How plain English copywriting supports ‘thinking fast & slow’ decision-making

“We have Palaeolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology,” said Edward Osborne Wilson, Harvard professor and sociobiologist.

This quote could inspire discussions on anything from the ethics of AI to social media dopamine addiction. Another day, perhaps! Instead, let’s look at how the beautiful simplicity of plain English copywriting meets the needs of your clients or customers.

Ye Old Stone Age Brains have default settings with certain requirements. You need to meet these requirements if success relies on customers making a decision or taking an action, like adding to cart or getting in touch.

Because the issue for you (as a brand with a website) and your customers (with the needs) is that Ye Old Stone Age Brains have default settings with certain requirements. You must meet these requirements if success relies on customers making a decision or taking an action, like adding to cart or getting in touch. Think of it as another way of optimising the user journey. Except we’re not talking about keywords or persuasion. It’s less complicated. Well, once we’ve got the science bit out of the way.

How do people make decisions?

In his book ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’, award-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman identifies the human brain’s two modes of thought.

• System 1 is fast, instinctive and emotional thinking. This is our Palaeolithic brain, comprising the reptilian brain and the limbic brain. 
• System 2 is slow, more deliberative, more logical thinking that evolved as we created more sophisticated tools, language, art and culture.

It’s a beautiful theory that shows how and why customers make decisions, including purchasing decisions. It shows up in web design and UX as slick, effortless user journeys. Slick and effortless means they are compatible with our System 1 requirements, even (especially) for big ticket purchases that need System 2 decision-making.

There’s a reason, and it’s not flattering to the 21st century human with the gods’ technology at her fingertips.

System 1 is fast, instinctive and emotional thinking. System 2 is slow, more deliberate, more logical.

System 1: our preferred mode

Our default behaviour is to make decisions quickly. ‘Deep thinking is boring, time-consuming and confusing,’ say Ye Old Stone Age Brains. Are we lazy? Perhaps. Would we rather be doing something more interesting? Probably. Do we want the dopamine hit? Most likely.

This is just who we are, humans. And, in defence of System 1, we don’t want to be completely reckless, so we have a process. We use mental shortcuts (heuristics) to gather information quickly and painlessly. It’s not a failsafe process and it goes something like this: Do I know this brand? Does it look trustworthy? Is it popular with other buyers? Does this site look secure? Can I buy what I want in a couple of clicks?

Web design and UX does a lot of heavy lifting to guide a user with intent to their goal. Great copy really makes it work.  Consider the written content a customer needs when they’re in the mood to make a quick decision. A product title, service headline, excerpt, summary, specifications, inspiration, facts. 

Kahneman says our System 1 mode is capable of:

• completing a well-known, short phrase
• reading text on a billboard advert
• understanding simple sentences

The copy needs to be easy to understand, informative, persuasive and concise. Hold that thought.

Our default behaviour is to make decisions quickly. ‘Deep thinking is boring, time-consuming and confusing,’ say Ye Old Stone Age Brains.

System 2: the reluctant hero

Unfortunately, there are occasions where we have to engage with potentially boring details. This is usually for big ticket purchases, getting car insurance, planning holidays, troubleshooting a DIY project, or anything related to personal finance.

When it has to step up, System 2 will:

• compare the price / quality ratio of similar products
• make sense of complex logical reasoning and decide if it’s valid

System 2 has evolved to handle complexity – but it doesn’t always like it. People will bounce off your website if they feel overwhelmed or frustrated. Doesn’t it make sense to serve customers an experience they appreciate, which mirrors the ease of a System 1 task? Every time.

You’re experiencing this in the way I’ve made this science bit as straightforward as possible without dumbing it down. Short sentences. Lists. Because you’ve shown willing, and I want you to have it – by staying on my page.

Plain English and the effortless user journey

The idea of plain English can be a bit thorny for some copywriters (or anyone who’s in charge of the marketing copy in your business). They worry that ‘plain’ means it will limit creativity.

