What are the best ways to accurately convey what you do to technical buyers on your website? Many technical buyers complain that vendor websites just use buzzwords and don't make it easy to understand how the technology works.

Question

Ivan Dwyer · Accepted Answer

Great question… this is easy to over index on either side – too much buzzword bingo or too deep in the weeds.

Personally, I like to follow a narrative from top to bottom – anchor to “the what”, hook with “the why”, and win over with “the how”.

But each section in that narrative has to be punchy and unique. I’m a Rule of 3 type – bullet points, icons, lists, etc. I get reinforcing key points, but nobody has time to scroll through the same statement over and over again! On each...

Personally, I care more about making an association with “the what” than trying to get creative. Just be prescriptive about what this product is to frame the rest of the content. I roll my eyes at abstract, meaningless website headers :)

Getting to “the why” is where I place most of my focus – this is where being punchy and unique is extra important. I like to speak to pain points, but not in a negative, condescending way (ahem, many security product websites, ahem), more in an encouraging way. As I’ve written about with personas here (https://www.workinproduct.com/blog/elements-of-a-positioning-system-part-2-customer-personas), I try to appeal to what the audience is on the hook for, helping them get by and/or get a head.

I don’t ignore “the how” – technical buyers need to be able to envision how your product works, not just in isolation, but with the rest of the tools & stack. This should be more visual than anything else.

And it probably goes without saying, but backing everything up with great documentation is always a winner – easier said than done, takes a lot of dedication and diligence. But pays back in spades.

Hope that helps!

James Fang · Answer

If technical buyers are critical to the sale, then you have to address their needs. Host accurate technical content.

If you're choosing to reserve your primary real estate for your homepage / above-the-fold for your business / non-technical buyer, then create a clear path (discoverable in your nav bar or as soon as they go below the fold) to "click-here if you're a technical persona" such as "Docs", "Developers", or "How are we different?". Some good example of websites that do this are:

* https://stripe.com/
 * https://www.twilio.com/

For companies targeting developers, having accurate and thorough docs and offering a self-service offering for them to try out the product for themselves is critical.

Karen Sheffer · Answer

If buyers are complaining you should listen. The art of messaging is not to be flashy or buzzy or trendy, it's to know your target audience and speak in their language. If you've heard some negative feedback take a moment to look into it, find out whether that is the view of the majority of your buyer personas. If you find that to be true, it's time to change how you communicate with your audience.

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