
Think back to the past week and all the written content you consumed.
- Did you read anything that was so muddled that you had to reread it?
- Did you receive any long, rambling emails that you had to spend 10 minutes decoding?
- Maybe you stumbled across a big block of content that you just didn’t have the energy to get through?
If you deal with content regularly, then I bet at least some of this sounds familiar.
When we engage with bad writing, it actually affects us emotionally. It might send us mixed messages that confuse and frustrate, make us feel irritated, and even tarnish our impression of the person (or brand) behind it. And of course, none of that’s good for business. Bad content can also lead to customer inaction, lost opportunities, questions and misunderstandings, legal risks, and more.
But what do you we mean when we describe clear and concise writing? Clarity in enterprise content means delivering messages that are easily understood, free from ambiguity, and aligned with organizational goals. It’s more than just conveying information — it’s about ensuring your target audience finds information that’s easy to read and act upon. In other words, it’s genuinely helpful.
How clear content improves marketing writing
When I tell you that unclear content is bad for business, I’m not kidding.
A study showed that big enterprises lose an average of $62.4 million every year because their internal communication isn’t clear. The bottom line is: When your content isn’t clear and concise, it can lead to confusion. And that’s an expensive problem.
Another study revealed that employees at big companies spend huge amounts of time trying to understand communications. In fact, they estimated that it costs an average of $26,000 per worker in lost productivity every year.
Translation is another area that quickly suffers because of unclear content. If your writing isn’t clear and concise, your translation costs will skyrocket. Consider these two passages:
- Passage 1: What we’ve wondered about of late is why companies are so open to the idea of developers getting together to hold hackathons for technical coding, but are so resistant to the idea of creative people getting together to do something similar for their content since content is similar to code in its potential to build the business.
- Passage 2: Why the resistance to innovative content brainstorming? Coders do it.
They both convey the same information, but one does it in 54 words, while the other does it in 10 words and is much easier to follow. If you assume a translation rate of $0.25 per word, the first passage will cost you $13.50, while the second will only cost you $2.50. That may not seem like such a big deal, but the numbers quickly increase when you’re talking about lots of different languages. And if you’re translating long-form content, with tens of thousands of words, finding clearer and more concise ways of expressing ideas can save you millions of dollars in translation costs.
My general advice is to only tell your readers what they need to know, not everything you want to tell them. We’re often inclined to give readers way more information than they need. Information overload is the last thing your audience needs when trying to discern if your product or service is right for them! And too many ideas at once makes your writing cluttered and harder to understand.
How to write concisely
Concise writing strengthens clarity and impact by using the fewest words necessary to convey your message effectively. To achieve this:
- Eliminate redundancies and filler words like “very” or “basically.”
- Favor strong verbs and active voice.
- Make sure the sentence’s subject performs the action.
- Simplify sentence structure by replacing wordy phrases with single words.
- Break down long sentences and never write a sentence longer than 35 words.
- Strive for specificity with concrete language that creates clear imagery.
- Avoid vague terms.
Finally, edit ruthlessly by reading your work aloud, seeking feedback, and revising multiple times to polish your writing. Tools like the Acrolinx can assist in identifying areas for improvement, by providing guidance around content clarity to your writers.
Best practices for marketing writing
To create impactful marketing copy, follow these best practices:
- Know your audience and tailor your message to their needs.
- Embrace brevity by using short sentences and impactful language, focusing on benefits over features.
- Employ strong verbs and an active voice to make your writing dynamic.
- “Show, don’t tell” by using vivid language and sensory details.
- Include a compelling call to action that clearly instructs the reader on the next step.
- Continuously test and iterate different versions of your copy to see what performs best.
- Maintain a consistent brand voice to build trust and recognition.
- Edit ruthlessly for clarity, conciseness, and accuracy.
If every piece of marketing content follows these recommendations, you’ll be sure to creat content that resonates with your audience.
Build a business case with clear content
Clear content is written in plain language. When I say plain language, I mean writing and designing your content so it’s easy to understand and apply. Above all else, plain writing is clear, concise, and credible.
People just don’t have the time, energy, or attention span to figure out hard-to-understand writing. As content creators, you’ve got to do the heavy lifting to make sure that your content is simple to understand, and that includes if you’re using generative AI! Thankfully, there are solutions out there to help, including automated readability checks that help enterprises govern their content at scale.
When you do, you’ll find that content clarity boosts your profits, reduces wasted employee time, improves your brand reputation, improves your overall customer experience, and mitigates your exposure to legal risks.
How Acrolinx helps you create clear and concise content
Acrolinx provides your writers with real-time guidance that simplifies complex ideas, eliminates unnecessary jargon, and makes sure your content is easy to understand.
Whether you’re crafting marketing materials, technical documentation, or regulatory content, Acrolinx’s AI-powered platform aligns your writing with your writing standards. By streamlining content creation and reinforcing best practices, Acrolinx empowers your team to produce high-quality, concise content that resonates with your audience, and drives results.
Join our bi-weekly product demo to see Acrolinx in action!
Editor’s note: This post is inspired by a presentation that Deborah Bosley, the Owner and Principal of the Plain Language Group and Associate Professor Emerita at UNC Charlotte, gave at Content Connections. |
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The Acrolinx Team