Airlines love bragging about points, tiers, and perks.
Priority boarding. Bonus miles. Status upgrades. It’s everywhere—on billboards, websites, in-flight magazines.
But here’s the truth: unless you live on planes, most of that noise doesn’t land.
What people really want on a flight is simple—get me there without misery. Give me a seat where I can actually breathe. Let me sleep on the red-eye so I don’t show up wrecked.
That’s the difference between “features” and “outcomes.”
One piles on details.
The other solves the problem.
And this is exactly where business messaging goes off the rails. Teams list features, functions, or milestones. They talk about what excites them. Meanwhile, the audience is thinking: So what?
The Danger of So What?
The problem with so what? is it never shows itself.
No one interrupts your pitch to say it out loud.
They just nod, thank you for the update, and leave the room unchanged.
When that happens, three things slip away:
- Attention. Once people tune you out, you’ve trained them not to listen next time.
- Priority. If your point doesn’t connect to what matters right now, they move on to the next urgent fire.
- Opportunity. The deal, the decision, the budget—you don’t lose it dramatically. You just… never get it. Someone else, with a sharper message, does.
That’s why so what? is so sneaky. It doesn’t blow up your pitch. It doesn’t trigger confrontation. It quietly robs you of momentum, trust, and influence until you’re left wondering why things aren’t moving.
How to Stay Out of the "So What?" Zone
Every message runs the risk of dying in the so what?
Here’s how to keep that from happening:
1. Make it about them.
Skip why you’re excited. Show what it means for their world.
2. Show why it matters.
Anchor it to a result they value—or a risk they want to avoid.
3. Hook them emotionally.
Logic earns attention. Emotion makes it stick. Fear, pride, curiosity, status—tap into what they feel.
4. Keep it clear.
If they have to decode your point, you’ve already lost them.
Here’s the difference:
❌ “This chair has ergonomic lumbar support.”
(Sounds impressive. Means nothing. Leaves the audience asking, so what?)
✅ “This chair keeps you from hobbling away from your desk with back pain every day.”
(Clear, human, outcome-driven. Instantly relevant.)
Here’s another one:
❌ “Our software uses advanced machine learning algorithms.”
✅ “Our software flags errors in minutes…so you don’t spend hours chasing mistakes.”
One forces your audience to connect the dots.
The other connects the dots for them.
If your message can’t clear this test, it’s not ready.
One last step before you're done.
Grab some text your prospects will encounter when learning about you. Maybe it’s from your homepage. Or a page of your pitch deck. Or your email tagline.
Plug it into an AI and ask for a score based on the four factors above.
Here’s your prompt:
Here’s some copy from my [Channel- ex. landing page hero section], targeted to [target audience].
[”INSERT COPY IN QUOTES”]
Evaluate this based on:
1. Making it about the audience.
2. Showing why it matters.
3. Hooking them emotionally.
4. Keeping it clear.
What did you get? Does it resonate? Try it out with a few prospects and see if it gets traction.
This week, make so what? your default filter.
