Latest / The Copywriting Podcast with Fexingo: Sales Letters, Headlines, and Persuasive Writing / The Power of a Single Pronoun in Sales Copy
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this tiny word that shows up in almost every piece of sales copy you've ever written, and I'm willing to bet you've never given it a second thought. Luna: Which word is that? Lucas: The pronoun. Specifically, whether you write 'you' or 'we' when you're talking to your reader. And there's actually a solid chunk of research that says it matters way more than you'd think. Luna: Okay, I'm intrigued. What does the research say? Lucas: There's a 2015 study out of UC Berkeley where they looked at a bunch of real ads and then ran controlled experiments. When the copy used 'you' instead of 'we', purchase intent went up by about ten percent. That's not huge, but in direct response, a ten percent lift is the difference between a campaign that flops and one that funds the next quarter. Luna: Ten percent just from switching a pronoun? That feels almost too simple. Lucas: I know, but the psychology behind it is pretty straightforward. 'You' puts the reader at the center of the message. It's direct, it's personal, it feels like a conversation. 'We' can feel like the company is talking about itself, which is the opposite of what you want in a sales letter. Luna: But don't we use 'we' all the time when we talk about our own brand? I mean, Apple says 'We believe' in their ads. Lucas: Right, and that's the nuance. 'We' isn't wrong, it's just different. It builds a different kind of relationship. When Apple says 'We believe,' they're making a values statement, and that works when your brand is already iconic. But when you're trying to get someone to take a specific action—buy, sign up, click—'you' is almost always the stronger lever. Luna: So the context matters. I guess my question is, how do you know when to use which? Lucas: The simplest rule I've heard is this: use 'you' when you want the reader to feel the benefit, use 'we' when you want to build trust through authority. So in a headline, 'You can double your email list in 30 days' is more compelling than 'We help you double your email list.' The first one is about them, the second is about you. Luna: But there are times when 'we' is actually the right call, right? Like in a guarantee or a warranty? Lucas: Exactly. A guarantee is a promise from the company, so 'we' makes sense. 'We'll refund your money if you're not satisfied'—that's the company taking responsibility. If you wrote 'You'll get a refund,' it's weaker because it's not clear who's making the promise. Luna: That's a really good distinction. So the pronoun is kind of like a signal for who owns the action. Lucas: Yes, that's exactly it. The pronoun is a subtle cue about agency. 'You' hands the power to the reader, 'we' keeps it with the brand. And depending on what you're trying to achieve, you want to be intentional about that. Luna: I remember reading about a study where they tested 'you' in subject lines and open rates went up. Was that the same study? Lucas: No, that was a different one, but it's the same principle. There was a Mailchimp experiment that showed including 'you' in subject lines lifted open rates by a couple of points. It's not a massive shift, but again, in email marketing, a one percent lift in open rates is a big deal. Luna: So if this is so well-documented, why don't more copywriters use 'you' all the time? I feel like I see a lot of 'we' in B2B copy. Lucas: Part of it is habit. Part of it is that B2B copy often tries to sound corporate and 'we' feels more corporate. But that's exactly the mistake. The people making the buying decisions are still individuals, and they respond to being spoken to directly. Luna: Do you have any examples of a B2B company that does this well? Lucas: Slack does a great job. Their homepage copy is full of 'you'—'You're here to build something'—that kind of thing. And they're a B2B tool, but they talk to the user, not the company. Luna: That's a good point. So what's the takeaway for someone listening? How do you actually test this in your own copy? Lucas: The easiest thing is to run a simple A/B test. Take a headline or a call to action and swap 'we' for 'you' and see what happens. Even if you don't have a huge audience, you can test it in an email to your list. But the key is to do it in a controlled way—change only the pronoun, not anything else. Luna: But what if you're not in a position to run a test? Is there a default you'd recommend? Lucas: If you're not sure, default to 'you' in your headlines and calls to action. That's where the reader is making a decision. But in your body copy, where you're building trust, you might want to mix in 'we' to establish credibility. The mistake is going all-in on one or the other. Luna: So it's a balance. That makes sense. Lucas: And one more thing—watch out for overusing 'you' to the point where it feels robotic. There's a fine line between being direct and being aggressive. The key is to be conversational, not pushy. Luna: Before we go deeper, I want to mention something. You know, a lot of what we talk about on this show is based on research and experience, but we also learn a ton from listeners who share their own tests. And the reason we can keep making these episodes ad-free is because a small group of listeners chips in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's not much, but it literally funds the time we put into researching and recording. Lucas: Yeah, it's true. And we're really grateful for anyone who does that. It's what keeps this show independent and free for everyone. Luna: So back to pronouns—I want to ask you about a specific case. I remember a campaign for a financial software company that switched from 'we' to 'you' in their landing page and saw conversions jump by seventeen percent. Do you know that one? Lucas: I do. And the interesting part is that they didn't change anything else—just the pronoun in the headline and the first paragraph. That's a huge result for a one-word change. Luna: It really shows the power of language. But is there a risk of overcorrecting? Like, can 'you' be too much? Lucas: Absolutely. There's a point where it starts to feel like you're pointing a finger. I remember reading some copy that had 'you' in almost every sentence and it felt aggressive, almost accusatory. The trick is to use it strategically, at the moments when you want the reader to feel directly addressed. Luna: So what's the best place to use 'you'? Is it in the headline, the call to action, or everywhere? Lucas: The headline and the CTA are the two highest-impact spots. The headline because it's the first thing they see, and the CTA because that's where you're asking them to act. In between, you can use 'we' to establish credibility, but make sure you circle back to 'you' whenever you're describing a benefit. Luna: That's really helpful. I'm definitely going to look at my own copy with fresh eyes after this. Lucas: And that's the thing—copywriting is full of these small decisions that seem trivial but have real impact. The pronoun is a perfect example. It's one word, but it can change the entire feel of your message. Luna: Do you think this applies to other languages as well? Like in Spanish, where the pronoun is often dropped? Lucas: That's a great question. In languages where the subject is implied, the choice becomes more about verb conjugation and whether you use the formal or informal 'you'. The principle still holds, but the tactical implementation is different. I'd love to hear from any listeners who have tested this in other languages. Luna: That's a nice thought. So to wrap up, what's the one takeaway you want people to remember from this episode? Lucas: The next time you write a headline or a call to action, ask yourself: am I talking to the reader, or am I talking about myself? If you're not talking to them, you're probably leaving response on the table. It's a small change, but it could be the difference between a reader who scrolls past and one who clicks.