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doodlememos

WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS

Say less,
get read.

CUT IT then cut again

  • Point first
  • One request
  • Short sentences
  • Written for skimmers

Most readers skim. Good memos are built for skimmers.

Field experiments with real inboxes, and the rules GOV.UK writes by, point the same way: fewer words, one clear request, and the most important line first.

Updated

Check a habit

THE SHORT ANSWER

Write for the reader
who is in a hurry.

Three habits come up again and again.
Each one has evidence behind it.

LENGTH

Fewer words win

In a trial with 7,002 school board members, a 49-word email got a 4.8% response rate. A 127-word version asking for the same survey got 2.7%.

See the numbers

ORDER

Put the point first

GOV.UK tells its writers to frontload: the most important information first, then smaller details, sometimes called an inverted pyramid.

How to do it

ATTENTION

Readers skim

GOV.UK notes that most people read only 20 to 28% of the text on a web page, often scanning in an F-shaped pattern. Many will be busy or on the move.

Check a habit

A QUICK HABIT CHECK

Which habit
helps most?

Pick a writing habit to see what the evidence says. The bar shows how strongly the research and guidance back it for busy readers.

Habit check

Choose a habit
Cutting the word countStrong evidence

The 49-word email drew nearly twice the survey responses of the 127-word one, for exactly the same five-minute survey.

Asking for one thingStrong evidence

Rogers says the more actions a message asks of readers, the less likely they are to do any one of them. Prioritise the request that matters.

Putting the point firstCore guidance

GOV.UK says the quicker you get to the point, the greater the chance users see the information you want them to.

Short sentencesRule of thumb

GOV.UK suggests splitting sentences over 25 words and keeping paragraphs to no more than 5 sentences.

Bolding key linesUse sparingly

Bold or highlighting makes people more likely to read that part, but less likely to read the rest of the message.

Sources: Rogers and Lasky-Fink, Writing for Busy Readers (2023), via Behavioral Scientist and the Harvard Gazette; GOV.UK content and publishing guidance, writing guidelines.

Based on Rogers and Lasky-Fink's field experiments and GOV.UK's writing guidelines.

TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING

Long messages
lose readers.

One figure from a real inbox experiment,
one on how much of a page people read.

4.8% vs 2.7%

Response rate, 49 words vs 127 words

Two versions of an email asking 7,002 US school board members to complete a short survey. The concise one got nearly twice as many responses.

INBOX TRIAL · ROGERS & LASKY-FINK

≈ 20%

Share of words read on an average page

Nielsen Norman Group's analysis found users have time to read at most 28% of the words on an average web page visit, and 20% is more likely.

WEB READING · NN/G

In a separate test, 29% of people who saw the concise email thought the survey would take under five minutes, against 15% who saw the wordy one. Length signals effort.

FOUR EDITS TO TRY

Before you
press send.

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AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

These take a minute or two, and they come straight from the guidance and the experiments above.

  1. Move the ask to the top

    Put what you need, and by when, in the first line. Details can follow for anyone who wants them.

  2. Keep one request

    If there are three asks, choose the one that matters most. Extra requests make each one less likely to happen.

  3. Trim long sentences

    Split any sentence over about 25 words, and keep paragraphs to 5 sentences or fewer.

  4. Swap in short words

    GOV.UK's examples: buy not purchase, help not assist, about not approximately. Prefer the active voice.

WHY WE OVERWRITE

Editing tends
to add words.

A red pencil and a pair of scissors resting on a blank sheet of paper on a wooden desk
AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

Rogers and Lasky-Fink describe a University of Virginia study in which people summarised a short article and were then asked to improve their summary. 83% added words rather than cutting them.

They call readers who give up halfway "early quitters": people who skim, decide a message is too much for now and move on, sometimes missing a deadline in the last paragraph. In their survey, 165 of 166 professionals said they would deal with a concise message first.

Questions

Questions people ask

How long should a memo be?

There is no fixed length. GOV.UK sets no maximum or minimum page length and says writing well matters most. Rogers and Lasky-Fink's advice is fewer words, fewer ideas and fewer requests.

Is plain English dumbing down?

GOV.UK cites research on legal documents in which 80% of people preferred sentences in clear English, and the more specialist their knowledge, the stronger that preference.

Should I bold the important bits?

Sparingly. Rogers and Lasky-Fink found bold or highlighting raises the chance that part is read but lowers the chance the rest is read.

Why do people miss the request at the end?

Many readers skim and stop early. In the school board trial, the authors suggest some readers of the long email never reached the request in the last line.

Active or passive voice?

GOV.UK prefers the active voice because it is more direct and keeps sentences short, for example "You need an electronic travel authorisation".

Sources

Where the facts come from

  1. Behavioral Scientist: When Writing for Busy Readers, Less Is More (Rogers and Lasky-Fink, book excerpt)
  2. Harvard Gazette: Tips on how to connect with people who don't have time to read
  3. GOV.UK content and publishing guidance: Use clear language
  4. GOV.UK content and publishing guidance: Create a clear structure for your content
  5. Nielsen Norman Group: How little do users read?

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