When copy gets in the way of traction: how to solve for startup growing pains
Early-stage startups need to move fast and break things to find PMF, identify best channels to reach their customers, and attract early adopters. But as you start scaling, this approach may be slowing down your growth. This is how you can make your website help you meet your MQL goals instead of getting in the way.
"Do NOT look at your competitors' websites" (or should you?)
You shouldn’t copy your competitors, obviously. Ignoring them is also not the answer. Your prospects are making purchasing decisions within a specific context that includes looking at competitors’ solutions. Find out how to use it to your advantage.
Adding power words to your B2B SaaS website headlines won't fix conversions. Do this instead.
I’ve reviewed dozens of early-stage startup websites and worked with Series A and bootstrapped companies on their web copy and messaging, and in all cases, tweaking hero section headline was not the answer.
The answer was figuring out why the website was actually underperforming — and how to fix that.
The “how” will depend on your product and your audience. But the website sections that are neglected are almost always the same.
When what you don’t know hurts your conversion rates
You can’t scale effectively without answering these questions:
“What do we say to our audience?”
“How can we position ourselves in a way that makes sense to our audience?”
“How do we differentiate ourselves from other solutions?”
“How can we stand out — and present our product in a way that makes our prospects want to find out more?”
“How can we persuade our prospects to reach out?”
And very often, as I start answering these questions for my clients, this is where we uncover those potential issues that would otherwise have stayed invisible.
A rocketship launch or a leap of faith?
Trying to speed up your startup growth may be slowing it down. If you’re focusing on quick fixes and not pattern-finding.
When my prospects say: “We have no time for this,” “We already know everything about our customers,” “We’ll just A/B test it,” or “Can you just write it?” — what I hear is: “We’re flying blind and kinda like it that way.”
(I have yet to work on a project where all of the research data lined up neatly with assumptions and guesses about conversion drivers for a specific target audience. Never ever has it happened — which is why we need the research phase in the first place.)