Your We Count is the number of times the word we (or I) appears on the home page of your website. A higher We Count usually means the messaging is less likely to convert visitors into prospects.
We is the dirtiest word in marketing.
We has been responsible for more unrealized opportunity than any other word in the English language. It’s like a big Bat-signal screaming “I’m going to talk about myself.”
When a prospect lands on your website, they’re interested in themselves. They want to know if you can solve their problem and, if you can, why their life will be better if they choose you to do it?
In their position, being greeted with a bunch of we statements is like you going on a first date with someone who talks about themselves the whole time. Ever been in that situation? If so, how many second dates were there?
Why all the we?
The prevalence of we is driven by knowing our own stories better than any others. For this reason, taking about ourselves is a default starting point and also a fallback topic when we can’t think of something else to say.
All of us could probably go on for pages (or hours) about ourselves. You could probably produce section after section about how great you are, how many awards you’ve won, how committed you are to your vision and mission, how happy your people are to show up every day and how entrenched you are in the cause du jour.
And your prospect will be unmoved by it all because the messaging isn’t centring them. Because they don’t care about you. Yet.
However, once they choose you because you told them why their lives would be better if they did, and after you’ve delivered the goods, they’ll care about you very much. Then, you can serve up all the we you want. They’ll eat it up and probably pass on all the stories of your excellence when recommending you to their friends.
So, no we is the ideal at the outset?
Correct.
But if you have to use a we, these are three rules you should follow:
– No we above the fold. Ever.
– No we before articulating at least three ways your prospect’s life will improve by choosing you.
– No we followed by “are,” “do,” “think,” “believe” or “promise.”
If you’ve followed these three cardinal rules and still feel compelled to put a we into your messaging, consider these suggestions:
– Try flipping the thought around to make it a you statement: “We’ve been around for eighty years,” vs. “You can feel confident with eighty years of continuous experience in your corner.”
– Try replacing we with our. This moves you away from being the subject of a thought, and opens the door for moving your prospect into the subject position. You can read more about this here.
– If you’re going to use we, relate it to the process making the difference to a prospect and why it matters: “We only use high quality ingredients in our equine feed so your horses are lighter on their feet and your stables are easier to clean.”
When should you do your We Count?
Today. Yesterday. Ideally, you did your We Count before you published your website. But it’s not the end of the world if you didn’t because website messaging is far easier to change than design or UX
If your We Count is coming in on the high side, one way to bring it down is by having a set of Hooklines. It’s your brand story from your prospect’s point of view, without a single we. It will guide you, your people and your website towards telling the story your ideal prospect wants to hear.
And your Hooklines will keep your company messaging away from the scourge of we forever more.