The silent killer of good copy
When the numbers are flat, most people blame the copy. Nine times out of ten, the problem started earlier.
Years ago I worked in a call centre.
Every week, management would send us a “pulse survey” to see how we were doing.
Which was adorable, because anyone who’d ever set foot on that floor already knew the answer.
We were glued to our headsets.
Toilet breaks were treated like a luxury spa package.
And bonuses were this mythical creature we heard stories about, but never actually saw in the wild.
One month they told us any disconnections we did on behalf of another department “wouldn’t count towards target”.
Miraculously, that was also the month nobody hit target. 🙃
But it was okay, because on Fridays at 5pm they’d wheel a cart of beers around the floor. Every now and then we’d even get a slice of pizza.
Who needs fair pay and realistic KPIs when you’ve got lukewarm Corona and cardboard Supreme?
My personal favourite moment was the day I logged out, took my phone to the bathroom, and just… sat in a cubicle for a few quiet minutes.
When I came back, the call centre manager was standing at my desk, tapping her watch.
“You know you’re meant to ask before you log out, right?”
So I looked her dead in the eye and said, “Sorry, I’ve got the runs.” 💩
She froze, dropped her hand from her watch, and suddenly became VERY keen to move on.
Which, honestly, summed up the whole place: they’d rather believe the system was fine than deal with any real feedback. 💩
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. I did meet my husband and my best mate there (stories for another day).
And it taught me something about surveys I’ve never forgotten:
Asking people how they feel doesn’t matter if you’re not prepared to change anything in response.
It’s been a fair old while since I worked in a call centre. But my job is still about helping businesses talk to their customers.
And I see a much softer version of that same mistake all the time.
One of the first things I ask new clients is:
“When was the last time you asked your audience what they think?”
Most of the time, I get a sheepish laugh. They think they know their audience. They feel like they’ve been listening.
But if you dig a little deeper, you find assumptions.
Assumptions that are quietly sabotaging their messaging.
If this hit a nerve, you should read the rest👇
A while back, I worked with a gardening brand that sold wildflower seed mixes. Their emails were falling flat, and they assumed a senior copywriter was the missing ingredient.
In the brief: “Our audience is full of beginner gardeners. We need more simple how‑tos.”
They’d been sending:
“How to prep your soil”
“5 tools every newbie gardener needs”
“Beginner’s guide to starting a veggie patch”
But the numbers were flat. Open rates okay. Clicks meh. Sales… not matching the effort.
When the numbers are flat, most people blame the copy. Nine times out of ten, the problem started earlier.
Instead of writing a fresh batch of “better” beginner emails, I asked them to do something much more boring:
“Let’s survey your list.”
Nothing fancy. Just a short set of questions:
How long have you been gardening?
What’s most frustrating about your garden right now?
What are you most curious about learning next?
The answers flipped their world upside down.
Turns out, their list wasn’t full of beginners. It was full of experienced hobbyists who already knew the basics… but were totally confused about one thing:
Wildflowers. The client’s whole schtick.
They didn’t understand:
The difference between the seed mixes
Which mix was right for their climate or garden
How wildflowers could replace (or reduce) their lawn
What to expect when they scattered the seed
So it wasn’t: “we need more basic gardening content.”
It was: “we don’t understand this product well enough to feel confident buying it.”
Different problem.
Different messaging.
Different sale.
Once we knew that, everything changed.
We started sending:
Breakdowns of each wildflower mix
Before-and-after stories of lawns turned into wildflower meadows
Simple visuals explaining timelines and expectations
“Choose your mix” guides based on garden style and effort level
In other words, we stopped guessing, and just answered what people actually wanted to know.
Want more breakdowns like this?👇
There is a tempting belief in marketing that if you just:
Find the right hook
Nail the perfect headline
Or learn the hottest new “framework”
…you’ll finally crack your messaging.
