“If you had to explain this to a coworker, what would you say?”
From getuserfeedback.com · Editorial
Why it works
How a happy user explains you to a peer is your real positioning — it's the message that travels through word of mouth, unfiltered by your marketing. It almost never matches your homepage, and the mismatch is the gift: it shows which benefit landed and which of your carefully chosen words they quietly dropped. Framing it as explaining to a *coworker* (a skeptical peer, not a friend) forces a concrete, jargon-free, benefit-first sentence instead of a feature list. The verbs and nouns they reach for are the exact copy your landing page should be using.
When to ask
Once a user has gotten real value and formed an opinion, so there's something genuine to explain. Best where you can ask a follow-up, because the explanation that matters is rarely the first sentence out.
Good follow-ups
- Now say it like they've never heard of us and don't care yet.
- What would make them actually want to try it?
- What part do you find hardest to put into words?
Watch out for
Accepting the first sentence — it's usually your tagline played back, because they've absorbed your framing. The real answer comes from the follow-up: 'now say it like they've never heard of us and don't care'. In a survey you can't push, so expect a thinner answer and lean on the interview for depth.
Where to ask
- User interviewgreat
Live is where this earns its keep — the first answer is a slogan; the second, after 'say it like they've never heard of us', is the real positioning.
- In-product surveyworkable
Works in a survey but you only get the first, polished pass with no room to push past it; reword it so it asks for the casual version, not a tagline.
Reworded for this context: “In your own words, how would you describe this to a coworker who's never used it?”
Pairs well with
Stage: Activation · May 2026