What separates click-worthy content from clickbait?

One backs up its claims. The other exaggerates them.

Even in tech, the same rule applies: if people can’t see the proof, they won’t buy the promise. It’s not enough to say your product or idea is amazing—you have to prove it’s worth believing.

Without credibility, even the best story falls flat.

Imagine all the 20-year-old self-proclaimed business gurus on Instagram selling you $10k coaching programs on how to be rich. Sure, maybe the top 1% are real geniuses with genuine success—but without receipts, you’re most likely going to block them. It’s just too farfetched.

If you don’t build enough credibility, you’ll be facing these other problems:

• Your Content Gets Ignored: If it sounds too good to be true, people scroll right past it—assuming it’s spam or empty marketing fluff.
• Low Trust = Low Conversions: If your audience doesn’t trust what you’re saying, they simply won’t take action—no clicks, no sign-ups, no sales.
• You Miss the Chance to Build Authority: Credibility is like stocks that compound over time. Without it, you won’t have any momentum.

The Reason This Happens

Let’s face it—telling your story and providing proof can feel uncomfortable.

We hold back from showcasing proof because we don’t want to feel like we’re “selling.” So we end up not showing any credibility at all or we half-ass it and embed weak trust signals. This is why people hesitate to trust you, even when you’re not lying.

The truth is: proof bridges the gap between promise and belief.

Here are other reasons why your credibility falls flat:

• Overconfident with the Solution: The biggest lie that people in tech tell themselves is, “A good product sells itself”. If that were true, successful tech companies won’t do any campaigns, content creation, paid ads or any marketing at all. But they do—because a product alone isn’t enough to build trust or drive action.
• No Social Proof: Word of mouth is the most powerful credibility booster. When other people say something about you, it lands 10x harder than when you say it yourself. Many indie hackers and product teams fail to collect testimonials from their users, and this kills any user acquisition momentum.
• Your Examples Are Too Perfect: Testimonials that only highlight the good stuff feel fake. When stories are too polished, people assume they’re cherry-picked or paid for.
• People don’t understand your stats: Using numbers to show specific results can be effective—but only when people understand them. Without anchoring your data to something relatable, it just sounds like noise.

How to Fix It

Here are a few ways to build stronger credibility in your stories, landing pages, and presentations—without sounding like you’re trying too hard:

1. Show vulnerability

The fastest way to lose trust? Sounding too perfect.

It’s okay to admit that:

• You tried multiple solutions and failed
• You had doubts—even after some success
• You made mistakes while building your solution

In the beginning, Peter Parker didn’t decide to use his powers to fight crime—he used it to make money from wrestling. He had the power to stop a criminal who ran by him but decided it wasn’t his responsibility. That decision cost his uncle his life.

It was that mistake that turned him into Spider-Man.

Whether it’s in a social post or a pitch deck, vulnerability humanizes you. People don’t trust flawless heroes—they trust real ones.

2. Borrow credibility

How do you show credibility when you’re not an expert?

You borrow it from trusted sources.

If you noticed, I craft case studies and content based on popular tech brands or authority figures. I insert links to books, articles and YouTube videos. I try to give credit as much as possible to the original author.

You see, copying alone doesn’t create value—it’s just plagiarism. The real path to mastery starts with studying great work. From there, remix those ideas with your own until they become something original.

Giving credit boosts your own trustworthiness. It shows that you’ve done your homework—and that you’re not trying to fake authority.

Even Steve Jobs referenced this quote when discussing Apple’s approach to innovation: take good ideas from various sources and transforming them into something distinctively “Apple.”

Borrowing credibility isn’t a weakness. It’s being authentic.

3. Make stats relatable

The Florida Museum of Natural History wanted to educate the public on the rarity of shark attacks.

But instead of leading with stats, they asked: “Which of these animals are most likely to kill you—a shark or a deer?”.

The answer: “The deer is more likely to kill you. In fact, it’s 300x more likely to kill you (via a collision with your car).”

The idea that “Bambi” is more likely to kill you instead of “Jaws” is a sticky story due to the surprising comparison and relatable humour.

Stats without context can backfire because people can’t imagine what it means.

Saying this is meaningless:

But if you add context:

That gives it human weight. This technique is called the “Human Scale Principle”.

If you use data, scale it to something the reader can feel.

That’s when stats stick.

4. Tell the story of one

In 2004, some researchers at Carnegie Mellon University ran an experiment to see whether most people act like Mother Teresa.

After completing a survey, participants were paid in cash (5 dollars to be exact).

But before they could pocket the money, they were handed a letter from Save the Children, a charity supporting kids in need.

The letter came in two versions:

1. The Numbers Letter: It was packed with statistics about the problems facing children in Africa. Heartbreaking numbers like these:
   • Over 3 million kids in Malawi are facing food shortages.
   • More than 11 million people in Ethiopia need urgent food aid.
2. The Story Letter: Instead of statistics, it shared the story of Rokia, a young girl from Mali. Her story painted a vivid picture of her struggles and needs.

The story of Rokia made people donate 2x as much.

This is called the identifiable victim effect—people connect more with a single, detailed example than faceless masses.

Instead of saying:

Try:

It’s oddly more believable.

Takeaway

Credibility isn’t built by claiming brilliance—it’s built by proving it, piece by piece:

• Borrowing credibility shows you’ve done your homework.
• People trust imperfections more than perfection.
• Big numbers only work when they’re relatable.
• One real story beats 1,000 vague ones.

Show receipts. Share the messy parts. Make your proof feel human.

That’s how trust is built.

P.S. I’m working on something special—a course on storytelling for people in tech. To make sure it’s as useful as possible, I’d love your input: Which of these is your biggest struggle right now?

• ​Writing product landing pages that convert readers into customers​
• ​Writing social media posts to promote myself & my work​
• ​Starting a newsletter to promote myself and my thoughts​
• ​A combination of the above​

Looking for something else? Reply and let me know!

Adam