There are plenty of ways to lose a reader in 10 seconds.
Use a bunch of jargon they don’t recognize. Bury the point three pages in. Write a headline so generic it could sit on almost any document ever produced. Or spend six months creating something and assume everyone else is as interested in it as you are.
The thing is, readers aren’t asking for much. They just want to get what they need without having to work too hard for it.
Which means they’re making quick decisions about whether something is worth their attention. And they’re often making those decisions before they’ve read very much at all.
Here are some of the most common ways organisations accidentally make that decision for them.
Readers don't care how hard you worked
The report may have taken six months. It may have involved several departments, 12 rounds of feedback and a heated debate about a heading.
The reader doesn’t see any of that.
They see a document and ask: “Can I find what I need?”
We’ve seen organizations spend weeks refining wording that most readers will barely notice.
Meanwhile, the information people care about is hidden behind vague headings, corporate language or pages of unnecessary context.
Effort matters. But readers judge what they get from the content, not what it took to create it.
The most interesting information is buried
Most content exists to achieve something. That could be getting someone to understand something, remember a message or take an action.
Yet organizations often hide the most important information behind pages of context.
If there’s something you want readers to take away, make it impossible to miss.
Nobody reads content the way the people who created it imagine
One of the most useful things eye-tracking studies have taught us is that readers are opportunists. They skip, scan, jump around, look for headings, ignore sections, search for specific information… then leave.
The idea that somebody will sit down and carefully read every word from beginning to end is not very realistic. Content that works accepts this reality and helps readers find what they’re looking for quickly.
More information doesn't necessarily create more understanding
When something feels unclear, the instinct is to add more – more explanation, more context, more words.
This usually isn’t the right answer.
Good communication isn’t about including everything just because there’s more information available. It’s about helping readers make sense of what they’re looking at.
Readers are looking for reasons to leave
Most people are reading while doing something else. Perhaps they are also answering emails, in the gap before the next meeting or eating lunch.
If something feels like hard work, they’ll leave.
There’s a million and one things fighting for their attention. Once you have it, don’t waste it!
Readers notice strange things
It’s funny what sticks.
Sometimes a reader will remember a small inconsistency long after they’ve forgotten the main message.
All the research, planning, design and careful thinking in the world won’t stop someone spotting something that feels off.
And once it’s spotted, it’s hard not to notice it.
Readers remember less than you think
People don’t read reports from cover to cover and retain all the key information. They don’t go through your entire website to find what they need.
One of the easiest mistakes to make is assuming readers know what you know, remember what you’ve already told them and understand why it matters.
Readers need clarity, context and signposting – and sometimes judicious repetition – to make sure they have a handle on what you want to convey.
The best content removes questions
Readers shouldn’t have to stop every few paragraphs to work out what’s going on. Good content removes questions.
What does this mean?
Why am I reading this?
What’s changed?
Why does it matter?
What happens next?
If people keep having to ask themselves those questions, the content isn’t doing enough of the work.
Most readers aren’t difficult.
They don’t expect every report to be fascinating. Or to be perfect.
They just want what they need to be easy to find, easy to understand and difficult to miss.
Because in the end, content isn’t judged by what was written. It’s judged by what people understood.
