Crafting the Reader Experience
| Category: Copy Writing | Date: 2002-08-28 |
There is more to writing than the simple laying out of ideas onto paper. Even well structured writing can fail to do what's most important.
Communicate to the reader.
You build reader trust by crafting your writing for the reader experience. Your work delivers an impact by taking readers through a series of intellectual and emotional states to a condition of new or heightened awareness. This is as true for nonfiction as it is for fiction - there is no business writer on this planet whose work isn't intended to have an impact. And if you are not writing for impact, then why write at all?
Keep Your Reader in Mind
========================
The guidepost for your writing must always be the reader. If you fail to focus on your readers' needs, then you are wasting your time - and theirs. Create an image of the ideal reader in your mind. Pick someone you know who represents your readership and write to that person.
When you are faced with a project for which you do not know your audience, take the time to conduct an audience analysis. How old is the average reader? What sort of educational background does he have? How familiar is she with the general realm of your subject? Is he an expert or a novice? Is she a decision maker or decision influencer? The keepers of such information are usually in Marketing or Customer Services. Once you've identified a target readership, write a simple profile of someone you know who represents that readership to help you focus.
Your Goals
==========
Before you write a single word of your piece, lay out your goals in readership terms. What do you want readers to get from your piece? Are you:
* Educating them in the fundamentals of your topic?
* Informing them about discoveries, relationships, or issues that you have identified?
* Explaining a process or procedure?
* Attempting to influence them to make a particular choice or decision?
Write a 25-word description of your topic and why your reader ould want to know about it. Then divide the topic into three to five subtopics and create a description for each, all the while using the model of your ideal reader as true north for your compositional compass.
Structure
=========
Think of your structure as the flow of the reader experience through your piece. It's more than a logical progression: it's the river that carries your reader to a rewarding destination. Design your structure not only to guide readers, but also to create a series of layers through which your readers progress. Layers can be simple or complex, depending on the subject, but each new layer takes readers deeper into the material and prepares them for the next. Remember this as you are outlining; each of your subtopics comprises a major outline heading, and each subheading represents a new state of reader understanding.
It's often helpful to use storyboarding as a design tool when creating your structure. Set the piece down in broad brushstrokes, depicting the major states through which readers pass. Then fill in the transitions that move readers from one state to the next. Storyboarding is invaluable when you are documenting complex procedures or setting up the flow of content on a Web site.
Your document's structure represents the journey on which you're taking the reader. If the journey is to be worthwhile, you must design it in such a way that the reader finds your pot of gold at the end.
Testing the Experience
======================
Subject every document you write to a testing process. That process can consist of a formal review or approval cycle, or can simply be a dry run with others whose feedback you trust. But you must test your work to determine whether it's going to be effective or not. There's nothing more frustrating than discovering flaws in your work after it's been published.
The most effective way to test your work is to run it by those who represent typical readers. Select as wide a group as is practical to simulate the actual readership. Get their reactions, make appropriate modifications, and publish.
In the case of procedural documents and Web site content, there is no substitute for usability testing. Select between two and twelve readers and have them go through the procedure or site. Collect their comments and apply them to your work.
Your Reward
===========
In the end, the true measure of your work's success is the reader's experience of it. By spending the time to craft your writing with that experience in mind, you give your work its greatest chance for success.
And when your work succeeds, so do you.
About the Author
Michael Knowles is a business writing specialist and publisher of WriteThinking.net. He shows business professionals how to write with power and clarity. For a free consultation, send e-mail or call toll-free now at 877-847-6214.
coach@mwknowles.com
http://www.WriteThinking.net
Communicate to the reader.
You build reader trust by crafting your writing for the reader experience. Your work delivers an impact by taking readers through a series of intellectual and emotional states to a condition of new or heightened awareness. This is as true for nonfiction as it is for fiction - there is no business writer on this planet whose work isn't intended to have an impact. And if you are not writing for impact, then why write at all?
Keep Your Reader in Mind
========================
The guidepost for your writing must always be the reader. If you fail to focus on your readers' needs, then you are wasting your time - and theirs. Create an image of the ideal reader in your mind. Pick someone you know who represents your readership and write to that person.
When you are faced with a project for which you do not know your audience, take the time to conduct an audience analysis. How old is the average reader? What sort of educational background does he have? How familiar is she with the general realm of your subject? Is he an expert or a novice? Is she a decision maker or decision influencer? The keepers of such information are usually in Marketing or Customer Services. Once you've identified a target readership, write a simple profile of someone you know who represents that readership to help you focus.
Your Goals
==========
Before you write a single word of your piece, lay out your goals in readership terms. What do you want readers to get from your piece? Are you:
* Educating them in the fundamentals of your topic?
* Informing them about discoveries, relationships, or issues that you have identified?
* Explaining a process or procedure?
* Attempting to influence them to make a particular choice or decision?
Write a 25-word description of your topic and why your reader ould want to know about it. Then divide the topic into three to five subtopics and create a description for each, all the while using the model of your ideal reader as true north for your compositional compass.
Structure
=========
Think of your structure as the flow of the reader experience through your piece. It's more than a logical progression: it's the river that carries your reader to a rewarding destination. Design your structure not only to guide readers, but also to create a series of layers through which your readers progress. Layers can be simple or complex, depending on the subject, but each new layer takes readers deeper into the material and prepares them for the next. Remember this as you are outlining; each of your subtopics comprises a major outline heading, and each subheading represents a new state of reader understanding.
It's often helpful to use storyboarding as a design tool when creating your structure. Set the piece down in broad brushstrokes, depicting the major states through which readers pass. Then fill in the transitions that move readers from one state to the next. Storyboarding is invaluable when you are documenting complex procedures or setting up the flow of content on a Web site.
Your document's structure represents the journey on which you're taking the reader. If the journey is to be worthwhile, you must design it in such a way that the reader finds your pot of gold at the end.
Testing the Experience
======================
Subject every document you write to a testing process. That process can consist of a formal review or approval cycle, or can simply be a dry run with others whose feedback you trust. But you must test your work to determine whether it's going to be effective or not. There's nothing more frustrating than discovering flaws in your work after it's been published.
The most effective way to test your work is to run it by those who represent typical readers. Select as wide a group as is practical to simulate the actual readership. Get their reactions, make appropriate modifications, and publish.
In the case of procedural documents and Web site content, there is no substitute for usability testing. Select between two and twelve readers and have them go through the procedure or site. Collect their comments and apply them to your work.
Your Reward
===========
In the end, the true measure of your work's success is the reader's experience of it. By spending the time to craft your writing with that experience in mind, you give your work its greatest chance for success.
And when your work succeeds, so do you.
About the Author
Michael Knowles is a business writing specialist and publisher of WriteThinking.net. He shows business professionals how to write with power and clarity. For a free consultation, send e-mail or call toll-free now at 877-847-6214.
coach@mwknowles.com
http://www.WriteThinking.net
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