messaging

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• SKILL.md

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Customer-as-hero messaging

Most product copy describes the product: its features, its stack, its history. People
skim past that, because they're looking for their own problem. This skill rewrites
copy as a short story where the **customer is the hero**, the **product is the guide**
that helps them win, and every screen answers "what's in it for me?" within a few
seconds.

**Say this before you start.** Copy changes are visible to every user. Whether the user
typed `/clawness:messaging` or you reached for this skill yourself: **scan, draft the
brief, and stop for approval before editing any copy.**

## Argument

`/clawness:messaging [surface]`. The surface is what to work on: `landing`, `onboarding`,
`pricing`, `empty-states`, a route, or a file. With no argument, find the
highest-traffic surface (usually the landing page or first-run screen) and propose
starting there.

## The brief (seven parts, one line each)

| Part | Question it answers | Bad sign |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Hero** | Who is the customer, and the ONE thing they want here? | "Everyone"; several wants |
| **Problem** | What's in their way: the external obstacle, how it makes them feel, why it's unfair | Only the external problem; nobody buys a fix for a feeling they weren't shown |
| **Guide** | Why trust us: empathy ("we get it") plus proof (numbers, logos, reviews) | Bragging with no empathy, or empathy with no proof |
| **Plan** | Three or fewer steps from where they are to using it | A feature list instead of steps |
| **Call to action** | One direct CTA ("Start free") plus one low-commitment one (a guide, a demo) | Several competing primary buttons; "Learn more" as the only CTA |
| **Stakes** | What it costs them to do nothing | Fear-mongering, or nothing at all |
| **Success** | Their life after: concrete, visual, specific | "Unlock your potential" |

The brief is the deliverable that matters. Copy is just the brief applied to a screen.

## Steps

### 1. Scan the existing copy

Find where copy lives: route files and components for hero sections and CTAs, i18n
message catalogs (the best source: every user-facing string in one place), CMS or
Markdown content, `<title>`/meta descriptions, app-store listings. Read the README and
any docs for who the product is for. Collect the current headline, subhead, primary
CTA, and section headings for the surface.

### 2. Draft the brief, then stop

Fill the seven-part table from what the code and docs actually say. Where they don't
say, **don't invent customers or proof**: ask. A testimonial, a stat, or a customer
count you can't find in the source isn't proof, it's fabrication. Present:

- the brief,
- a before/after for the headline, subhead and primary CTA,
- the files you'd change.

**Edit nothing until the user approves.**

### 3. Apply it to the surface

- **Headline**: what the customer gets, in their words. Readable in five seconds.
  Not the product name, not a pun.
- **Subhead**: the problem it solves, or the plan in one line.
- **Primary CTA**: one, repeated at the top and the end of the page and in the header.
  A verb plus the outcome ("Start my free trial"), never "Submit" or "Learn more".
- **Sections**: problem → guide (empathy + proof) → plan (≤3 steps) → success → stakes,
  then the CTA again. Trim anything that serves none of these.
- **UI copy**: empty states name the next step and its payoff ("No projects yet:
  create one to see your first report in a minute"). Onboarding is the plan. Error
  messages say what to do next, not what went wrong internally.
- Keep the existing design system, components, and i18n keys. Change strings, not
  structure, unless the user approved a structural change.

### 4. Verify

- Grep each changed string back to confirm it landed where intended and that every
  locale's catalog is updated (or flagged for translation).
- Five-second test: read only the headline, subhead and CTA. Can you say what's
  offered, why it matters, and what to do next? If not, rewrite.
- Report what changed, with before/after for the headline and CTA.

## Don't

- Don't make the product the hero ("We're the leading…"). The customer is.
- Don't invent testimonials, stats, logos or customer counts. Proof comes from source
  or from the user.
- Don't stack primary CTAs, or use clever wording where clear wording works.
- Don't change copy before the brief is approved, even when auto-invoked.
- Don't restructure layouts or swap components to fit a template. Fit what's there.

From fullymiddleaged/Clawness, MIT.

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