Don’t forget, when someone’s reading your copy, they’re also:
➡️ Checking their emails
➡️ Logging onto YET ANOTHER Teams
➡️ Answering a call about their five year old having bumped heads with Frida in the playground. Again
➡️ Finishing a boooooring report
➡️ Thinking about what to cook for dins
➡️ Answering the door to the DPD driver
➡️ Mindlessly scrolling on LinkedIn
➡️ Strongly fighting the desire for a nap
In other words:
Hardly anyone is giving your copy their undivided attention.
***
So whatever you’re writing.
Doesn’t matter if it’s a blog post, email, or a note for your milkman.
Get to the point.
Quickly.
Otherwise your reader’ll be off.
Doing something else.
***
To be more specific:
Don’t add lots of preamble ❌
Get to the point in your first line and first para ✅
Don’t bury your key message ❌
Make it prominent and clear (and repeat it) ✅
Don’t waffle on ❌
Only use as many words as you need. Not a single word more ✅
TLDR: Write for busy, distracted readers.
It’s the only sure-fire way to give your copy a fighting chance of cutting through the noise.
(And bonus points if you can make it interesting / entertaining / useful – so you’re giving your readers something worthy of their valuable time, too).