So I’m guessing you’re here because either:

you LOVE plain language and want to convince someone at work that it’s worth investing in, or
you’ve heard about this plain language thing but you’re not yet sure you buy into it

Either way, I can help you out. So let’s dive into this.

What is plain language and what can it do for me?

Plain language (or plain English) saves money. It’s a simple fact. Plain language means your business will:

save time (don’t just skip over that – it’s the most significant financial benefit)
improve customer experience and reduce queries
increase compliance and reduce risk
increase brand trust and credibility

Want more detail? Duh, I know that. THAT was just the intro – the high-level overview. Which, by the way, is a handy plain language approach to structuring documents.

Like how I did that? Now enough chit chat. Here’s what you came for.

A close-up of a hand giving a thumbs-up with the text "Plain language saves time and money because the reader can quickly grasp the issues and make a decision"

Plain language saves time, which saves money. Piles of it. Sometimes great whopping mountains of it.

Let me tell you how!

Save time reading

Joseph Kimble reports a US study using a Marine Radio Regulation. They gave people 1 of 2 versions of the regulation: the original or a plain language rewrite.

Then they asked questions, and the readers had to find the answers in the document. The time to read, process, and answer the questions was almost halved – from 3 ½ minutes per question with the original, to less than 2 minutes per question with the plain language version.

How many minutes a day do you or your staff spend reading regulations, standards, policies, procedures and other indecipherable stuff?

Just imagine how much time they could save!

A group of men collaborating around a table covered with papers, saying "We have not wasted enough time on this" as sarcasm

Save writing time

In our trainings, we help people reconnect with our natural ways of expressing ideas – basically, the way we speak.

Plain language is everyday language. It's the language that you speak.

When we write that like that we let go of so many worries and conventions and constructs that slow us down. It’s just faster!

And the Plain English Campaign in the UK agrees.

Reduce customer queries, complaints and emails

Plain language improves CX and reduces customer queries, complaints, and all those fun games of email ping pong.

The results are proven.

The US Federal Communications Commission once needed five fulltime staff members to field all the phone calls and queries about its rules for Citizen Band Radios. Putting the regulations into plain English freed all five staff members to, well, get other shit done.
The Canadian government reports that when they rewrote their Certificate to Register Livestock, the compliance rate soared from a miserable 40% (imagine how much time THAT wasted) to 95%. That’s huge!
The Arizona Department of Revenue reported they received 18 000 fewer phone calls the year after they started using plain language letters.

Build trust and connections

Plain language makes your brand more trustworthy and easier to feel personally connected to.

And that, my savvy business friends, will make you money.

If you think about the brands you love, you’ll see they speak to you like a human. No formality, no waffle, no fluff. Microsoft’s stated position on this is beautiful. Why wouldn’t the same apply to your company?
This Siegel and Gale study is just one of many that prove how readers trust information they can easily understand. Did you hear that? CLEAR AND SIMPLE = TRUSTWORTHY.
I’m sorry to say it, but Trump’s use of plain language is one of the reasons people voted for him. (Use your #PlainLanguage powers for good, people.)

voters may increasingly be drawn to leaders who can make difficult, complex problems easier to understand.

Work it out – how much can you save using plain language?

The UK’s Plain Language Commission recommends this calculation to estimate how much money your business can save through using plain language:

Work out the number of sheets of paper, e-mails and faxes in your organization produces in one working day.

Estimate the cost of each of these documents at $10 a page.

Now calculate by the number of people who have to read them and add $1 for each person reading each document. (To give you an idea of this figure, a typical office worker receives over 100 messages a day).

That will give you a rough idea of the cost of your paperwork for each day.

Then multiply the figure by 240 to find out a realistic cost of paperwork in your organization every year.

The Commission says that plain language will cut this bill by 30 percent.

So the question is, really, can you afford NOT to invest in upskilling your people and embedding beautiful, crisp, clear plain language communication strategies throughout every inch of your business?

I think not.

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The School of unProfessional Writing is the ultimate online resource for modern business writers. You’ll find hundreds of videos and dozens of courses, with new content added every month.

For just USD $49 monthly, you’ll get access to all of the courses, including

Plain language foundations,
Tools for reader-friendly writing, and
How to write the perfect executive summary.

Go on - click the link and check out the School of unProfessional Writing!