✏️ Chaos in Basecamp

Chaos. Throw rocks. Unquestionable proof. Masterclass.

Software companies follow a formula.

Their landing pages mostly look the same. If it wasn’t for the occasional brand logo or recognisable colour scheme, you’d have a hard time differentiating them. And that’s not a bad thing: if it works, it works.

But every now and then a company flips the script…and nails it.

Basecamp are the most recent example.

And this isn’t the first time the team have produced magic. Basecamp is owned by 37signals, who also own Once. They have since redeveloped their website, but Once had an iconic landing page which we’ll be covering in a few weeks time.

I’d originally intended on covering Basecamp’s entire site. Not possible. So I’ve focused mainly on the homepage and some standout features to bring you the most valuable insights possible.

Let’s get into it.

Enjoy,
— Robbie

Above-the-fold refers to any content you see before you have to scroll down on the page: it’s what you see when the page loads. Standard practice is to use a bold headline alongside a subheading and a call-to-action (CTA).

Basecamp don’t do any of that. And it crushes.

Chaos! Pure chaos! Basecamp’s entire marketing angle is bringing clarity to chaos. They’re a project management system that brings everything under one roof. The image and copy in this hero section does a lot of heavy lifting.

The message is clear: using these tools creates total chaos.

And they don’t shy away from showing the brands they replace. This is common in advertising. You don’t need prospects to love Basecamp. You need them to hate using all these other tools. Create a common enemy.

But be careful: when you throw rocks you may also have to dodge them.

Relatable: this section makes you feel seen. The talking heads are relatable. The copy is intentional. When you read it you think “holy sh—t, that’s so me!”. And the copy covers a range of emotions–stressed, anxious, overwhelmed.

The magic in this hero section is the sole focus on the problem. The only hint at the solution is the very small copy in the top left corner. This hero section does three things exceptionally well (which are essential to driving conversions):

Basecamp nails all three. Now the audience is engaged and the problem has been defined and amplified. The pain is real and it’s immediate. Now they are primed for a solution.

The below-the-fold section contrasts with the above-the-fold imagery. We’re immediately hit with a wall of text: a big headline and six paragraphs. This only works because of the hero section, not in-spite of it.

The imagery used above-the-fold qualifies the audience and primes them for the text. If the text-heavy section was the first thing you saw, you wouldn’t read it (yes, design matters).

Headline: the above-the-fold section is perfectly summarised in the headline and framing it as a question gets further buy-in with the audience. The more your readers say yes, the better.

But the star of this headline is the use of wrestling. A perfect choice. You’re not struggling. You’re wrestling. Because struggling suggests you’re the problem or you don’t have the skills required. Wrestling puts the blame on the tool or system.

This is an important lesson–don’t take the power away from the reader. Your prospects are never to blame; it’s the tool, the system, the environment.

The copy does a fantastic job of empowering the reader later on as well: “It’s designed for smaller, hungrier businesses, not big, sluggish ones”. The reader feels seen. They’re not insignificant. They’re hungry and driven. Not like big corporate.

This also acts as objection handling—”Basecamp looks cool but we’re probably not big enough to need it, it’s for massive companies”—wrong.

Sales Letter: this reads like an old school sales letter, which 37signals have done time and time again. The tone is casual and friendly. And it’s signed off by Jason Fried, the Co-founder & CEO. This gives us further reassurance. We love public-facing founders and it makes us feel like they actually give a sh—t.

Special mention to “longevity isn’t luck”.
That line rips and I wish I’d thought of it.

As you scroll down the page the focus becomes more and more on the product. But the tone of voice remains the same. There’s a ton of sections here so I’ve just pulled out two of my favourites to give you some insights.

Collaborative & Friendly: the entire website reads like a conversation between a chaotic, stressed-out and overworked employee and a calm, wise mentor. It’s conversational: “Let’s walk through it”—we’re in this together and I’ll show you the way.

Buyer’s Remorse: this is when you buy something and immediately regret it (and software is often a long commitment). Basecamp does a great job of drawing attention to this. You won’t feel remorse. You’ll feel clarity—calm, comfortable, simple.

They are the antidote to chaos.

Predictable & Stable: Basecamp positions themselves as a solution, not a band-aid. This is a problem you solve permanently. And they’re not flashy and they don’t try to be. What you really want is a predictable, no-thrills tool. Reminds me of the Hyposwiss bank adverts: “Risk leads to wealth like Botox leads to youth.”

Tip: Give your audience what they want without what they don’t want.

Effective copywriting asks questions of the audience which make them feel understood and handles objections before they even think of them. Your goal is to be one step ahead of the prospect. And these two extracts do this superbly.

Yeah, you! Don’t be afraid to call out the reader. At this stage they’ve gone a long way down the landing page. Call them out. They’re obviously still reading for a reason. Don’t allow them to just go back to their old ways and think Basecamp is a nice-to-have.

“It’s time for Basecamp”. A perfectly crafted phrase. It positions Basecamp as an inevitability not an option. Sooner or later you knew this day would come. It’s welcoming and friendly. And it suggests that if you don’t join today you’ll only be back later having suffered more. Basecamp feels like letting out a big sigh of relief. The pain is over.

Seven?! Seven is one of those magical numbers. Our short term memory is capped around seven. We buy more when the price ends in seven or nine. We purchase after seven touch points.

Basecamp repeats the phrase seven times in the body copy. Maybe it’s myth or maybe it’s magic. We’ll never know.

Elliptical Questions: this is when words are removed from the question without it losing meaning; “Is your team super busy?” → “Team super busy?”.

It’s more conversational but it also requires active thinking. We have to mentally participate in reading the question to fill in the words. This improves engagement and retention.

Objection Handling: this is a masterclass in beating them to the punch. They continue with the conversational tone and show an unquestionable understanding of their audience (this section is 3x longer than I’ve shared but it would’t fit).

Doing this also saves a ton of bandwidth: less customer service queries, less emails, less chatbot support and less churn. Basecamp are practicing what they preach and bringing clarity to chaos, even within their own company.

Before we wrap up I want to quickly talk about unquestionable proof. This is simply the art of providing so much evidence you can deliver on your promise that the audience can’t possibly question your ability to get results.

This is easy with physical products because it’s visual. Think before and after photos of beauty and weight loss products. Or that time Elon threw a rock at a Cybertruck to prove the glass was bulletproof…but it smashed so I guess that was questionable proof.

Basecamp do an excellent job of this despite having a product that is impossible to show in a before and after state. They do this two ways. The below is one of the many questions in the FAQs section.

Transparency & Longevity: two of the best ways to provide unquestionable proof. We have an affinity for brands and people who are alarmingly transparent and consistent. We instil our trust in them because they have shown to us they can do the same thing over and over again without switching ideas and without losing interest.

Basecamp do a wonderful job of this. They are alarmingly open about their longevity, financial situation, long term objectives and employee welfare. I can guarantee nobody looks at the employee handbook link. But because it’s there, we trust them.

And they top it off with Jason being the face of the business. They even include his personal work email. And mention he doesn’t even have an assistant. That’s insane. If you’ve ever worked in sales you know how hard it is to get hold of CEOs and founders.

But there’s one last cherry on the cake.

Below is a screen recording of Basecamp’s testimonials page. I’d guess there’s close to a thousand testimonials. The recording is cropped to the first third of the page because the file was too big for me to upload. That’s unquestionable proof.

TL;DR

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