But the truth is a mediocre writer, working with real audience insight, will beat a brilliant writer who is guessing.
Every. Single. Time.
Surveys are how you get that insight.
Not just any survey, though.
A good survey doesn’t ask:
“On a scale of 1–10, how satisfied are you with our brand?”
A good survey asks:
“What were you doing right before you decided to buy / sign up?”
“What nearly stopped you from going ahead?”
“If we disappeared tomorrow, what would you miss most?”
“What’s the one thing you still don’t understand about [problem / product]?”
Those answers give you:
Exact language you can lift into your copy
Hidden objections you didn’t know were blocking sales
Real priorities that might be totally different to your content plan
Clarity on whether you’re solving the problem they actually care about
That’s messaging gold.
And you don’t get it from sitting alone with a blank Google Doc.
“But my audience is small. Is it even worth surveying?”
Short answer: yes.
In fact, the smaller your audience, the closer you can get.
With a list of 100 people, you can:
Run a short survey
Invite a handful to a quick call
Dig into the nuance behind their answers
You don’t need thousands of responses.
Even 10–20 thoughtful replies will show patterns:
The same phrase popping up again and again
The same fear that no one is addressing
The same misconception that keeps them stuck
And if you don’t have a “list” yet, that’s not a problem.
You can go and talk to people who look like your ideal customer.
Reach out on LinkedIn or Substack (or anywhere else your audience shows up). Ask if they’re open to a 10–15 minute research chat. You’d be surprised how happy most people are to help.
Or, if you are really nervous about it, you can go stealth mode: hang out where they vent and ask questions - Reddit threads, Facebook groups, Discords, niche forums. Watch what they complain about, what they misunderstand, and the words they use to describe it.
Those patterns are your messaging angles:
What to emphasise
What to drop
What to explain three times in three different ways
And as a service provider, or someone writing for service providers, this is where the difference is made between:
“Sounds nice, maybe later”
and
“You’re inside my head – when can I start?”
Where this is going for me (and why I’m telling you this now)
I’m building out a deeper body of work around messaging mastery.
Not just “write better copy,” but:
Understand how your audience actually thinks
Translate that into positioning and offers
Then turn it into words that land in their brain as “this is for me”
I’m not ready to launch anything yet.
There’s no big countdown timer.
No course page.
But I am doing what I’m telling you to do:
👉 Listening first.
So if you:
Write copy for clients
Run a small business
Or you’re the unofficial “marketing person” in your company
…and you care about getting your messaging right, I’d love your help.
I’ve put together a short survey about your experience with messaging:
It only takes a few minutes and covers:
Who you’re actually writing for
Where you feel most stuck with your messaging
How confident you feel about writing for your audience
What kind of messaging support you’d actually find useful
It’s designed to do two things at once:
Help me see where people like you are getting stuck, so I can shape future content and resources that are actually useful
Let you quietly raise your hand if you want to hear more when I’m ready to roll out messaging‑related trainings
If that sounds useful, you can fill it out here:
If you take nothing else from this email…
Before you:
Rewrite a client’s website
Pitch a shiny new offer
Burn a day battling a “stuck” sales page
Or tear up your own positioning for the 47th time
Talk to the people you’re trying to write for.
A simple survey (or a handful of scrappy research chats) can reveal:
That your “beginner” audience is actually advanced
That your “price problem” is actually a clarity problem
That your “low engagement” is actually you talking about the wrong thing
You don’t need to be a mind‑reader.
You just need to stop guessing.
And if you’re curious about getting better at this - not just surveys, but the whole shape of your messaging - tell me in that form.
The more I understand where you and your clients are getting stuck, the better I can build the thing that actually helps.
P.S. How did I do? Did I explain these concepts clearly? Did you laugh sheepishly or roll your eyes when I suggested you survey your audience? Let me know by shooting me an email or leaving a comment - I want to make this as useful and interesting as possible so your feedback truly helps 😄