I'm the founder and chief conversion copywriter at Conversion Alchemy. We help 7 and 8 figure SaaS and Ecommerce businesses convert more website visitors into happy customers. Conversion Alchemy Journal is the collection of my thoughts, ideas, and ramblings on anything copy, UX, conversion rate optimization, psychology, decision-making, human behavior, and -often times - just bizarre, geeky stuff. Grab a cup of coffee and join me. Once a week, every Friday.
The architect and the gardener
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Welcome to this week's issue of Unpacking Meaning. If you received this from a friend and enjoy it, subscribe here. The architect and the gardenerGeorge R.R. Martin said something interesting about writers: I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they're going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there's going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don't know how many branches it's going to have, they find out as it grows. And I'm much more a gardener than an architect. ―George R.R. Martin This matters a lot for your SaaS messaging. More than ever in the age of AI. The architecture of great messagingMany SaaS companies dive straight into writing copy without building the foundation first. It's like trying to plant a garden without understanding the soil. The "architect" part of copywriting isn't about planning every word (that's where a lot of people get stuck). Instead, it's about building the strategic foundation that makes every word count. This foundation typically covers three important elements:
Think of it as creating the perfect conditions for growth. Without this foundation, even the most beautiful copy won't take root. The art of growing resonanceOnce you have your foundation, effective copy needs room to grow and evolve. The gardener in us knows how to:
Thing is, most SaaS companies skip the architecture phase entirely. They might collect customer feedback (gardening) but struggle to transform it into effective messaging because they lack the strategic framework to make sense of what they're hearing. Here's a recent example that illustrates this perfectly: A client came to me with hundreds of customer interviews. Great raw material, right? But they were stuck. Despite all this rich data, their messaging wasn't converting. Why? They had seeds but no structure. They were trying to garden without a greenhouse. We took a step back and built their strategic framework first, using that structure to organize and interpret their customer research. Only then did we start crafting and testing messages. That’s when we saw demo bookings go up. But more importantly, they now had a repeatable process for evolving their messaging that combined both structure and organic growth. Why this matters more than everThis architect-gardener dynamic helps explain why AI still can't replace human copywriters (and won't for a while). Think about it. Current AI tools are impressive at processing patterns and generating variations. But they're missing our ability to be both architect and gardener simultaneously. They can't:
In fact, AI works best when we humans act as the “landscape architect” guiding it. We build the strategic framework, plant the right seeds, and know which variations to nurture. The AI becomes another tool in our garden, not the gardener itself. A better way forwardSo how do we blend both approaches in our work? Start with the architecture: define your strategic foundation and build your messaging framework. Then apply the gardener's touch: use customer language to bring your framework to life, test different expressions of your core messages, and let successful variations flourish. Remember: “Making things look easy is hard. Clarity requires depth.” (read “The user illusion”). Sometimes that means having the discipline to build solid structures, and sometimes it means having the patience to watch things grow. What's your experience? Are you skipping the architecture and going straight to gardening? Or are you so focused on structure that your copy lacks organic resonance? Hit reply – I'd love to hear your thoughts. P.S. If you're struggling to find the right balance between strategic structure and organic growth in your SaaS messaging, let's talk. I help companies build both the framework and the garden every day. DISCOVERYEpisode 30 of The Message-Market Fit podcast is out! 🎉 I had a fantastic chat with Dmitry Shamis, founder of The Creative Brand. Drawing from his unique journey from web development to creative leadership (Global Head of Creative at Hubspot for 8 years), Dmitry shares an engineering-inspired approach to building brands. Here's what you'll learn:
And way way more. Check it out here. And if you find it valuable, would you consider subscribing and leaving a rating? 🙏 RESONANCEThe Universe demands that lows counterbalance the highs. For this reason, it is important to choose the chaos you allow into your life. To pursue something big, meaty, and terrifying that pushes you out of the known. At the edge of the known, with one foot in the unknown, is where we are the most alive. Dan Koe, The Art of Focus Have a great weekend! Cheers, Chris 🙌🏻 Let’s be friends (unless you’re a stalker) When you're ready, here's a few ways I can help |
Hi, I'm Chris, The Conversion Alchemist
I'm the founder and chief conversion copywriter at Conversion Alchemy. We help 7 and 8 figure SaaS and Ecommerce businesses convert more website visitors into happy customers. Conversion Alchemy Journal is the collection of my thoughts, ideas, and ramblings on anything copy, UX, conversion rate optimization, psychology, decision-making, human behavior, and -often times - just bizarre, geeky stuff. Grab a cup of coffee and join me. Once a week, every Friday.
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