Writing affects all of us, both in our professional lives as well as our personal lives.

While numerous books are available that discuss how to improve writing, these books may not be appealing to you because you may not be planning to write a book, news story, or blog soon.

The book “Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World” by Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink shifts the focus of writing toward the everyday messages we all create; from emails, forms, and even text messages.

The book does an incredible job of looking at the research behind how people process written information and how we can make daily messages more understandable and impactful.

Here are 3 takeaways from the book:

1. Reader engagement comes first

2. How your writing looks matters

3. Write so your reader is successful

Let’s discuss these in more detail below…

1. Reader Engagement Comes First

In our modern world of fast-paced, high-volume communication, readers are so busy that they either miss certain details within a message or they don’t even see the message in the first place.

You might struggle to get through a pile of emails, messages, and texts that continuously grow daily. You’re also managing tasks within your organization or team. In addition, by adding tasks from your personal life that need to be addressed, you can quickly feel overwhelmed.

When we feel this way, we start to focus on efficiency. We naturally avoid reading things that come with a large time commitment or require a lot of effort to work through. As an example, you ask a client to fill out an optional but long feedback survey. If they’re busy, they might push it off or ignore completing the survey altogether.

Our thoughts

1. Knowing your readers are busy, put the purpose of the message, the most important information, at the very beginning.

2. Write short. The overall message can still be detailed, but create shorter paragraphs, sentences, and even words. It shows you care about your reader’s time.

3. Ask yourself, what can I take out? What still delivers the information I need to share, but in a way where I’m more likely to get a response?

2. How Your Writing Looks Matters

You also need to consider the visual nature of writing. The authors discussed interesting research about eye movements and how readers will guide themselves through lengthy writing.

Writers need to know where and how they present important information in their writing. It needs to avoid appearing overwhelming to the stressed-out reader. It also needs to be visually organized so that crucial information stands out.

Rogers and Lasky-Fink discuss numerous techniques on how to do this. They also demonstrate various examples of messages that do this in ways that are both more and less effective.

Our thoughts

1.  Write short (notice a theme?!) Shorter paragraphs with white space between them make the overall document look easier to consume.

2. Read your writing out loud. If you’re out of breath before a sentence is over, it may be too long. Can you break it into two sentences? Can you take the ‘fluff’ out that creates a longer thought, yet doesn’t lose the main point?

3. Ask yourself, “Would I read this if it came through my inbox?” Be honest. If the answer is no, edit before sending it!

3. Write So Your Reader is Successful

Business writing doesn’t just revolve around informing a reader, it often involves getting a reader to respond.

Rogers and Lasky-Fink do an incredible job of discussing how if we are looking for a response, we need to make responding as frictionless as possible. If we require our readers to respond in a certain way, that process should be straightforward like our message.

Our thoughts

1. Know what you want out of the written communication. Is it a response? An FYI only? Do you want the reader(s) to ponder an idea before a meeting so it can be discussed?

2. Write your call to action so it’s clear, easy to understand, and visible. Answer the question: “Who needs to do what by when?”

3. Optional: Consider putting the call to action in the subject line.

1. 1. FYI – Client Meeting Update

   2. Response Required: Sales Meeting – Lunch Orders

   3. Contact Immediately – New client hit

In closing, if you’re looking for practical tips to improve your writing, pick up a copy of “Writing for Busy Readers” or reach out to us to learn more about our interactive Business Writing program.