In marketing, we discuss tone of voice, conversion journeys and performance indicators. We should give equal attention to a very practical question: how much effort are we asking of the reader?

A text can contain useful ideas and still be difficult to approach. Dense paragraphs, repeated concepts, unnecessary jargon and an unclear hierarchy make it harder to know where to begin and what really matters. Length alone does not explain the problem.

When working on content, I try to see it from the recipient’s perspective. What information do they need? What do they already know? How much time can they give to reading? A corporate page, a newsletter and a professional post have different contexts, but all need to guide the reader.

The first step is to give ideas space. Short paragraphs, visual pauses and lists, where useful, help distinguish the stages of an argument. The structure should make the reasoning easy to follow, without breaking it into a succession of slogans.

The second is to bring the central point into view early. Readers should understand from the outset why the content matters to them. We can then develop examples, arguments and details in an order that makes continuing feel natural.

The third is to reread with one question in mind: is the effort this passage requires proportionate to the value it offers? If a sentence forces the reader to go back, we can probably make it more precise. If a paragraph repeats something already clear, we can remove it.

These are choices I also apply to presentations, web pages and corporate materials. Clarity comes from selection: identifying what is needed and finding the most readable way to say it.

Respecting people’s attention means designing content that helps them understand, assess and decide with less friction.