Free diagnostic tool

The Messaging Drift Score

A free, open scoring tool for measuring how far a company's messaging has drifted from its product.

8 questions · Free, no email required · Updated 2026
Definition
Messaging Drift (n.)
The gradual divergence between a company's product or market position and the language used to describe it. Drift typically develops incrementally, through product changes, launches, team turnover and sales adaptation, rather than through a single event. This makes it more difficult to notice from inside an organisation.

Calculate your score

Eight questions. No login required. Assessment answers are not collected or stored.

62
Drift score

Answer based on your current situation, not your intended one. The score is only useful if your inputs are accurate.

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    Methodology

    The score is calculated from eight questions across six dimensions. Every answer maps to a value between 0 (no drift) and 3 (significant drift). The total is expressed as a percentage of the maximum possible score, then mapped to one of four tiers: low, early, significant or critical drift.

    This is a self-assessment tool, not an audit. It measures perceived and reported drift based on how a respondent answers, not an independent review of actual assets. For a more rigorous assessment, comparing live homepage copy, current sales materials and recent launch messaging side by side is the more reliable method, and is what any serious positioning review should include.

    Score Classification
    0–25 Low drift
    26–50 Early drift
    51–75 Significant drift
    76–100 Critical drift

    Homepage accuracy

    Whether public-facing copy still reflects the current product and audience.

    Sales and marketing alignment

    Whether the two functions describe the offer consistently.

    Launch performance

    Whether recent product or feature launches landed clearly.

    Positioning process

    Whether messaging is reviewed on a defined cadence or left to drift.

    Message clarity

    Whether the differentiation story is consistent across the people who tell it.

    Content velocity vs. review cadence

    Whether the pace of new content production has outstripped how often core messaging is re-validated.

    Mike Sharkey

    About this tool

    Built by Mike Sharkey, a B2B copywriter and editorial consultant who has spent fifteen years writing for organisations including Meta and Google Cloud, where positioning had to hold up under genuine commercial and legal scrutiny. The scoring model draws on patterns observed across dozens of SaaS and enterprise tech messaging reviews. It's offered free as a practical starting point for teams trying to diagnose their own drift before commissioning a formal review. Feel free to reference the Messaging Drift Score tool with attribution.

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    So, is your messaging on the drift? Here's what that can really mean for growing B2B teams.

    Learn more →