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Ever notice how a single story can cut through hours of B2B presentations? That's not by accident. When someone shares a challenge that mirrors your own, something clicks. Suddenly, you're not just reading content – you're seeing your own story reflected back at you.
That's the magic of H2H (human-to-human) in B2B copywriting. It's not about sounding chatty or sprinkling in emojis. It's about creating those "holy shit, are they in my head?" moments that cut through the corporate noise and speak directly to the human behind the title.
Picture this: You're scanning through vendor websites at midnight. Everything blurs together in a sea of "industry-leading solutions" and "innovative platforms." Then you hit a page that describes exactly what you're feeling right now – the pressure to make the right choice, the weight of the team counting on you, that nagging feeling that you might be missing something crucial.
You stop scrolling. Finally, someone gets it.
This isn't just about being conversational. It's about creating those "that's exactly what I was thinking" moments that transform your content from just another sales pitch into a trusted voice of understanding.
H2H isn't just a cute acronym – it's about recognizing that behind every corporate email address is a person trying to solve a problem, advance their career, and maybe get home in time for dinner.
Humans don't buy logic – they buy feelings wrapped in logic:
Logic justifies the purchase, but emotion drives the decision.
Therefore, as a copywriter, we convince with facts but convert with feelings.
Words have the power to bridge the gap between minds and hearts. When we write, we're not just transmitting information – we're creating an emotional experience. Every sentence is an opportunity to make someone feel less alone in their challenges, more confident in their decisions, and more inspired about their future.
Great H2H copywriting isn't about manipulating emotions – it's about authentic recognition of shared human experiences. It's about saying, "I see you, I understand you, and I'm here to help" in every word choice, every story, and every message.
Because at the end of the day, beneath the paperwork and purchase orders, every deal is built on human trust
Picture Steve from IT drafting another email about system updates. He's got three browser tabs of "professional communication templates" open, a thesaurus, and that one phrase HR always uses about "optimizing cross-functional synergies."
Stop, Steve.
Nobody wants to decode another message that sounds like it was written by a committee of robots. Write like you'd explain it to your colleague over coffee. Like that time you broke down the new security protocol to Sarah from Marketing – no jargon, no fluff, just clear talk that clicked.
Because real talk? Your readers are humans who delete corporate-speak faster than spam. They want words that sound like they came from someone who gets it, not something that got lost in translation between strategy meetings.
It's 11 PM. You're still at the office, staring at vendor proposals. Each one promises to "revolutionize your workflow" and "drive unprecedented growth." But none of them mention the real reason you're here: The board meeting where you have to defend this decision. The team counting on you to get this right. The fact that your kid's recital tomorrow might have to wait.
That's what selling misses. Before pitching features or flashing case studies, pause. Remember there's someone on the other side of that screen juggling deadlines, doubts, and dreams. Someone whose career might pivot on this choice.
Because when you acknowledge the weight they carry – not just the business metrics, but the human moments – that's when you become more than just another vendor. You become their ally.
Your quarterly review deck has seventeen slides of market data, growth projections, and conversion metrics. The board's eyes are glazing over. Then you share the story of Sarah, a customer who called you in tears because your solution helped her land the biggest deal of her career.
The room shifts. Everyone leans in.
Because while your brain processes numbers, your gut processes stories. It's why we all know the story of the founder who mortgaged his house to make payroll, but can't recall last quarter's margins; why we share stories of near-failures turned victories, not percentage points.
Share the struggle. Share the triumph. Let them see their future through someone else's victory. Because a good story doesn't just communicate – it creates a memory of success that hasn't happened yet.
Technology changes, but human nature remains stubbornly, beautifully human. During their 9-5, your audience thinks about their kid's soccer game, their aging parents, that house they can't quite afford yet. Their worlds are bigger than business metrics.
Find what keeps them up at 3AM. What makes them punch the air in victory. What they whisper to their partner about their dreams. Connect with those moments – the hopes, fears, and quiet ambitions – and you've found the path to trust.
Because trust isn't built on features or specs. It's built on feeling seen, understood, and supported. And when people trust you? That's when they act.
