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How to tell the right stories

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Welcome to today’s issue of Conversion Alchemy Journal. If you received this from a friend and enjoy it, subscribe here.​

I've started looking for a junior copywriter to help me out, and as I was reading some of the applications, one thing stood out. When I ask them what they find challenging about writing copy for B2B SaaS, a lot of them said something like, "The challenge of making complex products sound simple."

This is something a lot of people get wrong about SaaS.

It's not that products can’t be complex—they absolutely can be—but the idea that you need to make them sound simple is misleading.

Think about it: why would you?

If I'm a developer, I don't want you to dumb it down for me.

If I'm a CMO, I don't want you to speak to me like you would a technical person with no marketing knowledge.

The sweet spot is meeting your prospects right where they are. Nothing more, nothing less.

I recently heard comedian Mike Birbiglia on a podcast saying, "The misremembering of stories is how stories become worth listening to." In other words, when we tell stories from memory, we naturally dramatize them—making them more linear or polarizing than they actually were.

This "misremembering" is what makes stories hit harder.

In copywriting, it’s similar: it’s about finding the right level of detail to meet your prospects where they are. We’re not dumbing things down; we’re distilling them to fit our audience's needs and expectations.

Just like a great comedian knows what details to highlight and what to leave out to make a story land, a great copywriter knows what to emphasize or simplify to make the message resonate.

And this isn’t something you can fake—you can’t "misremember" what you don’t understand in the first place.

The hardest part isn’t just understanding the product; it’s understanding the people. You need to spend hours absorbing your audience’s language and the nuances of how they think.

That’s why great direct response copywriters get paid well—and often work on commission. They typically write in the same niche, for the same businesses, over and over. Same ICP, same problems, same motivations, same desires.

At a certain point, they know their market so well, they become that market.

That’s the level of empathy every good copywriter should strive for.

Your job isn’t to make your product sound simple—it’s to make it sound right.

📚 Copywriting nuggets in the wild

Content of the week: The Seinfeld Formula

Speaking of comedians and of leaving things out to create more relevant meaning, this video deconstructs the secrets why one of my favorite TV shows, Seinfeld, works.

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Swipe file: Punchy outcome + problem copy

This week, copy from the wild. The wild meaning my dentist's lobby.

This is a great "formula" to make an rather complex idea instant to understand.

[desired outcome] you can + [pain point] you can't

And I speak as an Invisalign user.

They hit at my desired outcome and immediately link it to the problem they're solving for me (while also implying how they're better than alternatives).

How can you use it?

✅ Don't miss it

Episode 25 of The Message-Market Fit podcast is out!

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I had a fantastic chat with Talia Wolf, CEO at Getuplift. Here's what you'll learn:

• The power of emotional targeting in B2B marketing
• How to conduct effective customer research for better insights
• Creating value propositions that truly resonate with your audience
• Strategies for testing messaging across different channels
• Balancing feature-focused and emotionally-driven benefits in B2B
• Talia's approach to continuous learning and staying ahead in CRO
• Sneak peek into Talia's upcoming book on emotion in B2B marketing

And way way more.

Check it out here. And if you find it valuable, would you consider subscribing and leaving a rating? 🙏

🤔 Thought of the week

Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Your level of discipline and integrity lie on a spectrum and require constant maintenance. Give in one day and you’ll pay with interest the next. Nothing is truly free in life.

Have a great weekend!

​ Chris Silvestri Founder, Conversion Alchemy

🙌🏻 Let’s be friends (unless you’re a stalker)​

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