Who's Speaking, Please?

When you use some delightful piece of software, is it yours, or does it belong to the company that built it? Okay. Obviously, in a strictly legal sense, software is intellectual property that "belongs" to its makers. But don't we talk about "my Google doc" and "my Excel spreadsheet" and "my Facebook wall?"

Sure we do. So it's a bit jarring when the interface reflects a totally different point of view. 

Whose Software Is This, Anyway?

It's a minor quibble, but there's a big difference between microcopy that urges the user to "Get organized using our fancy new to-do list tool" and microcopy that urges them to "Get started using your fancy new to-do list tool."

I get it when I see copy like the first example. I do. It's a company building their brand. It's a product team trying to market itself. It's an engineering team excited to launch a feature they've slaved over for months. It's the natural human impulse to claim ownership of a thing we're proud of.

But from the point of view of a customer -- the person who uses your product day in and day out -- this is their organizer tool. Not yours. They bought it, they paid for it (or they signed up for it and gave you their email address in exchange) and now it's theirs.

And the thing is, you want them to feel like they own it. Right? You want your users to feel personally invested in your software, to take pride in the fact that they belong to that tribe, to feel some of the glory when your product is praised. 

So yeah, it's a small thing. But anything you can do to reinforce the idea that you're all in this together and the user drives the bus is worth a little quibbling over details. 

Usually it's as easy as changing the pronouns and possessives in your copy. And, of course, focusing on the reasons why a user might do a frenzied dance of joy once they read it.

Good

• Use your new Profile Builder to engage more customers.
• Drive conversions sky high with your new Conversion Reporting tool.
• Fire up your Blog Topic Generator to spark more creative blog post ideas.

Bad

• Try Acme's new organizer tool.
• Explore Acme's new image editor.
• Have you seen our new widgetizer? Try it now!
• You get the idea.

Take The Blame

The exception, of course, is when things go wrong. That's when you -- the software company, app builder, whatever -- need to claim total ownership of the problem. Pronouns matter a lot in alerts and apologies -- in anything that's conveying bad news.

It might be the user's fancy new widget, but it's "our" servers that fail, "our" backup that didn't save, and "our" processes that need to be fixed. Whenever you're writing an apology or any sort of product-related mea culpa, take the high road, take a close look at your pronouns, and make sure you take the blame. Maintain the inescapable reality that the good stuff belongs to your user and the bad stuff belongs to you.

In short, it's their tasks that failed to save (or their analytics that got misreported, or whatever) but it was your systems that failed. Yes, even when it's actually a third party that dropped the ball. In your user's eyes, there's really no difference between you and any third party you might be working with. For real.

Share The Credit

The flip side of this is that when good things happen to your company, good things happen to your users. So any awards you win, milestones you achieve, obstacles you surmount, and so on -- however you can communicate these as a BIG WIN for your CUSTOMERS, do it. You wouldn't have gotten here without them, after all. Let them bask in the glory. And let your pronouns reflect that, too.

Avoid The Droid

One final note: It's a common thing for folks writing apologies and bearing bad news about their product to default to the passive voice. To simply avoid the question of who owns the problem and revert to some version of the ever-popular "mistakes were made."

Resist this urge. You will always come across as more respectable, more honorable, and as having far more integrity if you own the problem and take the blame. Yes, in words. Yes, in writing.

Say it with me. "We messed up. We will fix it. We are sorry."

Relying on some fictional robotic scapegoat (i.e., "the systems failed" or "the email failed to send") is just as bad. 

The Golden Rule

It's pretty simple, really. If you're pleased and proud of something you're announcing, share the credit as much as you can. Shine the spotlight on how your users will benefit, how this is all thanks to them and their awesome feedback, how they're the air that you breathe and the throb in your heart. Because they are.

And when there's something you're dreading announcing, something you're really wishing it were somebody else's job to say, take the blame squarely on your own shoulders. Act as if you own the problem, and act as if you own the solution. Because you do.

Image by IronRodart