Selling to skeptics: A no-BS guide to developer messaging
If you’ve ever tried to market a product to developers, you’ve probably run into the wall of skepticism.
It doesn’t matter how innovative, scalable, or AI-powered your solution is—if your messaging feels fluffy, salesy, or out of touch, developers will bounce. Fast.
That’s because developers are trained to spot BS. They debug. They optimize. They Google everything. They’ve seen too many overhyped tools and too many underwhelming results. So when they land on your website or read your product pitch, they’re not thinking “Wow, this is impressive.” They’re thinking:
🧠 “Does this actually work?”
🧠 “Will it save me time—or cost me more?”
🧠 “How hard is this to integrate into my stack?”
If your messaging can’t answer those questions with precision and honesty, you’re done.
This post is a practical, no-fluff guide to writing developer messaging that earns attention, builds trust, and drives action—even among the most skeptical technical audiences.
Step 1: Lead with proof, not promises
Developers don’t buy into vague claims like “blazing fast,” “enterprise-grade,” or “built for scale.”
Those phrases are empty without evidence. If you're going to make a claim, back it up with:
Benchmarks (with numbers and context)
Architecture diagrams
Performance at scale ("Used in production by 500+ teams processing 1B events/day")
Code snippets that show how it works
✅ Instead of:
“Our infrastructure platform is highly scalable and reliable.”
✅ Say:
“Runs up to 20K concurrent jobs with 99.99% uptime across 3 global regions—see our status page.”
This isn’t about buzzwords. It’s about trust through specificity.
Step 2: Focus on workflow, not features
Developers don’t care about features in isolation. They care about how your product fits into their workflow—and how it reduces friction.
To resonate, your messaging should answer:
Where does this sit in my stack?
How does it integrate with what I’m already using?
What manual work does it automate or eliminate?
Can I try it without refactoring everything?
✅ Instead of:
“A powerful CI/CD engine with built-in observability.”
✅ Say:
“Trigger tests automatically on every GitHub push. View deployment logs without switching tabs. All in <5 min setup with your existing repo.”
Show you understand their day-to-day—and where your tool makes it better.
Step 3: Respect their autonomy
Developers are allergic to pushy calls-to-action like “Book a demo” or “Talk to sales.”
They want to explore first, evaluate on their own terms, and escalate when they decide it’s worth it.
That means:
Offering a free tier, playground, or sandbox
Publishing open docs, SDKs, and quickstarts
Providing optional, low-pressure upgrade paths
Making it easy to get started in code, not just clicks
✅ Use CTAs like:
“Try it in your terminal”
“Start for free—no signup required”
“Run the demo project on GitHub”
“See our docs before you commit”
Give control, not friction.
Step 4: Use plain language—but don’t dumb it down
The best developer messaging is written like great technical documentation: clear, concise, and honest.
Avoid marketing speak. But also avoid oversimplifying concepts to the point where it feels condescending.
✅ Do:
Use accurate technical terminology
Explain trade-offs and edge cases
Provide architectural context when needed
Write like you're talking to a smart peer
❌ Don't:
Say “game-changing” without explaining how
Hide complexity that users will encounter
Use cutesy metaphors in place of real detail
You’re not talking to personas. You’re talking to practitioners.
Step 5: Get your voice from the product, not the pitch deck
The best messaging comes from the inside out—not the boardroom down.
If you want developer messaging that works:
Talk to your engineers
Listen to support and DevRel calls
Analyze GitHub Issues and Discord threads
Read how your users describe you in public
Then use their words. Borrow the actual language developers use when they explain your tool to each other.
The most effective copywriting trick?
Say what they’re already saying—just more clearly and confidently.
Examples: Real messaging that works on developers
💬 From Temporal (workflow orchestration)
“Don’t write state machines. Write code.”
→ Benefits, painkiller, and differentiation—in five words.
💬 From Vercel (deployment platform)
“Develop. Preview. Ship.”
→ Zero jargon. 100% focused on workflow.
💬 From Supabase (open source Firebase alternative)
“Build in a weekend. Scale to millions.”
→ Speaks to both indie hackers and ambitious teams. Taps aspiration + action.
Final thoughts: Sell like an engineer, not a marketer
Developers are not opposed to buying—they just don’t want to be sold to.
That means your messaging has to be:
Precise
Credible
Honest
Technically grounded
Workflow-aware
Permission-based
Skip the spin. Cut the fluff. Give them what they need to evaluate your product—and let the product speak for itself.
If you respect their time and intelligence, developers will reward you with attention, adoption, and advocacy.
