Module 2: Customer-First Drills
Great copy is never about you — it's about the reader. Three drills that rewire your writing around the customer's needs, not your ego.
The WIIFM Filter
The WIIFM Filter is the single most important editing tool in this course. WIIFM stands for "What's In It For Me?" — the question every reader is silently asking about every sentence you write. Run each sentence through the filter: does it answer that question? If not, cut it or rewrite it until it does.
Most business copy fails the filter constantly. "We were founded in 2019 by two Stanford graduates" — WIIFM? Nothing. The reader does not care about your founding story; they care about their problem. "We help busy parents get dinner on the table in 20 minutes" — WIIFM? Everything. Same company, same facts underneath. One sentence serves the writer's ego; the other serves the reader's life.
Make the filter physical until it becomes instinct: print your page, and in the margin of every paragraph write what the reader gets from it. Any paragraph where you cannot write an answer gets deleted or rewritten. Your reader is not interested in you. They are interested in themselves — write accordingly.
Side by side
Run every sentence through WIIFM
| We-focused | Reader-focused | |
|---|---|---|
| Line 1 | Our course has 40 lessons | You get 40 hands-on writing drills |
| Line 2 | We've been in business 10 years | You skip a decade of rookie mistakes |
Example for illustration — not real results.
Build brief
Take your homepage or sales page. Go paragraph by paragraph and write the WIIFM answer in the margin. Which paragraphs fail the filter?
Saved
Write to one person
"Target audience" is where copy goes to die. The moment you write to "busy professionals aged 25–44," your voice goes generic, your examples go vague, and your copy reads like it was written by a committee. Nobody feels spoken to, because nobody was.
The drill: pick one real person — a specific customer, a friend who fits, even a past version of yourself — and write every word to them. Use their name in your draft if it helps. "Sarah, here's how you get your evenings back." When you write to one person, your examples get concrete, your tone gets human, and your promises get specific. Then delete the name before publishing. The specificity stays; the awkwardness goes.
This works because of a strange quirk of reading: copy written to one specific person feels personal to thousands of similar people, while copy written to "everyone" feels personal to no one. Write to one. Reach thousands. If you do not have a specific person in mind, Module 5's customer drill will help you build one — but start today with the best approximation you have.
What the reader is thinking
Build brief
Name one specific real person you'll write to in this course (a customer, a friend, past-you). Describe them in 3 sentences.
Saved
Empathy through storytelling
Facts tell, stories sell — because stories are empathy delivery machines. "Our course has 40 lessons" is a fact. "Maya was terrified of writing her sales page, did one drill a day for a month, and rewrote it in a weekend" is a story that lets the reader see themselves in it. Same information underneath. Wildly different impact.
You do not need dramatic life stories. The most persuasive business stories are small and specific: the customer who almost quit, the mistake you made and fixed, the Tuesday afternoon when something clicked. Specificity is what makes a story feel true — "last March" beats "once," "her third launch" beats "a launch," "$4,200 in a week" beats "great results."
The empathy drill: for every claim on your sales page, ask "what's the story behind this?" Then tell the shortest true version. One customer, one moment, one result. Your reader should think "that's me" at least once per page. Stories are how you make that happen.
Build brief
What's one small true story from your business — a customer moment, a mistake fixed, a Tuesday win? Write the 3-sentence version.
Saved
A coach's about page spends 400 words on her certifications, her journey, and her philosophy. Bounce rate is 90%. What's the core problem?
Your turn: Rewrite your about page (or bio) opening paragraph twice: version A as it is now, version B rewritten so every sentence passes the WIIFM Filter and speaks to one specific person. Which one would you rather read?
Saved.
Your next 24 hours
Pick the most important page in your business. Run the WIIFM Filter on the first five sentences. Rewrite the failures today — even rough rewrites beat polished ego-copy.
Steal this template
THE WIIFM FILTER
Sentence: ___
What's in it for the reader? ___
☐ Passes ☐ Fails → rewrite: ___
Repeat for every sentence. Delete what can't be saved.
Module 2 cheat sheet
- The WIIFM Filter: every sentence must answer 'What's in it for me?'
- Write to one specific person, not a demographic. Delete the name after.
- Copy for 'everyone' moves no one. Specificity feels personal at scale.
- One true, specific story beats ten vague claims.
- Your reader should think 'that's me' at least once per page.
- Stories must be true and permission-granted. Never invent results.