While doing laundry a few years ago, I found a crumpled coffee shop napkin in my trouser pocket bearing this bit of “sage advice” in my handwriting:
“Just make stuff simple.”
Hah.
It was a direct quote from a client I worked with during my Big Firm days. They’d grown frustrated with weekly calls that, in their view, spent too much time “in the weeds.” We, the consultants, thought we needed those details to paint a clearer “big picture” for their team. I’d used the napkin as a reminder before a particularly dense conversation, as a reminder to keep an eye on my “altitude” concerning details.
So many years later, I have no recollection of whether it worked. But the project succeeded, so we must have gotten the necessary answers from somewhere …
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Turning complexity into simplicity takes work. Hard, smart work. “Simple” is rarely easy to achieve.
Here’s what else simplicity isn’t:
- Condescending: No one likes to be talked down to. If your writing makes your audience feel small, they’ll turn elsewhere.
- Simplistic: Short, punchy sentences are easier to digest and more memorable. But oversimplification can feel dull or even irritating.
- Example: “These sentences are short. They are clear. They are boring.”
- Fuzzy or intangible: These two sentences are about the same length. Which would you rather act on—A or B?*
- A. “Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get money-saving tips you can use today, to find and close on your next home faster.”
- B. “Consider signing up for our newsletter, which can save you money and help you buy a home if you use the tips shared in it.”
There’s a lot going on in both sentences, admittedly: the first option has three-and-a-half actions in it (sign up, get tips, find and close on a home). But they’re presented in a short, declarative way, with no fuzzy, not-quite-action words like “consider”). And the desired result is easy to picture: shortening the time it takes to close on a new home. Not a bad trade-off for a newsletter sign-up.
Clarifying the intention behind the sentence helps your reader because it shortens the time between reading it and taking action. And, it paints a clear picture of the desired result: in this case, finding and closing on a new home fast.
Could it be even clearer if the sentence were broken up into even shorter ones, like this?
- “Sign up for our weekly newsletter.”
- “You’ll get money-saving tips you can use right away” [an alternative to “today”].
- They can help you find and close on your next home faster.”
Well, yes and no. The shorter sentences stand a slightly better chance of being understood and (maybe) remembered. If space is at a premium, you might not want to waste it with the extra words it would take to eliminate all confusion (for example, starting the third sentence with “These tips,” to make it very clear what’s being modified by the somewhat vague “They” in that context.
Brevity helps with clarity (and thus, with simplicity). But in everything you write, you’ve got to balance “short” and “clear” … and the right solution will vary, in context.
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Make a strong CTA part of your writing plan
Last week, I discussed having a plan before you write. Your plan should include both an overall goal (e.g., to inform, persuade, or entertain) and a specific objective. Here are some examples, to illustrate the difference.
Goals (Broad, directional)
- Announce changes to next year’s bonus plan and explain why.
- Convince a new car buyer that extended maintenance coverage is better value for money than the standard coverage.
- Teach a lesson about communicating with your boss using a funny (and true) story.
Objectives (Narrow and quantifiable, which helps make them measurable)
- Preemptively answer the top three questions about the revised bonus plan, by incorporating the answers into leadership’s announcement message. Also, include a link to a thorough FAQ document.
- Illustrate how much an average customer would save over a year with the extended maintenance plan, compared to the standard plan.
- Citing two “lessons learned,” make it clear that your past communication mistake was avoidable, and show how your reader can avoid it.
There’s a third critical ingredient when writing to persuade: the Call to Action (CTA).
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Let’s get this out of the way…
It’s true: Not every piece of writing is meant to persuade, and not everything requires a CTA. But persuasion—whether convincing a client, your kid, or even yourself—sneaks into more situations than we think. (Thank you, marketing psychology.)
Reminding your kid to take the dog out when they get home (to avoid a mess on the carpet), making a grocery shopping list, or tweaking your LinkedIn profile to position yourself as the ideal “solution” for a potential employer’s business problem, all have elements of persuasion in them, and thus probably need a nudge toward action.
The CTA is that nudge.
Whether you say so directly or just imply it, you want your audiences to: “Walk the dog,” “Don’t forget coffee filters,” or “Call me for an interview,” respectively.
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Clear and simple CTAs
A good CTA is clear and simple. Here are a few examples based on our earlier goals, designed to help your communication meet its [objectives]:
- Read the bonus plan FAQs.
- [If our answers to the top three most common ones haven’t addressed your question, you’ll find many more there.]
- Choose the 10,000-mile coverage plan to save more for longer on maintenance.
- […As shown in the accompanying illustration.]
- Put your boss’s number in your phone—just in case.
- [That way, if he doesn’t respond to your email in a time-sensitive situation, you’ll be able to reach him quickly by phone.]
If you must, it’s okay to include a second, closely related action in your CTA for clarity, like: “If you still have questions, talk to your manager or HR.” But ideally, limit it to one main CTA per document.
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Getting ready to revise
Once your first draft is complete, review it with a critical eye. Ask yourself:
- Is my writing clearly guiding the reader toward a single, clear desired action?
- Have I stated my CTA in the simplest way possible?
- In longer documents: Have I reiterated the CTA in strategic places, and/or included a final reminder?
(Need help fine-tuning your goals, objectives, or CTA? Drop me a line.)
Next week, we’ll continue “Strive for ‘simple’” with my favorite tips for effective revision.
See you then.
