--- name: merchant-communication-copy-review description: "Reviews merchant-facing copy across a 7-dimension diagnostic — clarity, action orientation, tone/brand alignment, cross-channel consistency, comprehension load, empathy for operational context, and compliance safety — then delivers a scored assessment, line-level rewrites, and a reusable style note. Use when reviewing or refining copy sent to sellers, merchants, or platform partners, including onboarding emails, policy announcements, in-app notifications, support macros, and dashboard microcopy." argument-hint: "[copy-text] [channel]" allowed-tools: ["Read"] --- # Merchant Communication Copy Review ## Purpose Diagnose exactly where merchant-facing copy is failing to land — confusion, weak calls to action, off-brand tone, or drift from other channels — and deliver line-level rewrites plus a reusable style note so every future message to sellers reads consistently. Solves the problem of merchant communications that are technically accurate but generate support tickets, ignored actions, or brand inconsistency. ## When to Use Invoke this skill when the user asks to: - Review or improve an email, notification, or announcement being sent to merchants or sellers - Tighten onboarding copy, activation sequences, or seller setup instructions - Check whether a policy change, fee update, or terms notice reads clearly to non-native or busy sellers - Refine in-app notifications, dashboard microcopy, or support macro templates - Align copy tone and terminology with an existing brand voice or other channels - Reduce merchant confusion, support tickets, or missed actions caused by unclear messaging ## Inputs Required Before starting, collect: - **Copy to review**: The full text of the message, email, notification, or microcopy - **Channel**: Email / in-app notification / dashboard microcopy / support macro / policy announcement / SMS - **Audience segment**: New merchants / established sellers / enterprise partners / at-risk accounts - **Primary goal of the copy**: The one action or understanding the merchant should walk away with - **Brand voice reference**: Any existing tone guidelines, sample on-brand copy, or 3–5 voice adjectives - **Compliance context**: Any legal, fee, or policy language that must remain exact - **Related channel examples** (optional): Prior messages on the same topic for consistency checking If brand voice or related examples are missing, infer voice from the supplied copy and flag any consistency checks that could not be verified. ## Instructions ### Step 1: Establish the Read Baseline Before critiquing, identify what the copy is trying to do: - State the **single intended outcome** in one sentence (the action or understanding the merchant should have) - Estimate reading time and grade level — flag anything above a 9th-grade reading level for general merchant audiences - Note the merchant's likely emotional state on receipt (annoyed by a fee change, eager during onboarding, confused by an error). Copy is judged against this context, not in a vacuum. ### Step 2: Score Across 7 Diagnostic Dimensions Rate each dimension 1–5 (5 = strong) with one specific reason: 1. **Clarity** — Can a busy merchant understand the core message in one read? Flag jargon, ambiguous pronouns, and buried leads. 2. **Action Orientation** — Is the required action obvious, singular, and front-loaded? Flag missing CTAs, competing CTAs, or vague verbs ("please review" vs. "confirm your bank details by Friday"). 3. **Tone & Brand Alignment** — Does it match the supplied voice? Flag corporate stiffness, false cheer during bad news, or condescension. 4. **Cross-Channel Consistency** — Do terminology, capitalization, and phrasing match related channels? Flag term drift ("payout" vs. "disbursement" vs. "transfer" for the same thing). 5. **Comprehension Load** — Sentence length, paragraph density, and cognitive steps. Flag walls of text and instructions requiring the reader to hold >3 items in memory. 6. **Operational Empathy** — Does it acknowledge the merchant's workflow and constraints? Flag copy that ignores effort ("simply update all listings") or blames the merchant. 7. **Compliance Safety** — Is required legal/fee/policy language preserved and unambiguous? Flag anything softened past accuracy or any promise the platform can't keep. ### Step 3: Line-Level Diagnosis Walk through the copy in order. For each problem passage: - Quote the original line - Name the dimension it fails - Explain the merchant-side consequence in one sentence (e.g., "reads as blame — likely to trigger a support reply") ### Step 4: Deliver Rewrites Provide a full rewritten version of the copy that: - Front-loads the single primary action or key message - Uses one consistent term per concept - Keeps sentences under ~20 words and one idea per sentence where possible - Preserves all required compliance language verbatim (mark any preserved passages) - Matches the supplied brand voice Then provide **2–3 alternative openers** for the highest-leverage line (subject line, notification headline, or first sentence) so the buyer can choose. ### Step 5: Produce a Reusable Style Note Extract 5–8 rules from this review that generalize to future merchant copy — e.g., preferred terminology, the standard CTA pattern, tone-for-bad-news guidance. This becomes a reusable asset, not a one-off fix. ## Output Format - **Structure**: Scorecard table → line-level diagnosis → full rewrite → alternative openers → style note - **Length**: 700–1,100 words - **Format**: Table for the 7-dimension scorecard; bulleted line-level diagnosis; clean prose rewrite in a clearly delimited block; numbered style note - **Sections**: Read Baseline → 7-Dimension Scorecard → Line-Level Diagnosis → Recommended Rewrite → Alternative Openers → Reusable Style Note - **Tone**: Editorial director for merchant comms — direct, specific, never vague. Critique is tied to merchant consequences, not personal preference. ## Quality Checklist Before delivering output, verify: - [ ] All 7 dimensions are scored 1–5 with a specific reason — no dimension left blank - [ ] Every flagged line quotes the original and names the failing dimension - [ ] The rewrite contains exactly one primary CTA (or a clearly ranked primary + secondary) - [ ] All compliance/fee/policy language is preserved verbatim and marked - [ ] One term is used consistently per concept throughout the rewrite - [ ] The style note contains 5–8 rules that generalize beyond this single message ## Notes - The most common failure in merchant copy is competing CTAs — a single message asking sellers to do three things gets none of them done. Rank ruthlessly. - Bad-news copy (fee increases, policy changes, account restrictions) is where tone matters most: lead with the change and the reason, not with an apology or forced positivity. - When compliance language and clarity conflict, preserve accuracy and add a plain-language summary alongside it — never replace the required wording. - If reviewing a sequence (e.g., a 5-email onboarding flow), run each message individually, then add a consistency pass checking terminology and escalating CTAs across the set. --- ## How to use this skill This file is a Claude Code skill in [Anthropic's standard format](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills) — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top. **Installing in Claude Code:** - `~/.claude/skills//SKILL.md` — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects) - `/.claude/skills//SKILL.md` — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills) Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register. **Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:** 1. 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