
This is the practical one.
If the last few emails have you wondering whether your message has gone soft, here's a simple way to find out.
Pull up five things: your homepage headline, your top ad hook, your product page opener, your email welcome subject line, and your best-performing offer callout.
Now go through each one and ask these three questions...
One. Does this name a pain my customer already feels?
Not a category. Not a benefit. An actual pain. Something they'd describe to a friend. If it doesn't, it's too abstract.
Two. Does this make it reasonable to believe the problem could end?
Not "get better." Not "be supported." End. If the answer is no, the message is preserving the problem instead of closing it.
Three. Would the wrong customer still find this interesting?
If yes, it's too broad. A good message self-selects. The right person leans in. The wrong person moves on. If everyone finds it vaguely appealing, it's probably for no one specifically.
Go through all five. Be honest.
Then do one more thing...
Circle every soft verb. "Helps." "Supports." "Designed to." "May assist." "Promotes."
Now ask: if I removed every one of these and replaced them with a plain description of what actually changes in the customer's life ... would the message be stronger?
Almost always, yes.
That's your rewrite target.
You don't need to change your offer. You don't need a new product. You don't need to blow up your funnel.
You just need to say the true thing more plainly.
Start with whichever of the five feels the softest. Rewrite it. Test it. See what happens.
Most founders are surprised by how much a single sharper line can move.
See you tomorrow,
Jeremiah
P.S. If you do this audit and want a second set of eyes on what you find, just hit reply. Tell me what you've got and where you're stuck. Happy to take a look.
100% Typo Guarantee … This message was hand-crafted by a human being … me.
There was no review queue, no editorial process, no post-facto revisions. I just wrote it and sent it … so I can pretty much guarantee some typo or grammatical error that would make all my past English teachers cringe.
Anonymous Data Disclaimer … Most of my clients prefer that I not share the inner workings of their businesses or the exact details of the marketing strategies we develop. To share my proprietary intellectual property without compromising the sensitive nature of my relationship with them, I often anonymize what I share with you. This may include changing the specifics of their industry, what actually happened, or what we developed together. When I make these changes, I work to preserve the success principle I want to convey to you while obscuring sensitive data. This is necessary.
