How to Speak in Human

by

(and make customers wanna hug you)

The average consumer sees or

hears almost 3,000 marketing

messages per day.

And most of them sound like this:

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah












blahblah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah














And most of them sound like this:

Why? Because they sound like

exactly what they are:

Sales pitches.

Sales pitches.

Interruptions.

Sales pitches.

Interruptions.

Clutter.

Sales pitches.

Interruptions.

Clutter.

If you want to be heard, you have

to stop talking like a marketer.





And start talking like a

human.



And start talking like a

human.

1.

Write the way you talk.

1.

Have you ever turned to your

buddy while enjoying a beer and

said…

Have you ever turned to your

buddy while enjoying a beer and

said…

The CorpTech solution

delivers an actionable

competitive advantage.

Seamless, state-of-the-art

technology allows

customers to maximize

value.

If so, let’s not grab drinks

sometime.

We don’t use business speak to

talk to our friends, family and work

besties. So why do we use it when

we talk to our customers?

Business Speak

A state-of-the-art lid-adhesive solution for packaged consumer

foods with flexible adhesion, designed to significantly reduce the

time-to-open

Human Speak

This is a new kind of film lid for food

containers that’s easier to open.

Human Speak

This is a new kind of film lid for food

containers that’s easier to open.

A couple reasons why business

speak may creep into your

communication with customers…

1. You suffer from the Curse of

Knowledge.

1. You suffer from the Curse of

Knowledge.

(™ Robin Hogarth, super smart guy)

When you know a lot about

something, it makes it harder for

you to speak clearly to someone

who doesn't know as much about

that topic.

As an expert, you’re susceptible to

scary things like long, rambly,

technical descriptions. And jargon.

Jargon’s the worst!

Your company and industry have

jargon that everyone uses and

understands. So throwing around

the term “GOAP” is just everyday

language to you.

Your company and industry have

jargon that everyone uses and

understands. So throwing around

the term “GOAP” is just everyday

language to you.

Harrison, we need to reconnect on that

GOAP issue after lunch. I’m a

completely normal human saying

normal things.

But your customer doesn’t get

GOAP.

But your customer doesn’t get

GOAP.

GOAP might as well stand for “stop

paying attention to this email right

now.”

What to do

What to do

• Sub in Plain English for business

speak. How would you explain

this concept to your mom? Write it

that way instead.

What to do

• If you have to use business

speak, explain the jargony terms

first, and then define them.

A Plain English, Explain First

Example


Example

You know when you can’t get the plastic film off

your microwave meal? And you have to attack

the film with a knife just to eat your chicken

nuggets?


Example

You know when you can’t get the plastic film off

your microwave meal? And you have to attack

the film with a knife just to eat your chicken

nuggets?

stab stab stab!


Example

We call that GOAP—or Grossly Over-Adhesive

Plastic—and our Handi-Lids are made with a

different kind of plastic, so your customers don’t

have to deal with GOAP and your lids peel off

quickly and easily.

2. You’re a B2B business, so you

need to sound professional.

Legitimate…if you’re talking directly to a

computer or an Excel spreadsheet. (And

they’d probably rather you communicated in

currency or binary code.)





010011001100011

0001110111000111

0011001100011





010011001100011

0001110111000111

0011001100011

*I love

you

Companies are made up of people.

Sure, you shouldn’t mirror your

writing after an Instagram

comment.



comment.



comment.

But there’s lots of comfy room

between “LOL, BRB” and business

speak.

3. You want to make your product

sound important.

Understandable. But people don’t care

about important. They care about:



• Is this easy to understand?




• Can this help me?




• Can this help me?

• No really, can this help me?

Instead of thinking about how fancy

your product sounds, focus about what

the customer cares about. Which

reminds us…

1.

Talk to “you.”

2.

Who is you?

You is the person you’re talking to.


Not your target audience


Not “moms age 28-34 who buy

organic and are imaginary BFFs

with Olivia Pope”



Not “moms age 28-34 who buy

organic and are imaginary BFFs

with Olivia Pope”


omg kale

For right now, “you” is Emily, who

works at a packaging company.

For right now, “you” is Emily, who

works at a packaging company.

One of the simplest, easiest ways

to make you’re sure talking to a

person and not a smooshed-up

demographic chunk of people is to

use the word you.

Smooshed-Up

Chunk

Handi-Lids allow our

customers to save an

average of $13,500 a year

in lid materials costs.

Smooshed-Up

Chunk

Handi-Lids allow our

customers to save an

average of $13,500 a year

in lid materials costs.

You

You can save an average of

$13,500 on your lid

materials costs.

See how much more personal that

sounds? Emily is feeling

appreciated already.

Which is more than she gets from

her layabout husband and two

unappreciative gerbils.

1.

Don’t assume. Ask.

3.

So we’re talking directly to Emily.

Emily, can we call you Em? Yes?

Great.

Another way to make sure that

we’re talking to our friend Em is to

ask her questions instead of

assuming that we know about her

needs.

Your research can give you insights

into what your audience cares

about overall, but it can’t tell you

what Em cares about.

research says: cost,

materials, efficiency

research says: cost,

materials, efficiencytacos!!!!!

