Writing lessons I learned as a content writer at a tech company

Welcome to part 3 of this writing lessons series! Thank you for reading this series since the first part.

If you just tuned in, you can find the past series below.

Part 1: Article writing

Part 2: Cold email

Part 3: Sending survey question

Part 4: Improving landing page copy

Sending survey question

1. Only one question

I’m going to be transparent. Here’s what I wrote.

It’s shit because I asked 4 questions. I sent this email to 100+ customers. The result? Only two people replied.

I conclude that this is because:

1. I asked too many questions. I should stick to one only

2. Asking more than one question creates friction

   I’ve realized that if I were getting 4-5 survey questions, my mind immediately calculates and concludes that it will take a long time to answer them.

2. Include incentive

One more reason I failed is because there’s no incentive. The two replies I got were hoping for something in return which are free credits & new feature.

Maybe if I offer free credits then I’ll get more replies.

So, if you’re asking people to do something, promise them something beneficial in exchange.

For example,

• Free credits so your users can increase their usage of the software without spending more money

• Free e-book about your niche so your subscribers can learn more (I don’t like this because I always sign up for an email list and immediately unsubscribe after I get the e-book. Sometimes, I use disposable email.)

• Discount code so they can buy your product at a lower price

• Free audit

• Or you could try tapping into their emotion like this. I think charities do this a lot

Done for part 3. Do something good today and share this newsletter with your marketing friends or colleagues.