Your Website Is Tapping a Song No One Hears

Try this.

Think of a famous melody. 

Now tap the rhythm to it on a table. 

Take “Happy Birthday” as an example. 

Now, what do you think the odds are that one of your friends would recognize the song?

Seems easy, right?

But what if I told you most people wouldn’t recognise the song?

Psychologist Elizabeth Newton ran a study where people tapped out songs while others tried to guess them. 

Tappers were confident —figuring listeners would recognize the tune about 50% of the time. 

Reality? 

Just 2.5% got it right.

Of the 120 songs tapped, people expected 60 to be recognized. 

Only 3 were.

Why? 

Because the tappers heard the melody in their heads. 

The listeners only heard random knocks.

“The listeners can’t hear that tune—all they can hear is a bunch of disconnected taps, like a kind of bizarre Morse Code.” - Chip and Dan Heath, Made to Stick

That’s exactly what’s happening when you talk about your business.

You hear the tune in your head. 

You wrote the song. 

You spent weeks, months—maybe years—shaping it.

You know the lyrics, the melody, and every little harmony. 

By that point, you can’t imagine what it sounds like to someone hearing it for the first time.

That’s The Curse of Knowledge—the more you know, the harder it is to explain it to someone who doesn’t. 

And that’s why most businesses fail to communicate their value.

To you, everything is clear.

To your audience?

It’s noise. 

They can’t hear the tune. 

They see jargon, clutter, and words that don’t answer their most pressing question: What’s in it for me?

Most websites get this wrong.

They talk about themselves instead of the customer.

They drown visitors in features, industry lingo, and empty claims like best-in-class solutions, cutting-edge technology, and innovative approaches (which all mean nothing).

No one wakes up thinking, I need a state-of-the-art, next-gen, results-driven synergy.

They wake up thinking, I need to solve this problem—fast.

Your audience doesn’t care about your history.

They don’t land on your site to admire your mission statement or read about your commitment to excellence. 

They come with a problem. 

A frustration. 

A need.

And they want one thing—can you solve this or not?

If your website doesn’t make that obvious in seconds, you’re losing business.

Because a confused mind doesn’t stick around.

The fix is simple but brutal—strip out anything that doesn’t serve the customer. 

Ask yourself:

Who is it for? 

What is it for?

No fluff. 

No marketing-speak. 

Just plain English. 

Clear, bold, no-BS messaging that speaks to customers in a way that makes them say, finally, someone who gets it.

Jargon doesn’t sell.

Clarity does.

Test your website on someone who doesn’t know your business. 

Ask them: “What do you think this company does?”

If their answers don’t match what you thought was obvious, it’s time to rewrite.

Because if they don’t hear the song, it doesn’t matter how well you tap.

PS. Do you struggle to set yourself apart from your competitors? Does your tone of voice lack a little personality? Either way, get in touch and I’ll help you become remarkable. Or get more communication advice that doesn't suck here.