Your customers are way less sophisticated than you think...

Hey, Michael from AdSumo Digital here.

I had a conversation in the car the other day that reminded me just how advanced we are as marketers, and how that can cost you a lot of money.

I was talking to someone outside the industry. Smart person, regular consumer, buys stuff online all the time.

We were talking about ads and I mentioned how Comfrt (the hoodie brand) does those street interview videos. You've seen them. Random people on the street raving about how comfortable the hoodies are.

She had no idea those were paid actors.

"Wait, those aren't actually random people?"

Nope. Staged content designed to look organic. And it works incredibly well because most people don't question it.

That's when the conversation got really interesting.

The Sophistication Gap Nobody Talks About

We started diving into marketing psychology. How brands create angles. How they manufacture problems and position their product as the solution.

I brought up Peloton and their "muscle confusion" messaging. How they took a real concept and turned it into a unique mechanism that made regular workouts feel inadequate.

"Your current workout routine isn't enough. Your muscles adapt. You need constant variation to see real results."

Boom. Instant problem that their product solves.

She was kinda shocked. "So they just... make this stuff up?"

Not exactly. But they definitely dress it up to sell.

Then she brought up something she remembered seeing everywhere a few years back: snail mucin in skincare.

"I kept seeing that. Was that the same thing?"

Now we are onto something. “Exactly!”

"But why was it suddenly everywhere? How can they just do that"

Because someone found a study saying snail mucin has skin benefits. They called their supplier, got it sourced, added it to their formula and built an entire brand around it.

The angle writes itself:

"You've tried everything. Retinol, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid. Nothing works long-term. That's because you're missing the one ingredient Korean women have been using for centuries: snail mucin."

New mechanism. New promise. Same outcome everyone wants (better skin).

Why This Conversation Matters

Here's what hit me during our talk.

This person is your average consumer. She's not dumb. She's not naive. She just doesn't think like a marketer.

She sees an ad and takes it at face value. She doesn't deconstruct the psychology behind it. She doesn't question whether the street interviews are real or if the ingredient is actually revolutionary.

She just thinks: "That looks interesting. Maybe I should try it."

And that's most of your customers.

That doesn't make them dumb, that doesn't make them any less smart than me and you.

It just proves that the average consumer hasn't dove deep into why some things are the way they are, aka why marketing is the way it is.

Or the origins of the deep cognitive psychology of what makes words sell and what direct response is.

The Problem With Brand Owners

Most e-commerce founders I talk to are drowning in marketing education.

They've taken the courses. They've read the books. They understand market sophistication, desire frameworks and the five levels of awareness.

So when it comes time to launch a campaign, they overthink everything.

"Is this angle sophisticated enough?"
"Will people see through this?"
"Should I add more social proof?"
"Does this messaging pass the BS test?"

Meanwhile, your customer is scrolling Instagram, sees a simple before/after and thinks "I want that for myself. CLICK…BUY"

They're not analyzing your funnel. They're not questioning your claims. They're not comparing your sophistication level to your competitors.

They just want to know if your product will solve their problem.

The Sophistication Gap

There's a massive gap between how sophisticated you think your market is and how sophisticated they actually are.

You're living in marketing theory 24/7. They're living normal lives and occasionally buying stuff online.

You know all the tricks because you study them. They don't even know the tricks exist.

This gap is actually your biggest advantage if you stop fighting it.

What This Means For Your Marketing

Stop overcomplicating your messaging.

The snail mucin example is perfect. Is snail mucin some miracle ingredient that's 10x better than everything else? Probably not. But it's new (to most people), it's different and it sounds exotic enough to be interesting.

That's all you need.

You don't need to reinvent marketing psychology. You don't need to be the most sophisticated brand in your category.

You need to find a desire that already exists (better skin, easier workouts, more comfortable shoes), position your product as the solution with a simple angle, make it easy to believe with social proof and remove friction from the buying process.

That's it.

The Simple Angles That Scale

One of our clients sells supplements. When we started working together, their messaging was all over the place.

Trying to be scientific and sophisticated. Talking about bioavailability and absorption rates. Citing studies. Explaining mechanisms.