Want to learn how? Check out this blog for real B2B → H2H copywriting transformations.
In the B2B world, we've forgotten something crucial: Behind every enterprise purchase, there's a human losing sleep over their decision. Someone whose career, team, and reputation hang in the balance.
That's why human-to-human (H2H) copywriting works. It replaces corporate jargon with real talk about real stakes.
Let me show you the transformation in action. Let's take bland B2B copy and inject it with humanity. We'll look at three common B2B formats - emails, landing pages, and case studies - and turn them from corporate snooze-fests into messages that make decision-makers stop scrolling.
Side-by-side examples below.
Corporate Version:
Subject: Optimizing Your Enterprise Solutions
Dear [Decision Maker],
Our industry-leading platform delivers 99.9% uptime and seamless integration capabilities, enabling unprecedented operational efficiency.
Would you be available for a 15-minute call to discuss your enterprise needs?
Best regards,
[Name]
H2H Version:
Subject: What's worse than 99.9% uptime? Explaining the 0.1%
Hey [Name],
Remember your last system outage?
The one where your Slack blew up faster than your servers went down? When Dave from Sales asked if "trying turning it off and on again" might help?
Yeah. Those moments when "unprecedented technical difficulties" doesn't quite capture the chaos of your entire engineering team stress-eating pizza at midnight.
We've helped saved 47 CTOs from this hell.
Want to hear how we helped Company X survive their migration apocalypse without a single "please bear with us" tweet? It's a story that might keep your next quarterly review from turning into a live reenactment of Office Space.
Here for you (and your blood pressure),
[Name]
P.S. No aggressive follow-ups about "touching base" or "circling back" - promise.
The traditional B2B email reads like it was written by a committee. The H2H version? It sounds like your conversation with a colleague who actually understands your hellish experience.
Corporate Version:
"Enterprise-Grade Security Solution with Advanced Threat Detection"
H2H Version:
"Because explaining another breach to the board isn't in your five-year plan"
Landing pages often suffer from "feature overload." See how the H2H copy cuts straight to what keeps buyers up at night.
Corporate Version:
"Implementation resulted in 43% efficiency increase across core operations."
H2H Version:
"Sarah's team went from 'we can't keep up' to 'we're ahead of schedule' in six weeks. Here's how."
Notice how we swapped "enterprise solutions" for specific pain points. Replaced ROI stats with relatable moments. Turned abstract benefits into tangible relief.
Before you write a word, understand what haunts their 2AM thoughts. Not the surface-level business concerns, but the personal fears that never make it into status reports.
Take those fears and turn them into specific moments. The kind that make your stomach drop and your pulse quicken. When you name these moments, readers stop scrolling because you're in their head.
Now show them they're not alone. Share war stories that prove you've walked their path. Not polished case studies, but real, messy journeys from chaos to clarity.
Finally, show them what success really looks like. Not just metrics, but moments. The feelings, the relief, the pride. Make it so vivid they can taste it.
By focusing on the human behind the purchase, each piece moves from selling features to selling futures - their promotion, their peace of mind, their uninterrupted weekend with the kids.
Success follows when you write for the human who lies awake at 3AM, not their job title. Remember: They're buying their way to their kid's baseball game. Your features are just the vehicle.
Because in B2B, they're not buying your platform. They're buying their next promotion, their team's success, their peaceful weekend––your features are just the vehicle.
Success follows when you write for the human who lies awake at 3AM, not their job title.
Transform your copy. Transform their confidence. Watch trust (and conversions) follow.
Remember that last vendor email that made you snort-laugh at your desk?
No?
That's because most B2B copywriters are humor-phobic. We've convinced ourselves that enterprise buyers want content as sterile as their server rooms: cold enough to perform surgery between storage racks, with all the emotional warmth of a tax audit.
Whomp whomp.
But here's the truth: That CTO scrolling your proposal? They just binged cat videos on TikTok. That CFO you're targeting? They're meme royalty in the family group chat. That procurement manager? They crush karaoke night.
We're not afraid of humor. We're afraid of being human.
