People perform better when they’re not drowning in data
The more information you have, the better decisions you can make, right?
Wrong.
It turns out that doctors make better diagnoses when they have less information.… Read the full article
Writing workshops, communication consulting and writing services
The more information you have, the better decisions you can make, right?
Wrong.
It turns out that doctors make better diagnoses when they have less information.… Read the full article
Here’s a famous story among persuasion researchers and Malcolm Gladwell fans:
When a researcher offered shoppers 24 types of jam, many customers stopped by for a sample, but only 3% made a purchase.… Read the full article
Talk about TMI: Your readers receive the data equivalent of 174 newspapers — ads included — every single day, according to USC’s Annenberg School for Communication.… Read the full article
I had Mexican Monday with one of my favorite tech friends the other day. “Ann,” he says, “when are you going to start helping your clients use ChatGPT to write better messages faster?”… Read the full article
Beware adverbs, counsels The Poynter Institute’s Roy Peter Clark.
Too often, they dilute the meaning of the verb or repeat it: “The building was completely destroyed.”… Read the full article
Turns out a Southwestern Tex-Mex salad by any other name would not taste as good.
Vivid menu descriptions — “applewood-smoked bacon,” “Maytag blue cheese” and “buttery plump pasta,” for instance — can increase restaurant sales up to 27 percent, according to research by Brian Wansink.… Read the full article
Why cut adjectives and adverbs from your copy?
Because modifiers:
Writing media relations pieces?… Read the full article
When “king of usability” Jakob Neilsen cut the fluff from a web page about Nebraska, the neutral web page was 27% more useful.… Read the full article
Screenwriter Nora Ephron long remembered the first day of her high school journalism class.
Ephron’s teacher announced the first assignment: to write the lead for a story to appear in the student newspaper.… Read the full article
Too often, communicators think the topic is the topic. But the topic is never the topic. The reader is always the topic.… Read the full article
____
Learn to get the word out with our proven-in-the-lab techniques in our email newsletter.