Your customers are lying to you.
Not on purpose.
But they're definitely not telling you the whole truth.
Here's what I mean.
When you survey customers or read reviews, you're getting their public persona. The version of themselves they're comfortable showing the world.
It's polished. Socially acceptable. Kinda boring.
"I purchased this because I wanted to support my wellness goals."
Cool. But that's not the language that makes someone click "buy now" at 11pm on a Tuesday.
Then there's the private persona. The version they show close friends and family. A little more honest. A little more raw.
"I bought this because I'm tired of feeling like crap all the time."
Better. We're getting warmer.
But there's a third level most marketers never reach: The secret persona.
This is who your customer is when they're completely alone. The thoughts they have at 2am. The fears they won't say out loud. The embarrassing details they'd never post in a review.
This is where the gold is.
I had a client selling a kids' nutrition product. All the reviews said normal stuff: "My kids love the taste!" and "Great ingredients!"
Fine. But not compelling.
Then we surveyed their top customers with one specific question: "What was happening the moment you decided you HAD to find a solution?"
One mom wrote: "My daughter came home crying because a boy called her 'the chubby one' at recess. I felt like the worst parent alive."
Another: "I was hiding vegetables in smoothies like a criminal and my kid still wouldn't eat them. I was so tired of fighting."
That's the secret persona.
Raw. Specific. Emotional. The kind of language that makes another parent reading it go "Oh my goodness, that's exactly how I feel."
You can't get this from a standard product review. You can't get it from a "rate your experience 1-5" survey.
You have to ask different questions. And you have to create space for people to be honest.
But first, hit reply: Think about your best customers. What do you think they're NOT telling you in their reviews? What's the secret struggle they're actually solving?
I'm curious what you come up with.
See you tomorrow,
Jeremiah
P.S. Tomorrow I'm showing you the dead-simple email tactic that gets customers to open up and give you the secret persona language. No complex survey. No interview process. Just one question that makes people want to reply. It works so well it's almost unfair.
100% Typo Guarantee … This message was hand-crafted by a human being … me. While I use AI heavily for my research and the work I do, I respect you too much to automate my email content creation.
There was no review queue, no editorial process, no post-facto revisions. I just wrote it and sent it … therefore, I can pretty much guarantee some sort of typo or grammatical error that would make all my past english teachers cringe.
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