3 in 3: underpromise; you're tiring your audience; how to stand out as a PM

Hey, Yasin here!

I’ll be making some big changes to the newsletter over the next few weeks. More research, more visuals, tangible takeaways - all things I hope massively increase the value for you. If you have any thoughts on the changes, I’d love to hear from you.

Alright, here we go: 3 tips in 3 minutes that’ll grow your business faster.

1. A copywriting tip

When almost everyone overpromises. And underdelivers. Customers become, at best, blind to your claims, and at worst repulsed by them.

And when they zig, we must zag.

So start underpromising.

Don’t say” “This product will turn you from a sordid, miserable sod, into the sexiest person alive in just 24 hours!!!”

Say: “This product definitely won’t turn you into Brad Pitt - you’ll likely need a surgeon and a PR agency for that - but it’ll certainly get you more dates than you had before.”

A promise too big becomes a promise unbelievable.

Instead of promising the world, promise just enough to get someone to act:

• If I have no money, £500/mo extra a month sounds great - I’m just not cut out for that Elon money, so just tell it to me straight.

• If I feel overwhelmed and there’s never enough time in the day, save me 30 minutes/day and I’ll think you’re a godsend - don’t come at me with the “you’ll get back 20 hours/day”.

• If it takes me 40 minutes to run a 5k, tell me about how your running shoes will help me shave off 2 or 3 minutes - you’re kidding no one when you start telling me I’ll be Mo Farrah!

Takeaway: Figure out what your customers would be happy with right now. And focus on selling THAT dream, not the EXTREME.

Most people just want to make one solid step in the right direction. Help them see your product is the sure path, not the risky moonshot.

2. A growth tip

The Von Restorff Effect states that when multiple similar stimuli are presented, it’s the one that stands out from the crowd that’s most likely to be remembered.

Imagine this: you buy 100 pieces of Primark clothing with the goal of looking fancy. Will this work? How about if you add another 100 pieces?

It doesn’t work, right?

Yet, this is how most people think about content creation/advertising/branding/CRO/email marketing etc etc.

Check out the below posts and let me know which one stands out?

If you’re not insane, the last image really draws the eye. Why? Because it bucks the trend.

Focus on being different, not being the same lots of times.

Takeaway: Take a look at a piece of your content. Now scroll on social. Does your content stand out? If not, you’re doing something wrong. Often differentiation happens in dramatic leaps, not little increments. So don’t just tweak the colour of your text and assume you’re changing the game. Instead, throw out everything you’re currently doing and replace it with something that scares you.

3. A product tip

Problem: people complain that elevators take too long

Good PM: let’s make elevators faster, that’ll make our customers happier

Great PM: speeding up elevators is expensive. And people only want things to be faster when they don’t enjoy them. Sex, a good movie, a great night out, incredible food, a massage - wanting those things to last is fairly universal. So if we make elevators a bit more enjoyable, they will seem faster even though they aren’t. What are some things people like that are cheap? Music. Staring at themselves. Cool. Let’s add both of those. We’ll save ourselves a boatload of cash and people will be happy.

Good Product Managers make decisions based on thorough reasoning and logic. Great Product Managers understand that people are emotional. And if our products don’t speak to those emotions, they’ll miss the mark.

Takeaway: try today to find one way to boost your product’s perceived quality, without making it faster or more powerful or reducing the effort.

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You get 1000s of emails and you chose to read mine all the way to the end. For that, I’m bloody grateful. It took me 5 hours to research and write this so if you found it useful, please share it with a friend! 🙏

See ya next week!

P.S. I’d love to hear from you - what do you want more of and what do you want less of with this newsletter? I want to make sure I’m bringing the most value possible!