We hide behind jargon and a "professional tone" because it feels safe.
But in a world drowning in corporate-speak, a well-timed joke isn't just refreshing – it's revolutionary. It's the difference between being another vendor and being THE vendor – the one who has walked in their shoes.
Think about it: Everyone remembers that one presentation where the speaker cracked the perfect joke about JIRA tickets. They remember because in that moment of shared laughter, guards dropped. Defenses melted. That presenter transformed from another suit with slides into a kindred spirit who's survived the same corporate trenches.
The secret? Stop writing for job titles and start writing for the humans who hold them. The ones who need to laugh about their challenges before they can face them. The ones who appreciate that you understand not just their KPIs, but their daily chaos.
Because sometimes, the most professional thing you can do is admit that this whole enterprise thing is a bit absurd, and we're all just trying our best to keep the lights on.
And in the endless sea of "innovative solutions" and "paradigm shifts," being memorable is your secret weapon.
Pain point recognition says "I understand your problems." Humor says "I understand your problems and I'm fun to work with."
It's the difference between commiserating about terrible meetings and sharing your favorite "this meeting could have been an email" memes.
In the corporate world where everyone's trying to sound important, a well-timed joke cuts through the noise like that one dev who actually explains things in plain English.
Great B2B humor isn't about becoming a comedian – it's about injecting humanity into the corporate matrix. It's finding those universal office moments everyone experiences but nobody talks about:
The sacred "pretending to be on mute while eating lunch" during virtual meetings. That moment when someone says "quick question" and your calendar suddenly clears itself. The specialized skill of looking thoughtful while frantically Googling an acronym someone just used.
Sample ad conversions:
B2B: Implementing strategic synergy frameworks
H2H: Relationship therapists for departments that hate each other
B2B: Leveraging advanced financial reconciliation best practices
H2H: A robot that can explain why Susan's $47 'team morale' wine bar receipt makes more sense than your last quarterly budget meeting.
B2B: Robust mission-critical infrastructure solutions
H2H: We keep your servers from having an existential meltdown.
B2B: Enterprise-level digital transformation
H2H: Dragging your tech stack from 1999 into this millennium – Bye, bye, Bye! (cue NYSYNC meme)
Forget personas as product marketing exercises. We're talking about understanding your audience so deeply, you could write their autobiography before lunch. It's not about demographics or job titles—it's about knowing the secret language of their professional nightmares, their anxiety spirals, and the unspoken comedy of their daily grind.
Imagine walking into a conference room where every professional is secretly carrying a backstage pass to their own workplace comedy. Humor isn't just a communications trick—it's the universal translator of professional pain. When you nail that perfect joke about sprint planning or cybersecurity, you're doing more than delivering a punchline. You're creating an instant intimacy, a moment of recognition that says, "I see you, truly see you," beyond the job title and corporate façade. It's like finding a secret handshake in a world of formal introductions.
Your audience doesn't just hear words; they feel understood. A well-crafted joke becomes a bridge, transforming cold corporate communication into a warm, human connection. In that split second of laughter, you've done something magical: you've turned a potential customer into a collaborator, a transaction into a relationship.
Here are some real-world examples of humor in action.
Sales Team:
Marketing Professionals:
IT Department:
Product Managers:
Developers:
Project Managers:
Remember: You're not trying to get hired as a comedy writer. You're just showing that behind your killer solution is a team of actual humans who understand that sometimes, the best way to deal with enterprise challenges is to laugh about them first, then solve them together.
Great work isn't just about solving problems. It's about making those problems feel less overwhelming, one honest laugh at a time.
Let's talk about the most undervalued talent pool in business: moms.
Not because we need special treatment or extra gold stars – but because we're probably the most battle-tested project managers, negotiators, and crisis handlers you'll ever meet.
Think about it.
You want someone who can handle stress?
Try reasoning with a toddler having a meltdown in Target while simultaneously booking a vendor meeting and answering Slack messages. That's just Tuesday for us.
You need someone who can pivot strategy on a dime?
