Customer Research
Why Your Customers Write Better Copy Than You Do
By Sue Howard · October 20, 2026 · 6 min read
These posts are my working notes, drafted with AI and edited by me so I can share them quickly. My client work gets far more hands-on attention. If you want that, here’s how I work with clients.
Most copy fails for one simple reason: it's written in the marketer's language, not the buyer's. When you describe your offer the way your customers describe their problem, something clicks.
Start where your buyers already talk
Product reviews, support tickets, sales call recordings, and post-purchase surveys are gold mines. Look for repeated phrases, emotional words, and the exact moment someone decided to buy.
Organize by what moves them
Sort what you find into frustrations, desired outcomes, objections, and buying triggers. Patterns appear fast — and those patterns become your headlines, bullets, and calls to action.
Then write less, not more
Once you have their words, your job is to arrange them, not reinvent them. No algorithms. No jargon. Just the raw, unscripted voice your audience responds to.