It was impressive. It was also confusing.

We simplified everything around one core desire: more energy without the crash.

Not revolutionary. Not sophisticated. Just clear.

Their welcome flow conversion rate went from 8% to 19% in 30 days. Same product. Simpler message.

Why? Because their customers didn't need a biochemistry lesson. They needed to know they'd have energy to get through their day.

Then we layered on that people wanted the powder formed over the live form just to try it out before they committed to the actual hero product. So we started selling that first, and more people were buying that on their first purchase and then coming back as repeat purchasers on the main hero product

The Street Interview Strategy

Back to Comfrt and their "fake" street interviews.

Is it manipulative? Maybe a little. (nah it just marketing suck it up)

Does it work? Absolutely.

Because the average consumer sees someone on the street saying "This is the most comfortable hoodie I've ever worn" and thinks "Maybe I should try those."

They're not sitting there analyzing whether it's staged. They're not questioning the authenticity. They're just receiving the message and making a decision.

You can do the same thing (ethically) by understanding that your customers are taking your marketing at face value.

They trust your claims more than you think. They believe your social proof more than you think. They're influenced by simple angles more than you think.

Stop Marketing To Marketers

Here's the mistake I see constantly.

Brand owners create marketing that would convince them (a sophisticated marketer) to buy.

But they're not their own customer.

Their customer is someone scrolling on their phone, half-paying attention, looking for something that catches their eye and solves a problem.

That person doesn't need your most sophisticated angle. They need your clearest one.

They don't need to understand the mechanism. They need to believe in the outcome.

They don't need scientific proof. They need social proof.

The Snail Mucin Playbook

Let's break down why the snail mucin angle works so well.

It identifies a real desire (better skin).
It acknowledges existing solutions don't work long-term (you've tried everything).
It introduces a new mechanism (snail mucin).
It adds exotic credibility (Korean women have used it for centuries).
It makes a clear promise (this will work when nothing else did).

You can apply this exact framework to almost any product.

The sophistication isn't in the complexity. It's in understanding what people actually want and giving them a reason to believe your product delivers it.

What Simple Actually Looks Like

Simple doesn't mean basic. It means clear.

Instead of: "Our proprietary blend of adaptogens modulates cortisol response and optimizes HPA axis function"

Try: "Feel calmer in 20 minutes without the foggy feeling"

Same product. One message requires a biology degree to understand. The other just makes sense.

Your customers will thank you for the clarity.

The Action Plan

Audit your current messaging through the eyes of someone who knows nothing about marketing.

• Is it immediately clear what problem you solve?

• Can someone understand your benefit in 5 seconds?

• Are you using jargon that only marketers understand?

• is this written in a 5th-grade reading level

  • (average American writes and reads at a 5th-grade reading level.)

• Are you overexplaining when a simple claim would work better?

Then simplify. Cut the sophistication. Trust that your customers are taking your message at face value and make that message as clear as possible.

The Bottom Line

Your customers aren't analyzing your marketing the way you analyze your marketing.

They're not deconstructing your angles. They're not questioning your mechanisms. They're not comparing your sophistication to your competitors.

They're just trying to solve a problem and they're looking for a brand that makes it easy to believe they can.

Be that brand.

Stop overcomplicating your marketing trying to impress people who think like you. Start simplifying your marketing to connect with people who think like your customers.

The sophistication gap is real. And it's your biggest advantage if you stop fighting it.

Ready to simplify your marketing and actually scale?

If you're doing $100K+ monthly and feel like your messaging is too complicated or not connecting the way it should, let's talk.

Book a call here and I'll audit your current messaging. We'll find where you're overcomplicating things and show you exactly how to simplify without dumbing it down.

No pitch, just clarity on what's actually holding you back.

P.S. Next time you see a "street interview" ad, ask yourself: would my customer question if it's real? Probably not. And that's exactly why it works.

Talk soon,
Michael

Today’s Helpful Links

• $20M Worth of Email Marketing Advice in 12 Minutes

• Client Interview: From $0 to $265,000 in Email Generated Sales [Klaviyo Email Marketing]

• Complete Email Marketing Welcome Flow Guide - $20M+ in sales