CannyBill makes Monday morning admin easier

Relly Annett-Baker on first draft copy for CannyBill


My thoughts and notes.

Friday

It’s a drizzly morning here in Brighton and I’m back to looking at CannyBill. Actually, I’m writing some bits and pieces up for another client but I find my mind wandering to what sort of personality CannyBill should have. I really liked Andy’s “CannyBill plays nicely with…” and keep playing with that phrase in my head.School playground, easy of use, easy peasy, sharing toys.

Ponder, ponder. I shall gather some ideas over the weekend. Usually I find my mind wanders when I’m feeding my baby over night — something about that quiet, still, dark place at 4am that my brain uses to give my creative synapses a workout.

Monday morning

I’ve had some time to chew over my ideas and personality type for CannyBill. Above everything else I want CannyBill to be approachable. I keep coming back to the idea of CannyBill as a relaxed guy, kind of smart, not too shouty about it. “Canny Bill”. I imagine the guy that plays Mac in the US Mac and PC adverts, talking about billing clients. I don’t want this to be a clone of Apple’s branding but they have developed a comfortable, approachable voice — perfect for bringing in people who are worried stuff is going to be complicated.

The main thing I have noticed about CannyBill while playing with it is that, while the bells and whistles that it offers are fab, it is a neat way to ask people for money. Very simple, in that way that things that work well are. It really has that modern web feel, not like it’s a dinosaur dragged in from the Jurassic bookkeeping age. Perhaps that isn’t a distinguisher but it is the thing I have come to like most about it.

Monday afternoon

I’m blocked. Not totally, but a bit. Going for a walk to think on the best way to describe the sign up process. Will re-read some of Joshua Porter’s stuff and see what comes to the top of my head. Am liking the homepage draft so far though.

Monday evening

Neat, nippy, clever. These are the words zipping about my head. Copywriting is always a balance between clear labelling and clever construction. I’m thinking about all the things CannyBill “likes”, draft is nearly there.

  • CannyBill: Invoice, resell, plan and grow.
  • CannyBill: we like working with you.
  • CannyBill is a complete online invoicing and billing service making transactions simple.
  • CannyBill is web based so you can easily manage invoices from anywhere.
  • CannyBill is designed for selling products and services directly too.
  • CannyBill plays nicely with many popular third-party applications.
  • CannyBill makes Monday morning admin easier.
  • CannyBill likes clients.
  • Manage five real clients for free, right now.
  • We like invoices - send and sort invoices.
  • We like more time to play - automate invoices.
  • We like plans for rainy days - sales forecasts and reports with one click.
  • We like talking - email campaigns.
  • We’d like to tell you more. Take The Tour.
  • CannyBill likes the apps you like, Find out how we party with third parties.
  • CannyBill likes Web Designers and Developers. Find out about our special tools just for reselling domains and hosting.
  • CannyBill likes being at the heart of the action. Find out how we can sell products and downloads right from your account.
  • Friends of Canny Bill say

Of course, now the doubt sets in. Is it too twee, too girly, too vague? Too verbose? I’m too close to it now to know. I will send it to Andy to drop into the template and take a view on it again in situ.

By Relly Annett-Baker

Who is Malarkey to argue?


Here is the CannyBill redesign with Relly’s first-draft copy inserted (plus a few minor edits and layout adjustments to suit) by me. Flickr


 
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