You can look at SaaS messaging from two perspectives.

The first is seeing SaaS messaging as wording. That’s the incomplete perspective.

The second one is viewing SaaS messaging as a system. That’s the zoom-out, full perspective.

How does this relate to using ChatGPT over hiring a messaging expert?

It’s all connected.

Let me explain.

SaaS messaging as wording

Increase the readability score of your text. Use a well-known word instead of its fancy synonym. Shorten your sentences. Remove a bloated metaphor. Achieve a coherent narrative flow.

These are just a few practices to make your SaaS messaging consumable.

And you can easily use ChatCPT or any other generative AI to work on your messaging. It can help you simplify hard sentences. Or, it can replace complex words with better alternatives.

You can also use it to polish your SaaS (micro) copy, marketing/sales materials, and user docs. It can also help you confirm whether the narrative has a logical flow.

You don’t need to hire an expert if you see SaaS messaging as wording.

But that’s an incomplete perspective and it won’t take you far.

It’s as if building a crew spacecraft and focusing on the interior design to look good. All the while ignoring the engineering aspect.

SaaS messaging is so much more than wording.

SaaS messaging as system

SaaS messaging is the intricate fabric that stays at the core of your business.

If you have difficulties seeing the broader context, let’s go to the basics.

What’s SaaS messaging?

SaaS messaging is how teams communicate with target audiences to get them to act.

Let’s get granular and deconstruct this definition.

‘Teams’ refer to all public-facing departments:

• Marketing
• Sales
• Customer Support
• Customer Success
• Community
• Product
• And more

‘How’ and ‘communicate’ refer to ways of interaction:

• Software microcopy
• Website copy
• Content
• Webinars
• Events
• Campaigns
• Sales decks
• Demos
• One-on-one meetings
• Onboarding docs
• Customer education material
• Community content
• And more

‘Target audiences’ refer to different buying stages:

• Website visitors
• Leads
• Prospects
• Free users
• Paying users
• Product community members
• And more

‘Get them to act’ refers to the ultimate goal of SaaS messaging.

Here’s what these ‘actions’ look like:

• Visitors staying on the website to explore the product
• Leads signing up for a free trial or plan
• Leads contacting the sales team
• Free users converting to paying customers
• Prospects purchasing a plan
• Users achieving good results with the SaaS
• Users choosing to stay with your brand
• Users opting for cross-selling and upselling
• Users advocating for your SaaS
• Users engaging with other users on forums

Can you see how many elements and team dynamics SaaS messaging involves?

It’s a system that bridges the value of your software and the needs of your target audiences.

And it’s not a system you set up and forget about it. It’s a system that requires consistent, diligent work to generate and simplify meaning.

You don’t simplify wording; you simplify an entire system

I place a special emphasis on ‘simplify.’

Why?

Data shows that people suffer from info overload and communication fatigue.

Very few have the patience to navigate complexity. That’s true for SaaS leads and users as well.

To capture their attention and make them act, you must simplify your SaaS messaging.

But ‘simplify’ doesn’t refer to wording.

Simple wording is the result of ‘simplifying’ SaaS messaging at a system level.

And that’s far from easy. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the most complicated tasks.

A task that depends on many SaaS individual and team dynamics, which ChatGPT can’t handle.

Example

Let’s say you want to attain language plainness and consistency. That’s a great way to make your messaging accessible to everyone.

But you can’t ask your team members to improve wording here and there. This won’t bring any sustainable, long-term results.

You’ll need to act at a system level.

How?

To achieve plainness and consistency in language, you must adopt a messaging guide. This messaging guide may include anything from terms you can and can’t use to consistency rules.

To make this happen, you have to involve different stakeholders within your SaaS to:

• Decide the content of your messaging guide. This may refer to standardizing terms and definitions, defining accepted syntax, and more.
• Socialize the messaging guide company-wide. Everyone must be aware of this guide and where to find it.
• Explain why it’s crucial to adhere to the guide. Understanding the ‘why,’ will encourage everyone to internalize and follow the guide.
• Track the implementation. Address any inconsistencies and discuss implementation challenges with your teams.
• Review, refine, and update the guide regularly. This step keeps the guide relevant.
• Create a process for approving new terms or changes to the guide. A unified process will remove the risk of inconsistencies and keep the guide updated.
• Put in place a version control system. Track updates to keep a clear record of decisions. This is great for transparency and accountability.

The processes above are quite complex.

And ChatGPT or any other generative AI tool can’t help you with them. Sure, ChatGPT can spit out general syntax and grammar recommendations.

But it can't manage the complexity and knowledge to roll out a messaging guide.

Things ChatGPT can’t do

SaaS messaging is a system that involves many team dynamics and processes. And although things may change in the future, at the moment, you can’t use ChatGPT to:

• Ignite collaboration. You can’t work on SaaS messaging in silos. You must involve different stakeholders in this effort. Only a human can lead these interactions.
• Think. It also lacks the human insight and intuition to identify the right solutions. Even if you create prompts, you’ll still need to think through these prompts yourself.
• Prioritize. ChatGPT can’t accurately evaluate the urgency of specific SaaS messaging issues. Also, it lacks the industry and audience knowledge to prioritize the right solutions.
• Extract. Human insight is priceless in solving messaging issues. Plus, ChatGPT can’t ask the right questions or extract the necessary info from your teams.
• Contextualize. ChatGPT can’t understand the nuances of your industry. You need human expertise to provide context and make informed messaging decisions.
• Decide. ChatGPT can’t help with discussing and agreeing upon specific SaaS messaging topics. It also can’t estimate whether one solution is more effective than another.
• Align. ChatGPT can’t help you get everyone on the same page. You’ll have to do it yourself through meetings, explaining the why, and addressing concerns.
• Implement. ChatGPT can’t execute a plan. For example, it can’t roll out a messaging guide company-wide. Also, it can’t support everyone through the process.

The list continues.

We can go even more granular.

ChatGPT can’t help you design and apply frameworks for simplifying messaging. Here are some examples:

• Linearity: Organize all information in linear workflows. This way people won’t lose track of their larger process. ChatGPT doesn’t have the broader context to fully understand the journey of your leads and users.
• Distillation: As Tom Johnson notes, distillation is compressing meaning into a shorter space. You do that to reduce info density and overload. ChatGPT can help cut down on word count and summarize. But it can’t recognize and prioritize the essential.
• Progressive disclosure: This involves revealing information to people only as they need it. The goal is to avoid overwhelming them with all the details at once. ChatGPT doesn’t understand the pacing or context to implement this approach.

The list continues

All these processes and actions need human expertise.

Only a SaaS messaging expert can help you navigate these complexities. They view SaaS messaging as a system. They understand how dynamics and elements interplay with each other.

They will guide you through the process and help you simplify your messaging at a system level. Because that’s the main requirement to break through the noise, capture people’s attention, and get them to act.