I read 212 research papers to teach you this...

_{Day 43/100}

Hey—It's Tim. 

Let me tell you why we built VIBE Score.

And more importantly, how you can use what we learned to make your writing actually resonate today.

Because here's the thing: I didn't read 212 research papers on compelling content for fun.

I read them because I needed to answer one question:

"What makes someone read something and think 'damn, this person gets it'?"

Turns out, there's a formula. Sort of.

VIBE: The anatomy of content people actually like

We built VIBE Score around four elements. They're weighted. In this exact order:

V - Viewpoint
I - Individuality
B - Beat
E - Evidence

And here's what broke my brain:

Over half of those 212 papers pointed to the same thing as THE most important factor in compelling writing.

Not sentence structure.
Not readability scores.
Not keyword density or semantic relevance or any of that SEO theatre.

Viewpoint.

Having an opinion. Pushing it hard. Backing it the fuck up.

With an understanding of where you got that view from.
How it stacks up against other views.
And the stories you have from owning that viewpoint.

Why this matters right now

With AI, information is cheap. Common. Everywhere.

Your viewpoint? Unique. Rare. Impossible to replicate.

An AI can tell you "10 ways to improve email open rates."

But it can't tell you:

"I sent 40,000 emails by accident at 2am and learned that subject lines with specific timeframes ('14 days') outperform vague urgency ('soon') by 12%. Here's why I think that's about loss aversion, not curiosity."

See the difference?

One is information.
The other is a viewpoint backed by evidence and shaped by experience.

The test I run on every piece of content

Before I publish anything, I ask:

"If I removed my name from this, could someone else have written it?"

If the answer is yes, I haven't pushed far enough.

Here's what pushing far looks like:

❌ "Content marketing is important for growth"
✅ "Top-of-funnel content is for cowards. If you want sales, start with content that actually sells."

❌ "AI detection tools have limitations"
✅ "The AI detection game is rigged and broken. Here's how I beat it 100% of the time."

❌ "Consistency helps with content"
✅ "If you have no view, you have nothing."

That last one's mine. For today.

And yeah, I'm pushing it as far as I can because that's literally the lesson: if you don't push your viewpoint to the edge, you're leaving the best part on the table.

The part everyone gets wrong

You don't need a correct viewpoint.
You need a defensible one.

That means:

• Acknowledging where it falls short

• Showing the opposing view

• Holding your position anyway

Example:

"I think daily newsletters beat weekly ones for audience building. Yes, it's exhausting. Yes, some people will unsubscribe. Yes, you'll publish stuff that's not your best work. But the intimacy you build by showing up every single day compounds faster than polished weekly essays ever will. I've been doing this for 225 days straight. The data backs me up."

That's not just an opinion, but a viewpoint with evidence, nuance, and skin in the game.

What we're building

VIBE Score measures this.

It reads your draft and tells you:

• Do you have a clear viewpoint? (Or are you hedging?)

• Is it distinct from what AI would write?

• Does it have rhythm? (More on Beat next time)

• Did you back it up with evidence, experience, or examples?

Then it tells you exactly where to tighten it.

"Paragraph 4 feels generic. Your viewpoint is buried in paragraph 7—move it up."

"You hedged three times with 'might' and 'could be.' Pick a side."

"This needs a story. Where did you learn this?"

It's the editor that won't let you ship lukewarm takes.

Your homework (if you're into that kind of thing)

Go find the last three things you published.

Run them through this test:

"Could AI have written this exact piece?"

If yes, you need more V.

Find your viewpoint. Push it to the edge. Acknowledge the counterargument. Hold your ground anyway.

That's the unlock.

I'll break down I (Individuality), B (Beat), and E (Evidence) in the next few emails.

But for now, in the spirit of this lesson, let me push this as far as I can:

If you have no view, you have nothing.

See you tomorrow.

✌️ Tim "24 karat gold la-view-view" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. Wave 2 drops in 11 days.
VIBE Score comes with it.

Still on the fence about locking in 50% extra credits?

Reply with "VIBE" and I'll send you a screenshot of the score running on this exact email. You'll see what it catches.

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Made by content marketers. Used by better ones.