For example, your research may

say that your primary targets work

in the manufacturing department

and care most about cost.

But ol’ Em actually works in

marketing, and she cares most

about consumer-friendly features—

in this case, how Handi-Lids open

wicked fast.





wicked fast.





wicked fast.

How would you ever know that’s

what Em does? You can ask.

Hi Em, thanks for chatting with me today.

Hi Em, thanks for chatting with me today. So

tell me: what do you do over at your

company?

Hi Em, thanks for chatting with me today. So

tell me: what do you do over at your

company?

Manufacturing

Sales

Marketing

Another department

Other ways to ask:

Does your child know what they

want to be when they grow up?

http://www.jellyvision.com/work/college-savings-demo/

http://www.jellyvision.com/work/college-savings-demo/

Asking is a really important part of

communicating in human.

Think about it: which is

more pleasant?


more pleasant?

A conversation

where the other

person just

yammers on and

on


more pleasant?

A conversation

where the other

person just

yammers on and

on

blahdy blah

blah


more pleasant?

A conversation

where the other

person just

yammers on and

on

One where the

other person asks

you questions and

helps you be

heard

blahdy blah

blah


more pleasant?

A conversation

where the other

person just

yammers on and

on

One where the

other person asks

you questions and

helps you be

heard

blahdy blah

blah ?

Asking allows you to find out what

people actually care about. Then,

you can share the information that’s

most relevant to them, which keeps

them tuned in.

1.

Practice empathy.

4.

It can be really easy in business

communications to focus on

checking a box, especially when

something goes wrong.

Like, for example, when you sent

someone the wrong kazoo.

Like, for example, when you sent

someone the wrong kazoo.

I wanted blue

That email checks the box. It tells

the customer that you made a

mistake, and you are correcting it.

But does it sound like you care?

You probably really do!

There is a real person over in

shipping who feels really sad

he put the green kazoo in the

box instead of the blue kazoo

and now the customer is sad!

To communicate in human, you

need to practice empathy and put

yourself in the customer’s shoes.

To communicate in human, you

need to practice empathy and put

yourself in the customer’s shoes.

Here’s an empathetic

version of that same

email:

And don’t save all these wonderful

emotions for “we screwed up”

communications.

Making a human connection can

help people make the decision to

take the next step.

So help people feel something, and

you are helping them take action.



*Ideally about your

product, and not

about meerkat

politics or something.



*Ideally about your

product, and not

about meerkat

politics or something.

I am the

king!

Another example of practicing

empathy:

How do you feel when

you hear the word

“budget”?

http://www.jellyvision.com/work/salt/

http://www.jellyvision.com/work/salt/

1.

Don’t be boring.

5.

Did you know:

Did you know:

Every time someone is reading

your marketing message, they

could be watching a video about a

deer and a dog that are best

friends?

Click to see a deer and dog be adorable! We’ll wait

until you come back.

Picture and video via National Geographic

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/unlikely-animal-friends/videos/kate-the-great-dane-and-pippin-the-deer/

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/unlikely-animal-friends/videos/kate-the-great-dane-and-pippin-the-deer/

It’s true. And while your marketing

may never be quite as enthralling

as interspecies BFFs…

You can use fun to help your

messages grab attention—and

keep it.

A Normal Speed Display Sign

A Normal Speed Display Sign

Not very fun.

A Fun Speed Display Sign

A Fun Speed Display Sign

Tells you you’re under

the speed limit.

Fun!

The fun sign with the smiley face

reduced speeding by 55% over the

normal sign.

Fun makes people change their

behavior.

More Fun

A group in Sweden wanted to get

more people to throw their trash in

garbage cans.

More Fun

A group in Sweden wanted to get

more people to throw their trash in

garbage cans.

More Fun

So they asked themselves, “how

can we make this more fun?”

More Fun

Via the smarties at The Fun Theory

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbEKAwCoCKw

http://www.thefuntheory.com/worlds-deepest-bin

In one day, people threw 72 kg of

trash into the fun can.

They only threw 42 kg of trash into

the normal can nearby.

You can use fun to make customers

want to hang out with you. And take

the next step.

You can use fun to make customers

want to hang out with you. And take

the next step.

Even if you’re not in a “fun”

industry.

Take this example from GE.

(Power, appliances, etc.…not exactly

what the kids are talking about.)

From GE’s Pinterest Page

See the original image here.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/172122016979056937/

Make your communication fun,

and people will want to

listen.

Make your communication fun,

and people will want to

listen.

Wheeeee tell me more about

toner cartridgesssss!

1.

Speak human in everything

that you do.

6!Special

bonus

• Error messages

• Error messages

• Logging in

• Error messages

• Logging in

• Chat support

• Error messages

• Logging in

• Chat support

• Invoices

• Error messages

• Logging in

• Chat support

• Invoices

• Everything!!!

And your customers and prospects

will love you for it.

Check out examples of our

quite human Interactive

Conversations

blog

Visit our blog where we muse

about Damn Good

Communication

http://www.jellyvision.com/work/

http://www.jellyvision.com/work/

http://www.jellyvision.com/blog/

http://www.jellyvision.com/blog/