The concept of you-phrasing as a replacement for we-phrasing, while slightly obscure, has been around for decades in the academic realms of social psychology and behavioral economics. The premise is that you-phrasing does a better job of unconsciously grabbing attention and transferring ownership to your listener, getting a would-be buyer to personally try on the concepts you are sharing — both the problem and the solution.
However, a lot of marketing and sales best practices still proclaim we-phrasing to be the better approach — defending it with seemingly rational explanations that the word “we” focuses on collaboration and partnering. While “you” sounds too aggressive and accusatory.
According to a recent industry survey we conducted, more than 47 percent said they use we-phrasing to deliberately position themselves as a trusted partner who brings expertise and insights to customers. Meanwhile, 40 percent said they use you-phrasing to focus on customers and encourage them to take ownership of their challenges and possible solutions.
Testing the better approach
Working with Professor Nick Lee of the Warwick Business School, we created two different studies to examine the impact of changing pronouns (We vs. You) in two marketing and sales environments:
- Study 1 – A cold email sent to an unsuspecting prospect who has no knowledge or notion that they need the products or services from the company sending the email. The goal was to measure the interest level and urgency to solve the problem being presented.
- Study 2 – A warm communication provided to a prospect who has expressed interest in a particular solution, and now wants to learn more in order to possibly make a decision. The goal was to measure interest and intention in buying.
Study 1 – Prospecting email
The scenario featured a business coaching and consulting service called Business Impact. It included a formal training event, ongoing consulting calls and a virtual library of support materials. Four messaging approaches were created and tested with more than 400 participants, who were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions (approximately 100 each):
- You-You-Phrasing – in this email the problem set-up and the solution were presented as you-phrased messaging
- We-We-Phrasing – in this email the problem set-up and the solution were presented as we-phrased messaging
- You-We-Phrasing – this email split the problem set-up (you-phrased) and solution presentation (we-phrased)
- We-You-Phrasing – this email split the problem set-up (we-phrased) and solution presentation (you-phrased)
Results
You-phrasing was considerably more effective than we-phrasing in the majority of questions we asked, especially those linked to interest and intent. For example, participants felt 21 percent more responsible for solving the expressed problem in the you-phrasing condition than the we-phrasing condition. This is critical because you want your audience to take ownership of the issue and be willing to champion the opportunity.
Similarly, the audience felt much more strongly (13 percent) that they “must take action” in the you-phrasing condition than we-phrasing. It goes without saying that increasing urgency to do something about the problem is a key outcome for your demand creation messaging.
Study 2 – Solution story
The scenario again featured a business coaching and consulting service called Business Impact. The test conditions were expanded versions of the email. They contained considerable elaboration on the problem and the solution to represent a communication similar in length to a website landing page or a typical two-page promotional flyer.
The four messaging approaches were tested with more than 400 different participants from the previous study, who were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions (approximately 100 each):
- You-You-Phrasing – in this example the problem set-up and the solution were presented as you-phrased messaging
- We-We-Phrasing – in this example the problem set-up and the solution were presented as we-phrased messaging
- You-We-Phrasing – this example split the problem set-up (you-phrased) and solution presentation (we-phrased)
- We-You-Phrasing – this example split the problem set-up (we-phrased) and solution presentation (you-phrased)
Results
Again, you-phrasing was considerably more powerful than we-phrasing in two of the most important outcomes of a solution presentation: “Convincing Case to Purchase” (+11 percent) and “Likely Intention to Purchase” (+10 percent). Thought of another way, if you decide to stick with we-phrasing in your solution stories, you will present an 11-percent less-convincing case, and your buyer will be 10 percent less likely to make a purchase.
‘You’ wins out
Given how hard it is to create pipeline and close deals, marketers and salespeople should be looking for any advantage you can give yourself. Based on this research, it appears one improvement you can confidently and easily make tomorrow is to replace all of your we-phrasing with you-phrasing.
Often, winning is about finding that small edge or incremental advantage. Regardless of the effect size, these results demonstrate consistent, data-backed support that you-phrasing will provide an unconscious competitive advantage over we-phrasing for hitting your marketing and sales goals.
Tim Riesterer is chief strategy and marketing officer at Corporate Visions, a sales training and marketing consultant.
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