The Hidden Psychology Behind Messaging
How to create messaging concepts that make customers say "Yes!"
Ever wonder why some products fly off the shelves while others, with nearly identical features gather dust? The difference often isn't the product itself, but how the story is told. That's the power of a well-crafted messaging concept, and it's what separates marketing that works from marketing that simply makes noise.
What makes customers listen? The psychology behind messaging concepts
A messaging concept is the backbone of your product marketing strategy once you have nailed down your positioning strategy. It's how you translate what your product does and stands for into why customers should care. Think of it as the blueprint that guides all your product marketing communications, from website copy to social media posts to sales pitches and ads.
But here's what many product marketers get wrong: they focus on what their product does rather than how it makes customers' lives better. Your customers don't care about your features, they care about themselves!
Breaking down a winning messaging concept
A powerful messaging concept, also known as a messaging pillar, has 3 essential parts that work together to open your customer's wallet:
💡The insight: The "Aha!" moment
An insight is that lightbulb moment when you understand something your customers feel but haven't fully expressed, sometimes even to themselves.
Bad example: "People want to create content for their business."
Good example: "Small business owners like you feel guilty and distracted every time they step away from serving customers to create social media content, yet you know your business won't grow without it."
Notice the difference? The good insight taps into the emotional conflict your customers experience. When they hear this, they think, "Yes! That's exactly how I feel!"
🥇 The single-minded benefit (SMB): The promise that matters
This is where you make one clear promise about how your product will make your customer's life better. Remember: Features are what your product does, while benefits are what your customers get
For example:
Feature: AI-powered image editor
Benefit: Create professional-looking posts in half the time
The key word here is "single-minded." Pick ONE benefit that matters most. Trying to say everything means your customer will remember nothing.
If your single-minded benefit includes words like “and”, it’s very likely it’s not single-minded.
🥰 Reasons to Believe (RTBs): Proof you'll deliver
This is where you back up your promise with concrete evidence. Without this, your benefit is just an empty claim.
Effective RTBs can be:
Specific numbers: "Create a week's worth of posts in just 20 minutes"
Simple explanations: "Our AI analyzes thousands of high-performing posts to suggest what works for your industry"
Social proof: "Join the 20,000+ small businesses saving 5+ hours per week"
Demonstrations: Show the before-and-after transformation
Why most messaging falls flat: The 3 barriers
For your message to work, it needs to clear 3 hurdles in your customer's mind:
🤔 The "So what?" barrier (Relevance)
If customers don't care about the benefit you're offering, nothing else matters.
How to break through:
Really know your customers, beyond basic demographics
Connect your benefit to something they already care about
Show how your product solves a problem they face daily
😒 The "Yeah, right" barrier (Believability)
Customers are skeptical, they've heard big promises before.
How to break through:
Show, don't just tell
Use specific details instead of vague claims
Let satisfied customers do the talking
Offer guarantees that remove the risk
🤨 The "Not worth it" barrier (Value)
Even if customers want what you're selling and believe you'll deliver, they might not think it's worth the price (or the effort!).
How to break through:
Compare the cost to something relatable ("less than your daily coffee habit")
Quantify the benefit ("save 5 hours every week: that's 260 hours per year")
Frame the cost of not buying ("how much is a lost customer worth?")
Real-world example: How I did it for GoDaddy Studio
Let's look at how I built a compelling messaging concept for GoDaddy Studio, a content creation tool for solopreneurs.
💡Insight: Content creation is an important task for small business growth, yet it's also the most time-consuming one.
🥇Single-Minded Benefit: Create content faster with GoDaddy Studio so you can have more time to run your business.
🥰 Reasons to Believe:
Save time with automated creation: Remove distracting photo backgrounds with one tap
Boost social engagement: Instantly create AI-powered videos with styled transitions and music
Plan a month's worth of social media posts in minutes: Schedule and publish to all social media channels at once
Why this works: It zeroes in on a specific pain point for small business owners: the time crunch between creating content and actually running their business. The RTBs are concrete, showing exactly how the product saves time.
GoDaddy Studio was a small product, almost a feature for GoDaddy, competing with many other powerful content creation tools, including a whole company of thousands of employees like Canva This concept was a winner because it was tailor made for our specific audience. This concept won in research against others messaging concepts about convenience, brand and guidance, making customers tell us “I feel seen!”.
How to build your own messaging concepts with a simple framework
Creating powerful messaging isn't about waiting for inspiration, it's about deeply understanding your target audience an a simple process:
1. Cast a wide net first
Capture a tone of insights, written in second person
List 15 different benefits your product could offer that deeply align with your insights
For each benefit, write 2-3 reasons why customers should believe you
Focus on benefits, not features, remember the difference!
2. Narrow down to the winners
Pick your top 4 benefits
Expand each with 7-10 strong reasons to believe
Finally, refine to your 2-3 strongest concepts, each with 3 compelling RTBs
3. Test and refine
While I’ll cover testing in depth in my next article, remember that your opinion isn't what matters. It's what resonates with your customers that counts.
Avoid these common mistakes
Even experienced product marketers make these errors:
Benefit overload: Trying to say everything in one message
Feature-speak: Talking about what your product does rather than what your customer gets
Vague claims: Making promises without specific evidence
Industry jargon: Using words your customers don't use themselves
Borrowed interest: Using trendy topics that have nothing to do with your product
The bottom line: Why this matters
Strong messaging concepts do more than guide your marketing, they transform how customers see your product. When done right, customers don't just understand what you're selling; they feel that you understand them.
This isn't just marketing theory, it's the practical difference between products that connect and convert versus those that confuse and get forgotten.
In my next article, I'll show you exactly how to test your messaging concepts to ensure they resonate with your target audience. You'll learn which approaches work best, how to interpret results, and how to refine your concepts for maximum impact.