Simple writing:
- builds trust
- boosts your SEO ranking
- makes you look smarter.
No, really. Even highly-educated science, tech and medical experts prefer simple information. Probably because it saves them time working out what you’re trying to say.
Simple writing also means you're not excluding:
- people with a lower reading age
- non-native English speakers
- neurodivergent people
- people unfamiliar with your industry jargon.
And as a business, when you're talking to the masses, paying attention to readability isn’t about dumbing down what you have to say. It’s about making sure you draw in as much of your audience as possible. (Which sounds like a pretty smart move if you ask us.)
What's readability?
Readability is a measure of how easy your writing is to understand. The most popular tools include the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test and the Flesch Reading Ease test.
For a standard written document you'll want to be scoring between 60 and 70 out of 100. (That’s roughly the same level of ease as the BBC website, for comparison.)
And while these these tools are helpful, they’re no substitute for human judgement. So here are some quick tips that can make sure your writing is readable regardless of what number your readability checker spits out:
- Trim long sentences. Lengthy sentences can be hard for readers to follow. Shorter ones help them stay on track and make sure your message is clear.
- Swap passive voice for active voice. Writing in the active voice makes your sentences more direct. It’s clear who's doing what from the jump. It's the difference between 'I shot the sherrif' and 'The sherrif was shot'.
- Lose formal words or jargon. Swap out any formal or complicated language for more familiar words that everyone is likely to know. That goes for business-speak too. Use words like help, get, start. Not facilitate, receive, commence.
Good readability is necessary. And Covid-19 comms prove so.
The importance of readability became even more apparent since the pandemic.
A study on COVID-19 communications found that key public health documents from the UK, US and Australian governments failed to meet recommended readability standards. These documents were for the general public but were too complicated for the 'average' person to understand.
The last thing you want during a health crisis (or any crisis) is to confuse people or make them feel unintelligent. When people can't understand what you're trying to say, especially when they need answers, you come across as ingenuine or trying to hard behind big words and jargon.
So simple writing isn't dumbing down. It doesn't trivialise your message. It makes your message impossible to miss.
