Why bringing humanity to your writing is essential to engage people online, and how you can get people to stick around to read what you’ve written.
Technology has changed our habits. We often talk about Generation Z’s diminishing attention span, but few of us are immune from some (or all) of this behaviour. Before Covid, and probably still now, much of what’s written for online platforms (be it an email, blog, web content, a tweet…) is viewed in a swish of the eyes across a screen or the stab of a finger punching downwards. And that’s not to mention the battleground of how many words you see depending on the size of the screen: mobile vs. tablet vs. laptop vs desktop.
Whilst it can be hard to capture the attention of your reader online, here are a few techniques to help you not only hold your readers attention, but to capture their imagination too.
Being human
The moment you surrender the humanity in what you write, you should ask yourself: who are you trying to win over?”
The strongest, most compelling way to reach your reader is to be human. Ironically (perhaps), it’s the one we are often at most risk of forgetting. The humanity in our writing gets lost by trying to get a point across, or is overtaken by Acabusinish (an unlovely hybrid of academic jargon and management speak, coined by Tom Scott).
But what does ‘being human’ in this context mean?
It means not losing your style, voice, the meter of your speech and your idiosyncrasies, in a ream of text. Of course depending on the context you may wish to be more formal (as in a press release) or more relaxed, like this blog. But always hold this question close; is what you’ve written distinctly yours?
It means asking questions like these: Have you used words or phrases that will exclude readers, be misunderstood, or not understood at all? If you are writing for your organisation and you need to mirror your brand values (such as embodying an approachable, open and welcoming organisation) how does your writing reflect these? And does what you say draw the reader in, like you imagine a welcoming organisation would do?
Ultimately, you want your writing to be remembered, to stir emotion, or to encourage action. These are very human needs and they can only be created between one person and another. The moment you surrender the humanity in what you write, you should ask yourself: who are you trying to win over?
What does the science say?
Humanity should always be the starting point, but it’s helpful to acknowledge how people actually engage with what’s written online. We might also phrase this as just how little people read what’s on a screen.
A study by the Nielsen Norman Group looked at how people read online. What they found isn’t particularly surprising (though it’s worth noting that this applies to web pages not emails.)
Across users in the study, people read between 20-28% on an average web page. After reading for 25 seconds, people spent on average 4.4 seconds more for each additional 100 words. This is the point where people really start to skim, if they continue reading at all. Headings and sub-headings do well – nearly 98% of people read these – so what you say here matters.
It’s worth acknowledging that this is only one study and of a relatively small sample, but to get a flavour of people’s behaviour these results are useful reminders of how people digest information and give helpful pointers when writing content for a blog or webpage.
Quick fire ideas
With all this in mind here are some practical ways to think about how you write and present your work:
- Find ways to draw the eye that will disrupt lazy scanning. Aesthetically these might include the use of bold, italics, indented paragraphs, colour (used carefully) etc.
- For blogs, web content, news articles and the like, a headline and summary are critical to let your reader know what to expect. To write an effective headline and summary, write your full piece first. Pick out your most essential points, write them down, rearrange them, and play around with how they could fit together. Include words that people may not expect to find, but always make sure that you never lose the essential thread of your message. Alternatively, try writing a haiku or a couplet or some other short form of words to synthesise what you want to say; this will encourage you to find new ways to express the essential points of your writing in a more creative way.
White space is your friend. Use it with care and thoughtfulness”
- My particular favourite – white space is your friend. Use it with care and thoughtfulness. How much you use and where you use it will depend on how much text there is, the font size and style, what screen the reader is likely to read it on etc. This point is relevant not only to web pages but to emails too. A lazily written email with indistinct paragraphs will be read lazily too.
In writing this blog I was reminded that writing is a continual learning process. It can be difficult to find the right words. To do justice to your ideas, passions and ambitions for what you want to say, but writing something that engages is a victory worth fighting for.