SIGNAL & SYLLABLE
THE BUYER DECISION BRIEF
A practical, fillable template

Use this before commissioning a page, article, sales asset or campaign. One brief should support one buyer decision. Keep the answers short; attach approved source material where detail matters.

THE DECISION

What should the reader be able to decide after reading this asset?
Answer:

Which single action should follow that decision?
Answer:

THE PERSON

Who is the reader: their role, organisation type and relevant situation?
Answer:

Who else influences or approves the decision?
Answer:

What has made the question worth addressing now?
Answer:

THE QUESTION

Write the question in the buyer's words.
Answer:

Where did you hear or observe it? Record the source and date, or mark it as a hypothesis.
Answer:

What is the reader doing today instead of using your solution?
Answer:

THE ANSWER

Give the useful answer in three sentences before describing your product.
Answer:

Which product or service capability is relevant to this answer?
Answer:

What tradeoff, prerequisite or limitation would affect the buyer's choice?
Answer:

THE EVIDENCE

List the source material the writer may use. Include a title or link, owner, date and permission to publish where relevant.
Source 1:
Source 2:
Source 3:

Which claims are supported by those sources?
Answer:

Which facts still need checking? Who can verify them?
Answer:

Do not turn a proposed benefit into a measured result. Keep customer identities, quotations and private information out unless publication is authorised.

THE DISTINCTIVE CONTRIBUTION

What can this business explain from its own product knowledge, experience, method or evidence?
Answer:

What practical example would make the answer easier to understand?
Answer:

THE ASSET

Choose the smallest useful format: page, comparison, one-pager, guide, article, deck, email or another format.
Format:

Working title:

Outline the reader's path. Start with their question and end with the agreed next step.
1.
2.
3.
4.

What is outside this asset's scope?
Answer:

Where will the asset be used, and what should it link to?
Answer:

REVIEW AND SUCCESS

Who will check product facts, evidence and publication permission?
Reviewer:

What does a complete, acceptable deliverable contain?
Acceptance criteria:

What useful signal can be measured after publication? Name its source and period.
Measure:

Keep visibility, visits, enquiries, qualified opportunities and revenue separate. If data is unavailable, record it as unavailable.

BEFORE YOU HAND OVER

- One reader and one decision are clear.
- The answer is useful before the sales message appears.
- Sources support the claims.
- Unknown facts have a named reviewer.
- The format and scope match the task.
- The next action is specific and available.
- Publication permission and measurement responsibility are clear.

Signal & Syllable
https://signalandsyllable.com

This is a planning template. Filling it in does not submit an enquiry or publish any information.