The 3-question test that makes communications clearer

Communicators spend lots of time checking grammar, headlines and going back and forth between individual words. But there is another question worth asking before anything goes out.

Can someone understand it after reading it once?

If the answer is no, the problem probably is the writing, said Karen Freberg, professor of strategic communications at the University of Louisville.

She said clarity is one of the most important tests of effective communication.

“If people do one pass through whatever you’ve written, do they know exactly what you’re talking about?” Freberg said during Ragan’s Writing Certificate Course. “They’re not lost. They’re not confused. They’re not like, ‘What did I just read?’”

Audiences rarely give communications their full attention, she said. They scan, skim and decide pretty quickly whether something deserves more time.

“People want consumable, straight to the point (information),” Freberg said. “What’s the ‘so what’ factor here?”

Run the one-pass test

Before sending a press release, statement, email or social post, give it to someone who wasn’t involved in writing it.