How can you test your messaging?

There are so many ways to test messaging, but here are some of my favorites:1. Work with your Sales and Customer Success teams to reach out to your customers with an offer to give you feedback on your messaging via a phone or video call. This works better than you'd expect, but if they don't engage for some reason, offer an incentive (gift card, discount, etc.). This is even easier if you're Customer Marketing team has already pre-qualified customers who want to give feedback on messaging, produ ...Read More

Don’t overcomplicate it. Just find the fastest way to talk to customers. You could set up a formal feedback session with surveys, incentives, and all the jazz - which still gives you biased feedback. Or... you can just hop on an already scheduled customer call TODAY and casually ask customers for their quick qualitative feedback. Here is a sample message to your customer success folks: Hey {CSM name] - I am just trying to get a quick and casual reaction from our customers on this new messaging I ...Read More

When I test messaging, I try not to treat it as a one-time exercise or something that happens only at launch. Instead, I see it as an ongoing validation loop across three layers: internal clarity, market resonance, and real commercial impact. It usually starts internally. Before anything goes to market, I pressure-test messaging with sales, product, and customer success. Not just for alignment, but to see whether people outside marketing can actually repeat it in their own words. If sales can’t ...Read More

The depth of insight you can glean with a few good qualitative interviews can't be overstated! Reach out to your network to get connected with relevant personas in the space, ask them for a live chat to review what you've been working on, and offer a simple coffee or gift card in exchange for their time. Ask them to think out loud as they consume your messaging, and pay close attention to their non-verbal language; where are they leaning in, furrowing a brow, re-reading, or exlaiming as they pro ...Read More

Testing your message, aka advertising test, is done with quantitative marketing research. Show a copy of the advertisement, be it a storyboard or the real ad, to a representative sample of the public supposed to be exposed to the message, and test 3 elements: Comprehension, Reaction, and Memorization. Comprehension of the message meaning as you are supposed to transfer it. Reaction to the message coherent with the goal of the campaign (Trial? Repurchase? What else?) Memorization of the message, ...Read More