Life’s too complicated. Simplify it.

Over the past few decades, I’ve noticed a lot of the products, services and offers I write about have become have become increasingly complicated.

Take, for example, the average smartphone.

If you’re looking to buy one, you need to consider all sorts of things, like speed, screen size, camera and which network tariff to get.

Or think of the number of bundled deal options in, say, home utilities or entertainment packages.

No wonder there are so many Which? and What? articles and guides helping you decide what to buy.

When writing about these complex products and offers, I think it’s essential to keep things simple.

Of course that’s always important, whatever you’re selling, but it’s even more so with these complex offers.

Make them digestible, so they don’t give the reader heartburn (mindburn?).

Here are some tips to help you do that:

8 tips for writing about complex products and offers

1. Serve up the parts of the offer in bite-size chunks. Break the offer into short paragraphs, or use bullet points.

2. Use straightforward language, no jargon, and as few technical terms as necessary.

3. Keep sentences short.

4. Write about the benefits rather than the features. That’s easy to forget when you’re selling amazing products. For example, various broadband providers have been shouting about how fast their product is, how many megabits per second it delivers. But what does that speed mean for your prospective customers? How will it benefit the reader? Bring the benefits to life so the reader can picture them and become emotionally engaged.

5. Consider how you’d Tweet about your product or offer. This will force you to be succinct.

6. Constantly ask yourself if your readers will understand what you’re saying.

7. Are you saying too much? Too many details can overwhelm the reader. If you think particular points will make a difference to your sell, keep them. If not, get rid of them. If some of your product points are generic, you could write “You get everything you’d expect plus –” and then list your unique points.

8. Group related points together. As a collection they’ll carry more weight than they will individually. You could also give them a heading that turns them into a competitive advantage, e.g. “No other widget supplier offers you all this.” 

If you follow the above tips, even the most complicated offer can become easier for your readers to swallow.