How My Dear Old Mum’s Struggle to Use a Computer Keyboard Can Help Improve YOUR Marketing Efforts

Don’t you just love it when a very simple experience can lead to valuable insights?

I certainly do, and that’s exactly what happened to me just the other day…

Which is why I’d like to share a short story that will add value to the quality of your content writing, whilst also delivering an important life lesson!

(TL;DR? Skip to the section entitled My Epiphany & How it Can Help YOU!)

You see, last night I was chatting with mum on the phone about what gift to buy my brother and sister-in-law for their 25th anniversary. We finally found the ideal choice, and then mum went and fetched her purse so the online deal could “go down”.

(By the way – if you haven’t phoned your mum (or dad) in a while, they’d probably appreciate a quick call to say “Hi!”. Just saying!)

Continuing on…

In mum’s mind, it was me that was going to be doing the transaction on her behalf by using her credit card details.

However, I had very different ideas!

(Cue evil laugh and sound of crackling lightning!)

To quickly set the scene…

I’m at home on my computer looking at website X. Mum is in her home on her computer also looking at website X. The plan was for me to go through the ordering steps on my computer, and then instruct mum on what buttons she needed to click so she could do the actual ordering from her end.

In other words, I’m having one particular train of thought and am expecting the way I communicated those thoughts to be understood exactly as they were intended.

Boy, was I in for a surprise!

Now, I can hear the boos and hisses starting to come from the crowd, as you chastise me for being such a wicked son.

I know you’re thinking “Surely you could have just done the ordering for her Pete and helped her avoid all the pain?”.

The pain you know that’s coming next in this story.

Well, yes – I could have.

But here’s the thing…

Many of you will be familiar with the old Chinese saying,

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

And if you weren’t, you are now! 😊

It’s because of the last part of the saying that I knew I had to put mum through her paces. It’s a very valuable life lesson!

The great news is that mum is in her mid-eighties and still very fit and mentally sharp, so I knew she had mental capacity to pull off such a lofty feat (well, lofty-ish). But like so many of her generation, she seems to have a mental block whenever it comes to using any letter and number-inputting device; what you and I would call a keyboard.

(Source: https://imgur.com/t/turtle/2CAMGRp

I’m confident many of you can relate to what I mean. And I’m confident that you, like me, wonder why this is so. Because surely it can’t be that hard can it?

Well, hang tight people – the big reveal is soon to follow!

But first…

let me share with you how the “communication” process with mum began as I started instructing her on what to do.

This is how it went down…

Me: “Ok – can you see the box that says deluxe meal and overnight stay deal?”

Mum: “De-luxe, meal, aaaaand, over, night, stay, deal. Hmmm?”

2 minutes of silence!

Me: “Mum? Can you see it?”

Mum: “Errrm, hang on son. Deeee-luxxxxe? De-luxe? De-luxe? Deeee-luxxxxe? Now, let me see…”

This time, the whispering sound of tumbleweed and chirping crickets could be heard.

1 minute later…

Me: “Mum?”

I think you have a pretty good idea of how the next 10 minutes went.

However, it was during these 10 minutes of adversity that I had an epiphany!

A light bulb moment that would massively help improve your content writing!

You see, whilst mum was mumbling away to herself on the other end of the phone, I muted myself and started laughing.

Not laughing in the way that someone who’d been tormented so much they’d lost their mind would…

(Source: https://thelycaeum.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/agent-smith-on-teleology-and-the-artnature-distinction/)

but in a loving and compassionate way.

And whist laughing, I also had an idea to look up the phrase “Why do older people have so much trouble typing” on Google.

Which led me to this result on Quora.

As I began to read the comments, there was one in particular that jumped out and hit me square in the face!

“So that’s why it happens!” I squealed in delight.

It suddenly all made sense!

Immediately after the light bulb went off in my head, I suddenly remembered that mum was still on the other end of the phone looking for the first word of the offer!

I laughed again, took myself off mute, breathed deeply and carried on!

I’ll spare you the gory details of what followed, but you’ll be pleased to know we made it through and good ‘ol mum was victorious in the end – as I knew she would be!

Good job ma, good job!

My Epiphany & How it Can Help YOU!

So after all that, what the heck has a conversation with me, my mum, and my brother’s anniversary got do with you?

I’m glad you asked.

You see, the particular response to my search query “Why do older people have so much trouble typing” that got my attention on Quora was this one…

“Some have trouble translating between what’s physical (the keyboard) and what’s virtual (what’s happening on the screen)”

And just like that, the obviousness of the obvious suddenly became obvious!

Obvs!

After reading these words, I suddenly thought about the disconnects so many businesses experience between themselves and their prospects when writing web copy.

It was exactly the same thing!

A person writes their web copy on a physical keyboard, but the virtual words on the screen the recipient reads do not, for some reason, convey the same intended message as those input by the writer.

So what’s happening here?

What’s happening is that your content is not connecting and therefore it cannot convert.

Because it’s content that connects that creates conversions!

The main reasons you’re likely getting these disconnects, then, is because of the following 3 things;

1. You’re using different terminology

This occurs when you or your copywriter is using slightly or possibly extremely different language from that used by your audience
In web copy terms, this hinges around the keywords you’re using
If your content doesn’t contain the same keywords your prospects use to search for information, then if they do come across your content somehow, the language you’re using won’t resonate
The answer, then, is to make sure you do thorough keyword research to ensure your copy terminology is audience aligned. Your content success is critically linked to how well you do this.
There are many articles written on the web and tools you can use to help with your keyword research process. A favourite tool of mine is SEMRush (a premium tool) or a free tool like https://searchvolume.io/

2. You’re missing the intent behind your prospects’ searches

Whilst “intent” became a buzzword in marketing about 5 or 6 years ago (maybe a little more), it’s still 100% relevant today
Intent refers to the underlying context of why someone is using a certain search phrase or keyword to find information
Within the mind of the searcher are many questions that are wrapped up within the keywords they use
So as well as looking for the same keywords to appear within the articles they discover in the search results, what they’re also looking for is deeper information that adequately answers the hidden questions they mentally embedded in those keywords
Your job as a copywriter is to understand the intent of the searcher, and deliver the information they really want within the words of your copy
One of the best tools I’ve come across to help with identifying and understanding searcher intent is Answer the Public

3. You’re not telling your prospects what to do next

Reading information takes effort and focus, and so you want to avoid adding unnecessary cognitive load to the minds of your prospects by not making them think when they don’t have to
The more people have to think about what they’re reading, the less likely they are to continue and engage with your message. It’s too much hassle.
Make the absorption of information for your prospects as easy as possible. A key part of this is using call-to-actions or CTA’s
A CTA is basically a signpost that says to your prospect “do this next”. Signposting creates clarity, boosts the user experience, and facilitates conversions
It’s a confused mind that doesn’t buy
So make sure your content is well signposted by using clear CTA’s that will guide your readers to take the next steps you want them to take along their journey of discovery with you
You’ll find some really powerful guidance on this from people like the Content Marketing Institute

Because when you continually make a point of using these 3 components within your marketing and copywriting, you’ll quickly start seeing how positively they turn your performances around!

And there it is!

I really hope you got some practical and enjoyment value out of this article, and so I invite you to please comment with your thoughts and to share it with your network. Because if it’s helped you, it will help others.