6 Messaging Secrets From 6 Software Pros Who Are the Cat’s Pajamas

You've created an awesome product.

Like most great software that came before it, it offers a simple solution to a very complex problem, or in some cases, the exact opposite.

Needless to say, you're feeling good about it. So good, in fact, that you're begining to think that the hard part is finally over.

That is, until you sat down to hash out the messaging. 

You find that trying to articulate the benefit for the end user continues to result in wordy and downright confusing messaging that distracts from an otherwise great product.

Moral of the story?

Your messaging can either make or break the success of your product, and you're not willing to settle for the latter. 

Lucky for you, we had a chance to talk messaging with some of the most brilliant minds in the software industry. Before you throw in the towel, take a look at what they had to say about how they approached (and continue to approach) messaging for their companies. 

Software messaging secrets from the pros

Dharmesh Shah
@Dharmesh
Founder & CTO, HubSpot

For the most part, our marketing message mirrors a marketing funnel. Most of our early messaging focused on "attracting people to your website" and "making your website a marketing machine," and as our product expanded to cover middle and bottom of the funnel tools, our message followed suit.

We went from helping companies "get found" to "attracting and engaging" to "making your website a marketing machine" to a "full-funnel solution" and now to a "marketing and sales platform."

Most of that evolution has been driven by improvements and additions to our platform, but the evolution also reflects the changing needs of businesses.

Meghan Keaney Anderson
@meghkeaney
Product Marketing, HubSpot 

When we’re going to launch a new product or feature, we start with a research phase with message testing. We ask very simple questions like “tell us about your experience, points of friction, and biggest challenge.”

We listen to how they explain their problems and root our explanation in those problems. It really starts with knowing who you’re talking to.”

Neil Patel
@neilpatel
Co-founder, CrazyEgg & KISSmetrics

We continue to get feedback from our customers and even potential customers to find out how we can make things better.

It’s all about learning from them because at the end of the day you’re so involved in the grind that you’re not going to see everything in the same way that a potential customer would.

Mike Volpe
@mvolpe
CMO, HubSpot

We approach this challenge the same way we do most things on the marketing team: we try something, collect data on how people respond, and iterate on it accordingly.

One of the benefits of HubSpot and our COS is that we know early on what's working and what isn't, and we can update the site in seconds if we want to test drive a new message or try something out with Smart Content for a specific sub-section of our audience.

Justine Jordan
@meladorri
Marketing Director, Litmus

Stay the hell away from buzzwords. They’re meaningless.

It’s really about achieving clarity. Cut out unnecessary adjectives and explainer texts. Write down what you want to say, then go back and take half the words out. Don’t try to impress your audience, learn the terminology that they use in their lives and mirror it in your messaging. If you talk like them, you’re much more relatable to them.

The more your messaging is like your customers, the more you’re going to succeed. 

Magdalena Georgieva
@mgieva
Product Manager, HubSpot

Simple messaging starts from the design process. As we brainstorm and whiteboard a flow, we are very focused on simplicity.

We go through a few rounds of user testing with existing customers across various lifecycle stages. We also bring in people from our support and services teams to test a product update and give feedback in an informal way. It's fascinating the different perspectives they bring in!

Obviously there's more that goes into the perceived value of your product. Fill out the form below to access our guide with even more insight from some of the most well-known software entrepreneurs in the industry.