Stop trying to sound like a smartass. You’re confusing your customers and killing your sales.
We sell Japanese kitchen knives. Period. Yes, we also sell cutting boards, mortar and pestle and accessories, but knives are our core product. Simple, clear, no confusion.
If I said “we provide premium cooking experiences,” people would wonder – are you a private chef? A nutritionist? Kitchen furniture maker? Why should I listen to you?
Same with my tech company Untrite. If I say “we make sense of unstructured data and turn it into signals,” that means nothing. But if I lead with the story – we help police understand the seriousness of situations faster, or help engineers fix stranded planes that mess up holidays for hundreds of families – suddenly people can imagine how they’d use our help.
Don’t try to be a smart ass. There’s time for details and your USP later, but not at the beginning. At the beginning, you need to hook people and make them feel what you offer is relevant to them.
Lead with how you fix problems, not what you use to fix them.
I’ve seen amazing businesses fail – ones I was certain would become unicorns. They don’t fail because they’re not doing incredible things. They fail because they’re not doing the simple things right. Too confusing. Too much friction. We struggled a lot with this too.
Think of your customer as having the attention span of a distracted toddler. If your pitch makes them think for even a couple seconds, they’re gone.
Here’s what simplicity looks like: Uber – tap a button, get a ride. Vinted- one link to sell your wardrobe. No one needs a manual for these things.
Test this rule – could a 12-year-old figure it out? If not, start deleting and simplifying. Minimise steps, minimise thinking time, minimise friction.
If someone visits your page, is it clear what you offer? Is the next step obvious?
Fancy isn’t always optimal, but simple never fails.
