A while ago I came across this product tagline (I paraphrase slightly):

“Delivering transformative enablement via cross-platform process optimization.”

That’s not the Curse of Knowledge.

That’s just vagueness.

The Curse of Knowledge is different, and marketers often misunderstand it.

It doesn’t stem from confusion. It comes from fluency. 

Too much of it.

It happens when you understand your product so well, you forget what it’s like to not understand it.

So you start speaking over your buyer’s head.

You assume they know what you know — that they’re using the same mental models, jargon, and problem frames.

They’re not.

In I Need That, I talk about the shift from Tank Brain (strategic, analytical, expert) to Dog Brain (emotional, fast, reactive). Most product makers live in Tank Brain. Most buyers don’t.

That’s the real danger.

You’re not necessarily being unclear — but you’re being too advanced.

You’re skipping steps.

Framing the problem in language your buyer hasn’t learned yet.

Measuring benefits in specs instead of outcomes.

Product Payoff:
No one navigates this better than Apple.

Apple never markets iPhones by talking about megapixels, aperture range, or storage in terabytes.

They talk about things like:

• “Take stunning low-light portraits.”
• “Store 30,000 photos and still have space for movies.”
• “Battery life that lasts your longest day.”

The engineers measure in specs. The buyer experiences in moments.

You can always include the tech specs somewhere — but the front of your message needs to speak to what the customer understands, feels, and values.

Action for today:
Take one piece of messaging — your homepage headline, elevator pitch, or intro slide — and ask:

• Am I measuring the benefit in MY terms… or the customer’s?
• Am I assuming too much buyer knowledge?
• Would a smart prospect outside my industry grasp this instantly?

The Curse of Knowledge doesn’t technically make you wrong.

It makes you too right — in a really wrong way.

Want to sharpen your product’s message to meet your buyers where they are? Tap that reply arrow and let’s cut the curse together.

Or reach out to my team of product marketing experts at Graphos Product — we specialize in making brilliance understandable.