Conversion Focused Product Messaging (Week-9 in review of CXL Growth Marketing Minidegree)

To be a trusted brand, you need to communicate with your customers correctly. To do this, you need to identify their frustrations and problem points and address them in a relatable way.

Momoko Price in her module on product messaging takes us through her data-driven approach to product messaging and copywriting. This article is a summary of key aspects like - making data-driven judgments on a copy, collecting data for free around your products, and creating a clear and unique value proposition for your product.

Conversion Focused Product Messaging

You need to know which type of product copywriting is most effective and which isn’t. Product messaging needs to align with your business objectives and also be believable and compelling.

MarketingExperiments' (MECLAB) Conversion Sequence Heuristic formula is a?framework of five factors on which to focus your optimization energy.

C = 4M + 3V + 2(I-F) - 2A

Wherein, the probability of Conversion (C) is dependent upon visitor Motivation (M),?the force of the Value Proposition (V),?presence of?Friction (F) & Anxiety (A) in the?process, and Incentive?(I) offsetting Friction that cannot be eliminated.

An attribute’s weight/score is represented by the numbers and in this case, Motivation (4) is more important to think about than Anxiety (2). However, it doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t address any objections in your messaging. It means that you want to address the Motivation (4) first before Anxiety (2).

The Conversion Sequence Heuristic is not a tool you can use to calculate conversion rate. It's a checklist you can use as you work on your website & marketing materials that can improve the chances of viewers taking the desired action.

Message Mining

And I don’t mean in terms of what?you,?the founder, or company exec think is the value proposition. It’s probably peppered with industry jargon and terminology ensuring your visitor’s attention trails off before he/she finishes reading the value proposition. What is the value proposition in terms of what your?customers or visitors?think it is? One has to ‘speak’ their language. Message mining is a great tool to find out what that language is and Momoko Price explains each step with amazing clarity.

Now that we have understood this, the next task would be to understand users’ motivations, their anxiety, and what matters most to them (value proposition). And I do not mean in terms of what you, the marketer think is the value proposition as it would be loaded with the industry jargon and terminology making the website visitor trail off even before they read and understand the value proposition. It is critical to decoding what is the value proposition in terms of what your customers and users think it is. And one has to speak their language. Message mining is a great way to find out what that language is.

Now, what is message mining?

It is the process of scouring the internet (or other sources, if available) for instances of your target customers voicing what they care most about when it comes to your product/solutions.

Why to ‘mine’ messages?

Oftentimes your customer is more effective at recognizing & explaining the real-world value of your product since they’re the ones who use it and they’re the ones who paid money for it.

Message mining is good for -

• Identifying key messages that hit upon the perceptions of your customers in terms of motivation, value, and anxiety when it comes to your products.
• Swiping memorable copy - i.e. identifying and using (part of) verbatim by the customers when they describe your products, its benefits or flaws, why are people coming to your website, what are they looking for, etc. Also, keep a lookout for when customers mention real-life problems that your products solve.

There are three types of messages one should look out for - Motivation, Value, and Anxiety.

• Motivation refers to ‘why’. What is the reason for a visitor coming to your site? What are they seeking?
• Value refers to the value proposition.
• Anxiety refers to the risks perceived by visitors from purchasing from you - could be about product quality or lack of clarity concerning the process, etc.

How to mine messages?

Step-1: Keyword Research

Like how you will do it while working on search engine optimization, make a list of keywords in all three domains i.e. your branded keywords, the category keywords, and also your competitor's keywords.

Example - Nike shoes, shoes, sneakers, Adidas running shoes, etc.

Step-2: Secondary Research

Now that you have base data to work with make the world wide web your friend and scout for everything relevant.

Use Google [keyword] reviews, complaints, forums, questions, discussions, comments. Do not forget to check popular review sites like Yelp, Trustpilot, Amazon (beware of fake reviews though), and of course your website for reviews.

When you do this, look for -

• How customers are describing your offering
• What specific benefits they’re talking about?
• Is there anything specific that they’re absolutely happy about? (delight)
• What are things that they do not like? (they should have explicitly mentioned this)
• What suspicions do they have? (subpar or poor experience)
• What exact problem did your offering help them solve?
• What are their triggers for purchase?
• What benefits matter most to them?
• What they’ve tried earlier?
• Have they used any interesting analogies?