It’s true that the guidelines are not intended for marketing materials.Are they appropriate? Absolutely. Because it’s also true that the constraints of any brief are excellent fuel for the creative fire. (You might also have noticed that I break the length guideline every now and then. More about this in a moment.) 

Despite not being aimed at creative copy or content marketing, the guidelines align to what pro copywriters consider good practice. We have something important to say. We want to be understood.

The main advantages of plain English are: it is faster to write; it is faster to read; and you get your message across more often, more easily and in a friendlier way.

How to write in plain English

This means, within the context of How to write in plain English, ‘plain’ is the art of absolute clarity.

Absolute clarity in your copy

On your website, you have finite space and time to do what needs to be done. If you fail, you lose a conversion.

I recommend you read the full guide but I’ve curated these, which are most relevant to marketing copy and complex user journeys:

• short sentences of 15-20 words
• active verbs
• ‘you’ and ‘we’
• audience-appropriate language
• lists

I personally think that ‘short sentences’ are supported by the other points. Every word has a job and stands in its power. Every sentence conveys an idea. If the idea we’re sharing is clear and defined, and if the words work hard, sentences will streamline quite naturally.

Plain English and marketing communications

Like any creative, I select my copy commandments from a broad range of guidelines and style guides. Unless I’m following the client’s, of course. 

Plain English isn’t aimed at creative copywriting (it’s to help people who aren’t writers do a better job on business communications). So, while we can hold it close to our hearts, sometimes, something has to break. Or, give a little. 

And I have other thoughts on what we might also consider when producing marketing copy. Specifically, copy that has clarity, plus the ability to do its specialised work to the best of its ability.

1. Longer sentences
2. Shorter words
3. Fun with puns & audience voice
4. Ethics

1. Longer sentences

I sometimes write longer sentences. Context is everything. Give it what it needs.

Because the issue for you (as a brand with a website) and your customers (with the needs) is that Ye Old Stone Age Brains have default settings with certain requirements.

The above is a quote from this article, 30 words in length. It could easily come in at 21 words without the content within brackets. The decision I made was because:

• I wanted to emphasise the relationship dynamic
• creatively, I liked the playful rhythm

2. Shorter words

For online copy, words with fewer syllables are more easily scanned. Unless there’s a word play involved. Context is everything.

3. Funs with puns & audience voice

Heuristics are critical to faster decision-making. So, wordplay is in! Not just puns – all wordplays (jokes, cultural references, abbreviations) have the potential to work hard. In a few words, your brand can signal tribe, belonging, trust, empathy, values, mission, you name it. 

Be certain the heuristics are within their frame of reference. Assumptions make an ass… did your System 1 finish that well-known, short phrase for you?

Put another way: will your demographic understand ‘Lisan al gaib’, or are they still sharing Boromir memes? Would they have to google GOAT or rizz? Context. It’s everything.

We can’t completely transform a complex decision into a System 1 experience. We can only ever make them nicer to travel.

4. Ethics

We can’t completely transform a complex decision into a System 1 experience. We can only ever make them nicer to travel. Too much brevity risks taking advantage of the customer, falling foul of regulators, and losing brand equity. 

Nor can we pretend to ourselves that something isn’t a big deal when it obviously needs System 2 thinking. Neither Plain English or good copywriting omit important information. Nor do they waste people’s time or money by leading them down the wrong path. Or frazzling them by dumping a ton of relevant but verbose small print on them in the final step. 

If there’s no space to say what needs to be said, in the right place and at the right time, it’s a web development issue.  Like I said, a lot of heavy lifting on the user journey is done by web development and UX. If they fail, copywriting isn’t a sustainable sticky plaster. It works with the website, not independently of it. I’ve written several articles (over at an old haunt) on fast & slow thinking. You might like Copywriting and the buyer journey for the section on formatting and the F-pattern.

And finally

Now we’ve got all that done…

We have Palaeolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology.

Discuss.