How Customer-Focused is Your Copy? Take This Simple Test To Boost Audience Engagement.

If you’ve read the previous blog post Why Skilful Copy is Crucial to Your Business (and 5 Easy Tips to Ace it, you might remember Point 2:

Be customer-focused: less about you, more about them – rather than:

“We are an experienced and skilled team who build quality websites”, try
“You can rely on our experienced and skilful team to build you a quality website.”
This allows the reader to step into the shoes of possibility – what they will feel, experience, and receive if they choose your business.

Will changing the word ‘we’ to ‘you’ actually engage more people?

Yes!

If you want more customers and greater engagement, or just to know that your readers feel acknowledged, ‘you’ is an essential word.

Think back to that dinner party where you were seated next to Bob, who talked non-stop about his latest project and how great his ideas were. Did you feel engaged, connected and stimulated by the conversation? Did you feel heard, acknowledged, or that Bob understood anything about you? Did you want to exchange numbers for another chat? Chances are you answered no to these questions. Zzzz.

This is exactly what happens to your audience when your copy talks about you the whole time.

If your current copy sounds a bit like… “we are the best at providing x, and trusted leaders in y. We love to z”…chances are your audience are left thinking… “okay, well that’s all well and great but what does that do for me and my situation?”

It’s harder for your customer to put themselves into the front seat and see exactly how and why your offer is just for them, or how it has helped someone else in their exact situation.

And since the job of your copy is to build connection, engagement and ultimately relationships, you want your reader to ask for your number before leaving the dinner party (so to speak).

Test: How Customer-Focused Is Your Copy?

Have your copy in front of you
Have a red and a green highlighter ready
In green: highlight all of the ‘you’ language. This includes ‘you’ll’, ‘you’, ‘your’, etc. This is your customer-focused language.
In red: highlight all of the ‘we’ language. This includes ‘we’re’, ‘we’ve’, ‘our’, ‘us’, etc. This is your company-focused language.
Which colour do you see more of?

At the end of this process, if you see more green on the page – you’re well on track for customer-focused copy that connects with your audience.

If you see more red on the page, time to refresh your copy with more ‘you’ and less ‘we’ language.

This is a simple yet powerful way to build stronger, lasting connections with your audience. This language will help your reader to see how your product or service will directly benefit them.

And ultimately, with a more connected and invested audience comes more work and business growth.

How did your copy test go? Did you have more red or more green? Let me know in the comments.

Need help creating customer-focused copy? Contact Me Here.

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