copy.

Have a good week

Sam

PS: I can look for this kind of thing on your home page. Just book a home page review - $799.

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