We adjust to plot twists faster than Netflix drops new seasons. Kid wakes up sick on presentation day? We've already rescheduled the meeting, Instacarted Motrin and Pedialyte, and somehow managed to hit that deadline – all before 9 AM.
Time management? Please.
We've mastered the art of bending time itself. We accomplish in 4 hours what takes others 8—because, guess what? We have to. There's no "let's circle back tomorrow" when you're juggling client calls, team meetings, and a kid's soccer practice.
You want ruthless efficiency?
We've optimized processes you didn't even know needed optimizing. Why? Because when you're responsible for growing, birthing, and raising actual humans, you learn to cut through the bullshit and get to what matters – fast.
But here's what really makes moms your secret weapon: we're the ultimate human-to-human communicators.
Think negotiation skills are learned in business school? Try convincing a three-year-old that pants are not optional for preschool.
Want someone who can handle difficult personalities? We regularly mediate disputes between tiny humans with the emotional regulation of a Twitter feed.
The stigma is that moms aren't "present" enough because we're caring for our families.
Let me flip that script for you: we're MORE present because we have to be.
We don't have time for endless meetings about meetings or circular email threads. We get to the point, solve the problem, and move on to the next one.
Why? Because we know what matters.
We've felt real pain, wiped away real tears, and celebrated real victories. We know when to push and when to nurture. We can read a room faster than a toddler can empty a snack drawer. And most importantly? We know that behind every business challenge is a human (big or small) waiting to be understood.
This is the essence of H2H (Human-to-Human) business. Strip away the B2B and B2C alphabet soup, and what do you have? People trying to connect with people. And who better to bridge that gap than someone who's cracked the code on communicating with tiny dictators whose love language is Cheerios?
So the next time you're hiring, look for the resume with the "gap" that reads "raised humans." Because you're not just getting an employee – you're getting a badass who moves like a bat out of hell.
A crisis management expert who can defuse a PR nightmare while packing three different lunches.
A negotiation specialist who can close million-dollar deals with the same finesse she uses to convince a four-year-old that veggies are cool.
An emotional intelligence guru who reads rooms like bedtime stories.
All wrapped up in one coffee-fueled package that gets more done before 9 AM than most people do all day.
The bottom line?
Moms don't need to be more "professional" at work.
We're done apologizing for babies on Zoom calls and turning our cameras off during feeding time.
We're done pretending our kids don't exist between 9 and 5.
Because that beautiful chaos you call "unprofessional"? That's our superpower.
So maybe it's time for businesses to stop asking moms to be more professional and start recognizing that our real-life experience is what makes us unstoppable.
Want to transform your business? Hire a mom.
We'll revolutionize your processes, humanize your approach, and probably reorganize your entire Google Drive while we're at it.
Because that's what moms do. We make things better. Faster. Without the corporate bullshit.
And we do it all between cold coffee and carpool – powered by pure grit and dry shampoo.
Your move, boss.
Let's talk about the elephant-sized chatbot in the room: AI.
It's all anyone can talk about right now. AI this, AI that. "Have you tried ChatGPT?" "You NEED to try Gemini."
Your LinkedIn feed is probably an endless scroll of thought leaders prophesying the end of human writing as we know it.
And let's be honest – when you're staring at a blank document, deadline looming, those AI promises are pretty tempting.
I get it. The future is here. And sure, AI can string together some impressively coherent sentences about your "innovative solutions" and "cutting-edge platform." Heck, it might even remember to sprinkle in some tasteful Oxford commas.
But here's the thing: AI can't sit in your customer's office at 4 PM on a Friday, watching them fight with legacy software – the way their shoulders tense when another error message pops up, the quiet sigh when they check the time again, the way they unconsciously touch the family photo on their desk while sending that "I'm so sorry, running late" text for the third time this week.
AI cannot – and never will – be able to feel the frustration, the guilt, the universal human experience of trying to do it all and feeling like you're barely keeping up.
Because while AI can write about the human experience, only humans can write from it.
AI can analyze sentiment, but it can't sense the slight hesitation in a prospect's voice when they say, "Our current solution is... fine."
