Look, I get it. You want your marketing to be smart. Witty. The kind of thing that makes people go “ohhh, I see what they did there.”
But here’s the thing: if someone has to work to understand what you’re selling, you’ve already lost them.
The Clever Trap
We’ve all seen it. The ad campaign that’s so clever, so full of wordplay and insider references, that you need a decoder ring to figure out what the company actually does. The tagline that wins awards but doesn’t sell products. The website copy that sounds impressive but leaves you wondering “wait, what do they actually offer?”
Clever feels good to write. It makes you feel creative, sophisticated, like you’re operating on a higher level than your competitors. And sometimes—sometimes—it works.
But most of the time? It just confuses people.
And there’s a mantra worth remembering from Donald Miller’s StoryBrand framework: “If you confuse, you’ll lose.”
Confusion Doesn’t Convert
Here’s what happens when your marketing is too clever:
People land on your website. They squint at your homepage. They try to decode your clever metaphor or witty tagline. And then they leave. Because they have 47 other tabs open and their attention span is measured in seconds, not minutes.
The numbers back this up. The average human attention span has dropped to just 8.25 seconds—down from 12 seconds in 2000. You’ve got less time than a goldfish to make your point. And research shows that 55% of website visitors spend fewer than 15 seconds actively engaging with a page.
Your potential customers aren’t stupid. They’re busy. They’re distracted. They’re scrolling while waiting for their coffee or sitting in a meeting or half-watching their kid’s soccer practice. They don’t have the mental bandwidth to figure out your clever puzzle.
Clear marketing respects that reality.
What Clear Actually Looks Like
Clear marketing tells people exactly what you do, who it’s for, and why they should care. It uses words your grandmother would understand. It gets to the point.
Instead of “We’re revolutionizing the paradigm of vertical integration in the SaaS space,” you say “We help small businesses manage their invoices.”
Instead of a clever play on words that requires knowledge of 90s pop culture, you say what your product actually does.
Clear doesn’t mean boring. Clear doesn’t mean stupid. Clear means understandable.
And it works. When marketing research firm MECLABS tested a clear headline against a clever one for a travel insurance company, the clear approach (“Our Travel Medical Insurance has provided peace of mind for over 35 years”) generated 330% more conversions than the original clever messaging.
That’s not a typo. Three hundred and thirty percent.
Research from the Product Marketing Alliance shows that a 20% improvement in your messaging strategy has a more profound impact on ROI than a 20% improvement in your actual product. And studies indicate that 80% of your conversion rate is determined by your messaging alone.
Here’s the reality: customers don’t buy the best products. They buy the products they understand easiest.
The Test
Here’s a simple test for your marketing: Show it to someone who doesn’t work in your industry. If they can’t tell you what you do in one sentence after looking at your homepage for 10 seconds, you’re being too clever.
Or try this: Read your copy out loud. If you stumble over it, if it sounds like you’re trying too hard, if it makes you cringe a little—that’s your brain telling you it’s too clever.
When Clever Works
I’m not saying clever never works. Sometimes a smart, creative approach cuts through the noise. Sometimes wit makes your brand memorable in a sea of boring competitors.
But clever only works after you’ve been clear. First, tell people what you do. Then, if there’s room, be clever about it.
The best marketing is clear first, clever second. Or just clear and nothing else. Because at the end of the day, confused people don’t buy things.
They just leave.
The Bottom Line
Your brain is wired to conserve energy. When it encounters complex or confusing information, it has to work harder—psychologists call this “cognitive load.” And when cognitive load is high, people make fewer decisions and retain less information.
Research shows that concise, easy-to-understand content leads to 124% higher comprehension rates and 58% more engagement. Clear messaging reduces cognitive load by making it easier for people’s brains to process what you’re offering.
Donald Miller built an entire business teaching over a million companies how to clarify their messages using story principles. His framework works because it taps into how the human brain naturally processes information. After he applied his own framework to his company’s marketing, his business doubled in revenue for four consecutive years.
Stop trying to impress people with how smart your marketing is. Start trying to help them understand what you’re offering as quickly as possible.
Because being clear isn’t about dumbing things down. It’s about respecting your audience’s time and cognitive bandwidth. It’s about making it easy for them to say yes.
And that’s not clever. That’s just smart.
Sources & Further Reading
- MarketingSherpa Case Study: Clear messaging generated 330% more conversions in A/B testing
- Product Marketing Alliance: 20% improvement in messaging has more impact on ROI than 20% product improvement
- Nielsen Norman Group Study (2023): Clear, concise content leads to 124% higher comprehension and 58% more engagement
- Microsoft Attention Span Study: Human attention span dropped from 12 seconds (2000) to 8.25 seconds
- Harvard Business Review: Research on trust and clear messaging effectiveness
- Donald Miller’s “Building a StoryBrand”: Framework used by over 1 million businesses to clarify marketing messages
- Cognitive Load Theory: Research by educational psychologist John Sweller on working memory and information processing
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