by Sheryl Allen

I bang on a lot about the value of plain English. I’m a true champion of simple, accessible language. It’s my favourite way to create feel-good copy that does the job it’s designed to do.

What’s plain English? It’s about using language your audience can understand the first time they read it. Simple.

Ever visited a website or a social media profile and left it without knowing what the business actually does? A lack of plain English is the likely culprit.

Sure, there are times when more high-brow language is called for (even expected) but they’re rare. For the most part – if your audience is the general public or a broad cross-section of it – plain English is your most effective messaging mantra. Why?

When you use plain English:

• more people read your content for longer before they click away, scroll on or turn the page
• more people connect with your message because they understand what you’re saying
• you and your brand seem more real, more relatable and a lot less AI-generated (aka, a little less like a dick)

I challenge you to review your business content, starting with your website home page. Is your value proposition (what you do, who you do it for, why you do it) crystal clear? If not, consider revising your content to reflect plain English principles. You don’t need to do it all in one hit. Try changing up one sentence, one paragraph or one page and work up from there.

I promise you’ll be surprised how your content cuts through when it’s simpler. Don’t be surprised if you see an uptick in click-throughs, dwell times and conversions.

How do you achieve plain English? Lots of practice. Then more practice. You need to consciously unlearn a lot of what you’ve been taught. You dial-back on big words and clever-but-complex sentences. You ditch the jargon. You leave your ego at the door and focus on having a conversation with your audience, rather than trying to impress them with your language skills.

Start by thinking of the barest, simplest way you can you say what you need to say. Stuck? Think about how you’d word your message if you were explaining it to an 8 year-old. Ask yourself: What is my main point?

Here are three ‘before-and-afters’ to show you what plain English can look like:

Before:

An overwhelming number of our customers live in Victoria.

After:

Most of our customers are Victorians.

Before:

We assist you to optimise the market forces to maximise your return on your investment.

After:

We help you make the most of your money.

Before:

In conjunction with you, we devise a goal-based program to assist you to move towards your objectives.

After:

Together, we work out a plan to help you reach your goals.

Over to you. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try different wording until you get simpler messaging that works for you and you brand.

Need help transforming your content into plain-speaking plain English? Contact me to chat about how a professional copywriter can help you improve you content and messaging.