It can't read between the lines of "We're not looking to make any changes right now" to hear the unspoken "because I'm terrified of messing this up and looking bad in front of my boss."
You know who can? Humans. Specifically, humans who've been there.
AI can write about work-life balance, but it can't truly understand the beautiful mess of reviewing proposal copy while waiting in the school pickup line or finding the perfect word for a headline during your kid's soccer practice.
These aren't just scenarios – they're the real texture of life that makes our content resonate.
In a world where everyone's racing to feed prompts into AI and pump out content faster than their competitors can read it, there's something quietly powerful happening: The ability to infuse real, lived experience into business communication isn't just a nice-to-have – it's your nuclear option.
While others are copying and pasting their way to mediocrity, your battle scars, belly laughs, and "been there, survived that" stories are the difference between content that fills space and content that changes minds.
AI is an incredible tool. It can help us work faster, brainstorm ideas, and maybe even catch our typos (though it seems to have a love-hate relationship with my personal comma placement). But it can't replace the human experience that makes content truly connect.
So the next time you're tempted to let AI write your story, remember: It can fake it, but it can never truly make it. Because behind every great B2B story is a human who's lived it, learned from it, and probably laughed about it later.
And that's something no algorithm can replicate – no matter how many parameters it's trained on.
It was 11 PM, and I was staring at another blank document, cursor blinking mockingly. The brief seemed simple enough: Write copy that makes enterprise software feel relatable.
But after hours of crafting perfectly polished sentences about "seamless integrations” and “maximizing productivity,” something still felt off. Empty. Like I was speaking a language that looked right on paper but missed something essential.
Then I remembered something someone once told me in graduate school: “Write about something that speaks to a universal truth about the human condition.”
I’m sorry. But what did you say?
I agree. At first, it sounds like one of those fortune-cookie pieces of advice that looks profound but means absolutely nothing.
But once you understand it, you’ll see why it's actually the skeleton key to writing that resonates – especially in B2B, where we're all trying so hard to sound professional that we forget to sound human.
Here's what “the human condition” really means: any aspect of the universal human experience.
And when I say "aspect," I'm not talking about just one thing. Take a minute to think about what being human means to you.
For me, it's the weight of a mental load that never lightens – that running inventory of permission slips to sign, doctor’s appointments to schedule, and that constant tightrope walk between professional ambition and making sure my kids grow up knowing they're more important than any meeting.
It's watching your heart walk around outside your body in the form of your children, feeling simultaneously stronger and more vulnerable than you ever thought possible.
It's rediscovering why you fell in love with your spouse over something as simple as how they remember to buy your favorite coffee, while also carrying that quiet fear that someday, somehow, it might not work out.
It's lying awake at night wondering if you're doing enough, being enough, showing up enough for the people who you love.
But rewind just ten years, and my universal truths looked wildly different.
Back then, it was all about chasing the next big career move, celebrating late into the night with friends, buying one-way tickets to anywhere, and finding wisdom in failure. Those moments of staring at the ceiling at 2 AM weren't about remembering soccer cleats – they were about dreaming up the next big adventure or reimagining who I could become.
Maybe your minute brought up different truths – the thrill of chasing a dream, the ache of losing someone you love, or that universal moment of wondering if you're the only one who feels like they're barely keeping it together.
The point is, the human condition isn't a single emotion or experience – it's the entire messy, beautiful tapestry of what it means to be alive. Throughout history, every piece of writing that's ever moved us has tapped into some thread of this shared experience.
At its core, this all ties back to fundamental human needs. Maslow had it right - we're all climbing the same hierarchy, seeking safety, belonging, and self-actualization. But the real insights live in how these needs manifest in modern life:
Great marketing doesn't just acknowledge these needs - it illuminates them in ways that make people feel seen, understood, and less alone.
Said another way, “Write about the moment of recognition where your audience stops seeing your words and starts seeing themselves."
Universal truths are those head-nodding, hand-clapping, screen-grabbing, "That's exactly what I was thinking" moments that make someone stop mid-scroll and give you their undivided attention.
