Hello {{First Name | founders}}!
Welcome to ‘Tactical Tips’ by Jerel and Shuo at DECODE, where we cover one new idea to help you build and grow your startup – every week in <5 minutes!
Today, we’ll be answering the question, “How to find the right messaging?”
And here’s the advice from Matt Lerner, Founder and CEO at SYSTM, who ran B2B growth teams at Paypal and was previously a Partner at 500Global.
If you’re struggling to craft marketing copy that resonates—and still searching for product-market fit, then today’s newsletter is for you.
🔥 Inside this issue:
✅ 3 tactics to find the right messaging
✅ 2 traps to avoid
✅ 1 tool to leverage
👇Let’s dive in.
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3 tactics to find the right messaging
🎯 Uncover goals, struggles and triggers
Find users who recently tried solving the problem you address and ask them to walk you through their decision step-by-step
Uncover their struggles, the solutions they tried, and what didn’t work (Eg. What will this purchase allow you to achieve? Why is that important to you? What other options did you consider?)
Clarify vague answers (Eg. If they say “better”, “flexible”, “convenient” or “all-in-one”, ask what it means for them)
Dig into triggers (Eg. What prompted you to act on that particular day?)
📢 Turn specific goals and struggles into headlines
Goals:
Headlines should complete the sentence “Now you can…”, “I wish I could…” or “Someday I hope to…”
Listen to users saying “I was trying to…”, “I needed a tool that can…” or “I wish it were easier to…”
Struggles:
Best for cases where people are reluctant to act (Eg. weight loss)
Listen to users saying “I hate it when…”, “I’m tired of…” or “Why can’t I…”
Use first-person and skip rhetorical questions (Eg. None of my clothes fit anymore, and I think about food constantly.)
Follow with a clear “Now you can…” goal in the sub-headline.
Avoid vague terms that signal unclear value like “all in one”, “faster”, “revolutionary” or “convenient”
🆎 Validate comprehension before A/B testing at scale
Flash the headline for 5-seconds, then ask:
What did it say? (Readability)
What would it do for you? (Clarity)
What does it mean in your own words? (Interpretation)
Do this with 4 people per headline. If they can’t explain, messaging needs work
Scale with A/B tests after messaging is clear. Use Meta ads for faster feedback vs landing pages
2 traps to avoid
🚨Chasing product features while ignoring messaging
Great product, wrong words = no traction
Stop everything else and fix messaging first—it’s a prerequisite for product-market fit
Small messaging tweaks can unlock big conversion wins, especially with low-intent traffic
🚨Educating the market too early
Educating the market is tough—it requires attention, belief shifts, and behavior changes
Focus on grabbing attention with simple messaging first. Save education for after you’ve gained attention and built trust
1 tool to leverage
📖 Best practice on measuring messaging
Conversion rates range from 8–40% with the right messaging, but drop to 0.5–3% without it.
Use tools like SEMRush, Ubersuggest, or see “people also searched for…” at the bottom of Google’s search page, to iterate on messaging
Bonus: 1 trend to spark startup ideas
💵 Usage-based pricing is reshaping billing infrastructure
AI is killing seat-based models—now it’s all about performance and usage
Real-time tracking, flexible billing, and deep data observability is key
Sales, product, and finance can’t treat billing as back-office—“BillingOps” / “FinOps” is now strategic
Startups with agile billing infrastructure can iterate faster, monetize smarter, and outpace slower rivals on product and pricing innovation
Startup Knowledge Check
Hint: Read our past newsletter on how to find product market fit.
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