Product Copy
I pretend to be a PM for an app called DittoWords that helps product teams manage their words from design to production. I talk to Mariana, a SCAD grad and design lead at rocketship startup Signifyd.
Watch on YouTube.
Notes
As a PM my objective is to help build products that provide value to high-frequency use-cases so they can acquire newer users at lower cost and retain existing ones at higher value.
- Use-cases: how often and how severe is the use-case, and whether there is a higher-frequency adjacent use-case.
- Acquisition: what are barriers to try and switch.
- Retention: can value be delivered sooner to avoid churn risk.
Takeaways.
- Managing words from a marketing objective like a website is a low-frequency, high-severity job for Mariana.
- The risk of inconsistent copy appears manageable day to day and spikes infrequently, like during an audit or first-time translation.
- The “what happened next” conversation hack worked for getting detailed and reliable user feedback.
Next steps with Mariana and others.
- Show lightweight mockups around highlighting inconsistent language in code before treating it as a product direction.
- Ask to see the current style-guide solution and probe where it breaks down in practice.
- Talk to more core personas like designers, PMs, developers, legal, and deal-desk teams.
Big thanks to Mariana for her time and knowledge.