In B2B, we've gotten so caught up in sounding professional that we've forgotten how to sound real. We write about "digital transformation" and "paradigm shifts" when what we really mean is "you're tired of doing everything the hard way."
We talk about "optimizing operational efficiency" when what resonates is "you're tired of missing dinner with your kids because someone forgot to update the spreadsheet."
Universal truths cut through all that noise because they speak to something deeper than features and benefits: they speak to the human experience behind the business problem.
So how do you find these universal truths? Start by looking for the stories behind the stories:
The best universal truths often hide in plain sight, in those little moments of shared experience we all recognize but rarely talk about in professional settings.
In the rush to build features, optimize funnels, and track metrics, we often forget to ask the most important question: What makes humans do what they do? Not what we want them to do, or what our strategically crafted user personas suggest they might do – but what actually drives their behavior when no one's watching and there's no survey to fill out.
Behind these habits isn't just FOMO – it's the deeply human fear of letting others down, of becoming irrelevant, of missing the one thing that could have made a difference.
It's not about the metrics – it's about seeking validation, finding certainty in an uncertain world, and quieting that voice that whispers, "Are you sure?"
These aren't just annoying office habits – they're human attempts to avoid conflict, share responsibility, and protect ourselves from blame.
This isn't about being stuck in old ways – it's about the human need for certainty, the fear of disrupting what works (even barely), and the comfort of familiar pain over unknown possibilities.
We cling to our clunky legacy systems – not because they're good, but because at least we know exactly how they'll disappoint us. It's like staying in a bad relationship because you're afraid of dating again.
These aren't behaviors aren;t just observations – they're the emotional undercurrent running beneath every B2B purchase decision. When you tap into them, something magical happens: Your content stops being just another sales pitch and becomes a moment of recognition.
The power lies not in answering these questions, but in recognizing the human truths behind them:
Your product might be technical, but your story should be human. Instead of asking, "What does our product do?" ask:
Because at the end of the day, nobody wants a "leading-edge solution with seamless integration capabilities." They want to feel competent, secure, and valued. They want to make their mark without burning out. They want to succeed without sacrificing everything else that matters.
That's where your real story lives – not in what your product does, but in how it makes people feel about what they can do.
In 2010, Snickers struck marketing gold with five simple words: "You're not you when you're hungry." It wasn't just clever copywriting - it was a universal truth wrapped in a candy bar wrapper.
Think about it: Everyone knows that moment when hunger transforms them into someone else. Maybe you snap at a coworker or lose your train of thought mid-presentation. Snickers didn't invent "hangry" - they just gave us permission to talk about it.
Eight years later, the campaign still resonates because it taps into something fundamentally human. No gimmicks, no forced relevance - just a simple truth that connects across cultures and generations.
"Just Do It" might be the most valuable three words in advertising history. But Nike's tagline works because it speaks to something deeper than sports or shoes - it speaks to the universal human experience of hesitation before action.
We all have that voice in our heads that says, "Maybe tomorrow," or "What if I fail?" Nike didn't just sell shoes—it positioned itself as the answer to that voice. It understood that humans aren't just athletes or consumers—they're dreamers looking for permission to start.
In 1997, MasterCard launched what would become a two-decade testament to the power of universal truth. They recognized something profound: Nobody wants to buy a hot dog at a baseball game. What they want is to create a memory with their kid.
"There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard" works because it acknowledges the tension we all feel - between the reality of having to pay for things and the priceless moments those transactions enable.
The success of these campaigns isn't just about clever copywriting or big budgets. It's about finding the intersection between what your brand does and what humans fundamentally need or experience.
Here's the real power of universal truths: They create trust.
When you acknowledge the unspoken realities of your prospect's world – the politics, the pressures, the personal stakes – you're no longer a vendor; you're a friend.
The most powerful marketing doesn't create desire.
The most powerful marketing doesn’t sell features or benefits.
It doesn't even sell solutions.
It sells recognition.
It holds up a mirror and says, 'I see the weight you carry. I understand what you're really trying to achieve. And I'm here to help.'
And in a world where every brand claims to be revolutionary, maybe the most revolutionary thing you can be is human.
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