Product Messaging: 5 Stages That Will Make Your Message Clear And Compelling: A Review

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

Over the last couple of months, I have written a lot of copy for start-up companies. Soon, you will hear about Stellar, a technology that allows you to customize virtual events and conferences. Perhaps you will hear about MyBack Pathways, a major breakthrough app for chiropractic professionals.

In addition to that, I have continued to write for CIO Mastermind in which I am the facilitator and executive coach, and I am lining up messaging for a new ministry I will be launching. 

I wish I had taken the Product Messaging course through CXL Institute long before now.

In the course, Momoko Price covers a number of critical areas in product messaging and copywriting. Essentially, there are five stages that produce a clear and compelling message.

Copy Tear Down - Assessment

Momoko recommends that copy teardowns are:

• Based on persuasion principles
• Used as a gap analysis tool
• Used to think through what likely isn’t working (listening to customers informs us as to what actually works.

Momoko introduces us to three authorities that instruct our assessment.

MEClab’s Conversion Sequence Heuristic, which are tested principles of conversion rate optimization. The probability of conversion factors in:

• Motivation
• Value Proposition
• Friction 
• Anxiety
• Incentive

1. Cialdini’s Principles of Persuasion,which are tested psychological principles. Specifically:

• Authority
• Social Proof
• Urgency

Claude Hopkins Scientific Advertising, which are tested copywriting principles:

• Be specific
• Offer service
• Tell the full story
• Be a salesperson

The assessment framework outlines the different areas of communication from the customer journey / funnel perspective.

1. Attention Capturing Copy, such as search-engine results page snippets and ads
2. Persuasive Copy, such as the homepage, landing pages and product pages
3. Transactional Copy, such as the cart, order page, checkout and signup
4. Confirmation Copy, such as payment success message and user experience copy

The challenge is how to cover all the elements of the assessment across the multi-step funnel. The question to be answered is if the copy serves as the bridge to the customer’s desires at each stage of their journey. Does the material....

• Orient upon entrance? 
• Appeal to user motivation?
• Convey unique value?
• Establish credibility?
• Address objections and fears?
• Present the offer?

Momoko presents these as a checklist that can be used as a scorecard for evaluation and action.

Message Mining

I found message mining to be insightful: “The process of scouring the internet or other sources for instances of your target customer voicing what they care most about when it comes to your product/solution.”

In other words, research your competition, read the posts, comments and reviews, and listen in. Customers know the real-world value of your product, and they speak a common language with your own target market. 

Message mining allows writers to identify key messages around motivation, value and anxiety. As well, customers may provide memorable copy that can be used for relevant headlines, market terminology and slang, emotionally-engaging prompts and addressing accurate objections.

Message mining follows five steps:

1. Make a list of keywords around your brand, competitive brands and product type.
2. Google keyword reviews
3. Check popular review sites
4. Collect findings into a spreadsheet
5. Categorize and rank messages around motivation, pain points, purchase prompts, objections and worthy copy.

Unique Value Proposition

The UVP is the most influential element of product messaging that we can control. The UVP answers three irreducible core questions a consumer has: Why buy? What’s in it for me? Why should I choose you over X?

The value proposition is found at the center of three considerations: What our customers want. What our product is/does. What is unique about our product.

Momoko offers a seven-step sequence for defining the best proposition:

1. List the product’s key features
2. Pinpoint those that are unique
3. List customer pain points for each feature
4. Define the desirable outcomes for each pain point
5. Score the pains and outcomes by severity and frequency
6. Edit the top-scored pains and outcomes into unique value propositions
7. Go with the best!

Message Hierarchies

Message hierarchies create a message flow for the sales page. They are rooted in a story framework. Story is the way in which humans think.

The basic story framework and how we layer messages accordingly:

• Setting/Context: Who, what, why and the unique value proposition
• Rising action: Features, benefits, how product works, proof
• Falling action: Call to action and completion of transaction
• Resolution: Post conversion user experience.

Message is based on journey, and the extensiveness of a message is based on a customer’s awareness. The less aware they are, the more information is needed.

Copy Mastery

I’ve addressed formatting in other articles. Here, I want to highlight seven rules Momoko details for editing and punching up masterful copy:

1. Above all, be clear. If you don’t say it, the reader won’t see it.
2. Match the reader’s mindset. Do the work of research and avoid the temptation of “persuasive-trick” headlines.
3. Blow your customers away with value: make a list of happy outcomes or elimination of pain points and prove it with data and testimonials.
4. Use quantifiable proof if possible
5. Don’t just talk, but paint a picture. Lift word pictures from customers, and use specific nouns,  vivid adjectives and punchy verbs. 
6. Show and Tell generously
7. Cut anything that is not doing real work.

As I worked through the course, I realized the value of letting go of assumptions of what people need and want and of embracing the hard but invaluable work of research and interviews. Customer-centric messaging requires customer-informed reality. Why write “hoping” when I can write “knowing?”

In light of what I have learned, I have implemented four new practices.

I don’t just create and edit text, I screen it through the eyes, emotions and intentions of the customer.

I do more than highlight a benefit, I relate those benefits to needs.

I don’t write based on customer stages but on the customer story. Every stage has motivation, value and anxiety that unfolds within the plot.

I have abandoned cleverness for clarity. I may need a support-group for that.