Most learning doesn’t fail in the design phase.
It fails in the sentences.
We’ve all seen it: clean ideas wrapped in dense, corporate prose that feels like wading through wet cement. I’ve lost count of how many drafts I’ve opened that looked more like legal filings than learning.
Here’s the part we don’t talk about enough:
Readable writing = learnable writing.
When your words glide, your learners do too.
- They understand faster.
- They remember more.
- They feel confident taking action.
And yes — these are the same tactics Bianca and I dig into throughout Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro. If this feels useful, you’ll love what we put in the book.
Let’s make your writing clearer right now with 5 quick wins that don’t dumb anything down.
1) Break your sentences.
One idea per sentence.
If you run out of breath reading it out loud, it’s two sentences pretending to be one.
2) Swap clever words for clear ones.
A few of examples of clarity upgrades:
- “Commence” → start
- “Facilitate” → help
- “Leverage” → use
Clear beats clever every time.
3) Make it skimmable.
Short paragraphs.
Useful headings.
Bullets.
White space.
If someone can scan your screen in 10 seconds and tell you what it’s about, you’re doing it right.
4) Add a visual.
A simple diagram or screenshot can replace a whole block of text.
Your learners (and their working memory) will thank you.
5) Test with a real human.
Ask them:
“What’s this teaching you?”
If they hesitate, rewrite.
Nine times out of ten, the issue is the wording, not the topic.
Readable writing isn’t a “nice to have.”
It’s a quiet superpower that makes every learning experience feel smoother and smarter.
You can read the full article here:
👉 https://trainlikeamarketer.com/why-readability-is-a-quiet-superpower-in-learning/
If this kind of thinking hits home, you’ll find a whole lot more practical, real-world tactics in our book Think Like a Marketer, Train Like an L&D Pro. We wrote it to make learning easier to build — and easier to learn.
👉 Explore the book on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Think-Like-Marketer-Train-Pro/dp/1960231197
P.S. If you’ve already grabbed the book, we’d love to hear what ideas you tried first.
