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I am no longer a professional writer, but most of us I know are happy to give feedback if specifically asked. (As the saying goes, it's a lot easier to be an e

I am no longer a professional writer, but most of us I know are happy to give feedback if specifically asked. (As the saying goes, it's a lot easier to be an editor than a writer.) The problem I've had with doing startup copy reviews is that it often bleeds into product critiques. As Sean Ellis says, if your survey.io question responses are in the 25-40% range, the issue is often your positioning, not your product. I'd be happy to join you in this endeavor, but I think you're asking the wrong questions. I think you should really focus on getting real user feedback rather than "expert" feedback on how to make your positioning clearer. Again, your positioning itself may be wrong, and only real user testing and questioning will make this evident.

nonrecursive 17y ago
I think you make many valid points. Get user feedback, whether by asking or by doing a/b tests or whatever, is definitely the surest way to know if your copy is effective. Still, I think that getting feedback from your peers can be helpful. Your peers can answer basic questions like, "Does this writing make sense?" and "Is it interesting or boring?" They can also offer suggestions, like "Try speaking to the users emotions rather than simply stating what your product does." I think it would also be useful to get feedback when it's time sensitive. For example, I'd like to get feedback on the copy of my iPhone app before actually releasing it, since most app sales occur within the first 6 weeks of release. Getting feedback beforehand seems like it would be useful. I also want to clarify that my intention is not just to share marketing copy for feedback, but also blog posts of any kind - technical, personal, whatever. (Unfortunately I can't update the original post to specify this). In those cases I imagine discussion wouldn't revolve around marketing, but just around writing. Thanks again for your feedback!

nonrecursive 17y ago

I think you make many valid points. Get user feedback, whether by asking or by doing a/b tests or whatever, is definitely the surest way to know if your copy is effective. Still, I think that getting feedback from your peers can be helpful. Your peers can answer basic questions like, "Does this writing make sense?" and "Is it interesting or boring?" They can also offer suggestions, like "Try speaking to the users emotions rather than simply stating what your product does." I think it would also be useful to get feedback when it's time sensitive. For example, I'd like to get feedback on the copy of my iPhone app before actually releasing it, since most app sales occur within the first 6 weeks of release. Getting feedback beforehand seems like it would be useful. I also want to clarify that my intention is not just to share marketing copy for feedback, but also blog posts of any kind - technical, personal, whatever. (Unfortunately I can't update the original post to specify this). In those cases I imagine discussion wouldn't revolve around marketing, but just around writing. Thanks again for your feedback!