How to build a messaging recommendations report for copy reviews

Executive overview

Copy reviews go off the rails when clients see copy before they understand the thinking behind it. A messaging recommendations report solves this by walking clients through your research, your reasoning, and sample copy — in that order — before a single word of final copy is written.

Present this as a 60-minute meeting. Give the client the document only after, not before.

The core insight: alignment before copy means clients review with context, not gut reaction.

Project framing slides

• Open by restating the main goal — the reason the client hired you
• List any secondary goals from kickoff or pre-proposal calls
• Capture what the client wants (positioning ambitions, competitive goals) separately from the formal goal
• Place their most ambitious priority last on the list — it hangs in the room as you move to the next slide
• List the challenges they noted: competitive pressure, product gaps, value proposition weaknesses, market shifts
• Keep all bullets short; long bullets lead to reading aloud, which kills pacing

What we saw and heard

• Open with a full list of every research activity: interviews, surveys, user tests — show the volume of work, not just the output
• Group findings into thematic buckets (e.g. money outcomes, productivity, visibility, emotional outcomes)
• Each bucket becomes its own slide with verbatim VOC quotes
• The quotes show clients where the copy will come from — this is the proof that copy isn't invented
• Identify any structural problem surfaced by research (e.g. a value proposition gap between features and emotion)
• Assess current copy with empathy — the person who wrote it may be in the room; stay factual, not critical

What we're thinking about

• Pull in a quote from an interview that sparked a key insight — ideally the founder's own words
• Surface your emerging hypotheses and curiosities before they become copy decisions
• Invite client discussion here; unresolved questions caught now prevent review friction later
• Use this section to surface ideas you're not sure about — hearing the client react helps you self-edit

Voice recommendation

• State the brand voice in plain terms: what it is and what it isn't
• Use a representative image or visual reference if it helps anchor the tone
• Get explicit alignment on voice before moving forward — sample copy will use it, and the client needs to recognise it when they see it
• If voice isn't part of the project scope, restate the existing voice anyway to keep everyone calibrated

Value proposition options

• State the internal value prop first: what the brand does, for whom, and why it's the best choice
• Present two to three customer-facing options — these read like taglines or homepage headlines
• For each option, mock it up visually in context (a rough homepage layout is enough)
• Evaluate each option against the target audience segments and funnel stages (acquisition, activation, retention, revenue, referral)
• Include at least one option you expect to eliminate — showing why it doesn't work closes off client brainstorming that would otherwise resurface in review
• A founder quote that supports the recommended option is a strong closer for this section

Sample copy by stage of awareness

• Walk through copy for each awareness stage: problem aware, solution aware, product aware, most aware
• For each stage, name the audience mindset, the appropriate CTA, and then show sample copy
• Use VOC verbatim in the copy where possible — clients recognise the language and trust it
• Unaware copy is rarely needed; start with problem aware
• The most aware section is the page-closer: a concentrated proof block that carries people over the line
• Flag objections and copy considerations that came up in research but may not make it into final copy — getting alignment here prevents last-minute insertions during review

Selling and presenting the report

• This document can be sold as a standalone project, not just an internal step
• Present live; do not send in advance for independent reading
• Send the deck 10–15 minutes before the meeting — enough time to orient, not enough to pre-judge
• After presenting, leave the report with the client as a reference document
• The sample copy section becomes the seed of a repeatable messaging document for the client