Step-3: Organize all the information collected in the above two steps into a spreadsheet.

Step-4: Categorize and rank messages into benefits, pain points, complaints, swipe-worthy copy.

Crafting Unique and Effective Value Proposition

Now that we know what customers want & how they think, we can make sure we offer them a product that is tailored to what they care about. This will help us stand out from other competitors and show our buyers just how much we care.

A value proposition is the most influential element that we can control. We cannot change people's motivation behind visiting a site, but we can control the narrative around whether they see value in our products.

You should tailor your value proposition to match the current stage of your company. Established brands should focus more on the primary service they offer and how these set them apart from other offerings. Newer brands, on the other hand, should emphasize the issue their product or service is addressing.

When you see it from the customer's perspective, it's completely understandable. Simply put, the value proposition of your product changes as your customer acquires awareness and creates a new "before-and-after" experience.

Lower awareness = more messaging

High awareness = less messaging

Storytelling is another way to design a good value proposition. There has been much written about this already, but what's important is that the story needs to be compelling enough for the intended audience.

Ultimately, you need to focus on three things -

• What are the customers’ desires and aspirations?
• What your product does (or have to offer)?
• What is so unique (and really unique) about it?

Messaging Hierarchy

So you have all your data and pain points. But how do you craft the message on the page that impacts conversion while driving value up for the customers?

Well simply tell a story!

The average human brain is set up to like stories. They will better remember information if it has a definite beginning, middle, and end. This means that if you want the reader to take in your message, it's important to frame your article as a story with each major section revealing something significant.

I'm not asking you to create user case studies here or anything, but think about the customer's journey and how you can guide them through it and gently nudge them down the path you want them to go.

The above diagram shows the process you need to take your customers through and what kind of information they are looking for. This naturally differs depending on the product, and the brand also but it is roughly the same journey.

Wireframe your page content in MS Word or Google Docs so that you can easily move it around and edit until you are happy but think about what you have learned from your customers along the process and how you can use this to build this narrative on the journey.

Always start with the Unique Value Proposition - UVP!

When laying out the content look for areas where you can use social proof to back up your claims, make sure you are being clear and concise don’t waffle onto your users as you will lose them quickly.

Here is how a typical messaging hierarchy looks like:

Again taking the awareness level of your users is important.

If they're not familiar with your brand and just browsing, then you should talk more about their motivation (pain points and desired outcomes).

If they are aware and engaged with your brand, give them a clear call to action as soon as possible, but also frame the homepage story around a clear UVP.

Editing and Punching Up The Copy

You are almost there. All you have to do is firm up your copy and messaging. Here are a few inputs that Momoko has shared:

• Are you being as CLEAR as possible about what you're offering and why?
• Did you make sure that your page's hero copy (above the fold copy) is closely aligned with the copy that compels most users to click over to the page (ad copy, SERP copy, etc.)??
• Did you overwhelm the reader with awesome value? Would someone read your page and think "holy crap, this is an amazing opportunity that would make my life SO much better"??
• Would your copy stand up to and clearly address a skeptical, grumpy prospect's 2 questions of "So what?" and "Prove it"?
• Did you remove dull, abstract, or generic descriptions with word pictures (i.e. copy that paints a picture)?
• Does your copy explicitly call out things that should be noticed in your imagery/video?
• Does your imagery/video explicitly support the messaging of the copy?
• Have you gone through and cut EVERYTHING that isn’t doing at least one of the following tasks:?
• … reflecting/matching your reader’s motivation??
• … conveying/clarifying the value that’s being offered?
• … proving a claim?
• … addressing anxiety?
• … adding authenticity or?memorable specificity?

And a few non-negotiable RULES -

Rule #1: Above all, be CLEAR. (Even explicit.)

If you don’t say it, your reader won’t see it. Your reader can’t read your mind. Put it on the page. Tell your reader what they need to know.

Rule #2: Match the reader’s mindset.

A well-researched, message-matched headline will often outperform an un-researched “persuasive-trick” headline.

Rule #3: Blow them away with the value

Specific, happy outcomes and Eliminate specific pain points

And then prove it, with?hard data & rich testimonials.

Rule #4: Use quantifiable proof, if possible

This does not require an explanation.

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Stay tuned for my next post on this blog about what I've learned in the Growth Marketing Mini-Degree by?CXL Institute, where I will continue to share my thoughts and learnings from the program.