AMiable Solution #111: Small Success

Want an easy way to make your marketing copy more readable?  Try not to sound so smart.  In other words, use shorter, simpler words over longer, “more sophisticated” ones. 

According to John Caples in his book, How to Make Your Advertising Make Money, word choice is incredibly important.  Changing just one word in a headline caused “How to Fix Cars” to out pull “How to Repair Cars” by 20%.

Want more proof?  How far do you get in the following paragraph before you get turned off or your mind starts to wander?

The critical component to composing understandable text is to maintain simplicity.  Communicate using compact verbiage.  Author highly edited messages.  Employ language any recipient will comprehend.

Now read this version:

The key to writing clear copy is to keep it simple.  Use short words.  Write short sentences.  Use language any reader will understand. 

Just because you or your audience knows big words doesn’t mean you need to use them.  The less you make your audience work, the more they’ll reward you.