Beyond readability: How plain language delivers business results

Tom Davis
Aug 7
7 min read

What is plain language, and why does it matter in business?

It’s a question that often comes up - and it's one I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about in recent months.

This was all sparked during a conversation with a project lead at a telco provider, where the conversation moved on to measuring the effectiveness of plain language, specifically Plain English.

For years, I’ve written digital content and marketing copy to reading levels, run content through readability checkers, and shortened sentences based on style guides.

But I've shifted the focus to get more dialled in on measuring how plain Language (and English and clear language) helps and how it can be measured.

That shift in thinking led me to the ISO Plain Language Standard (ISO 24495-1) and some of the key people behind it.

This standard defines plain language as communication that allows people to find what they need, understand it, and use it. That final step - use it - is the bit many people skip.

The standard is about focusing less on surface-level simplicity and more on what the content helps people do. Because in the end, clarity is not just a writing choice. It’s a strategic one.

Why readability scores aren’t always enough

The Australian Government Style Manual recommends writing content to a Year 7 reading level, which statistically, it says, gives about 83% of the population a fair chance of understanding it.

But readability scores can be misleading, as I have learned.

Gael Spivak , whom I spoke with, chairs a committee for the International Plain Language Federation to help people around the world to localise and implement the ISO standard.

Gael summarised the research of two leading experts on readability formulas (Dr. Ginny Redish and Dr. Karen Schriver) in ‘ Readability formulas, programs and tools: Do they work for plain language?’

This blog, featured on the Canadian Government’s Resources of the Language Portal of Canada, demonstrates that formulas like Flesch and SMOG can compromise clarity by focusing solely on sentence and word length. Instead of tracking readability, this research says we should be asking questions such as:

did people follow the instructions?
were there fewer support calls?
did the audience complete the task?
was the error rate lower?
did staff spend less time answering questions?

This started to firm up my thinking that Plain language is not about writing to a number. It’s about writing for a result. We'll come back to measurement shortly.

Free guide: How to get started with plain English

“Plain language sounds boring.” Not when it works.

There’s a misconception that plain language removes nuance or voice. Or as we hear often: “Doesn't it just dumb down content?"

But that’s not what it’s about. Technical language has its place for relevant audiences, of course.

But content for the masses (such as government content), which requires a user to access a service, make a transaction or find key information, should be made easy to read.

Good plain language is sharp, confident and respectful of the reader’s time.

It helps them do what they came to do, without fuss or fluff.

Plain language is more than easy reading

One of the most common myths we hear is that if something is easy to read, it must be in plain language.

But the ISO standard makes a key distinction: plain language is about function, not just form.

Christopher Balmford , former board member of the International Plain Language Federation and immediate past Convenor of the ISO working group that developed Part 1 of the standard pointed this out in Gebruiker Centraal – 3 things you should know about the ISO standard for plain language:

“I think at the moment people read something that's easy to read and they think that's in plain language. That's not right at all. If they can't find what they need, and understand it and use it, then no matter how easy to read it was, it's not in plain language," says Christopher.

How plain language improves business performance

I’ve seen how much of a difference clarity makes. On one government website, we applied plain language principles and aligned content closer with user search terms.

We didn’t redesign the pages or publish anything new. We used plain language titles and page descriptions, some chunking and inverted pyramid to the content and organic traffic increased fourfold.

The difference? People could find what they were looking for and understand what to do next.

And when 40 of the top pages from an 800-page Federal Government Department website were edited, call centre calls halved within three months of publication from 4381 in July to 2155 in September of the same year.

In the private sector, others have seen the same results with their marketing outputs.

Georgi Petrov, MBA , CMO at AIG Marketer, shared the benefits of using plain language with product descriptions and call to actions.

“We rewrote product descriptions and calls to action to be straightforward and focused on benefits instead of jargon. This simple change helped reduce confusion and hesitation at the final step, leading to a 12% boost in conversion rates within a month. Customers spent less time second-guessing and more time completing purchases,” he said.

“It showed me that clear communication isn't just about being polite - it's a direct driver of revenue. When people understand exactly what they're getting and why it matters, they buy faster and come back more often.”

Eugene Mischenko , President of the E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Association (ECDMA) said stripping out jargon from product pages led to a significant increase in purchases online.

“A multinational retailer had built a technically strong website, but customers were abandoning their carts. The product pages were full of jargon.

“We replaced phrases like ‘ergonomically optimised seating solution’ with plain descriptions like ‘comfortable chair for daily use’. After simplifying the product information and making the checkout process more transparent, completed purchases increased by 17%. Customer enquiries dropped, and average order value also improved.

In my conversation with Eugene I learned that top-performing retailers were leveraging plain and clear language.

“In my role at ECDMA, I see time and again that high-performing e-commerce and digital campaigns use plain language as a lever for trust. Whether advising a B2B software company or an online fashion brand, I emphasise that clarity is not an aesthetic choice - it is a strategic one that directly impacts KPIs like conversion rate, NPS, and even repeat purchase rate," he said.

When it comes to client onboarding, Eugene also said that keeping the language clear helps customers with the uptake of software products.

“When we helped a SaaS client rework their onboarding emails into straightforward, actionable instructions, activation rates climbed by double digits,” he said.

“The lesson is simple: the clearer your message, the smoother your customer's journey.”

How the government saves money with clear content

How often do we hear about Government agencies spending millions on clarifying information because of poorly designed forms, over-reliance on PDF or overwhelmed customer service centres?

The impact of plain language is just as clear in the public sector:

New Zealand rewrote its citizenship application. Error rates dropped from 66% to 10%.
Arizona’s Department of Revenue revised three customer letters. Call volume dropped from 23,000 to 5,000.
In Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please, Joseph Kimble describes how Alberta Agriculture saved $3.5 million per year after simplifying its forms. Processing was seven times faster, and errors fell by 20%.

So how to measure plain language?

Principle 4 of the ISO Plain Language Standard focuses entirely on evaluation. That’s no accident. It’s where clarity becomes tangible.

It recommends measuring:

completion or conversion rates
accuracy of responses
support requests or time saved
audience satisfaction or compliance
task success in usability testing.

Dr. Ginny Redish advocates planning for this from the start, and even using an ‘‘assumptive persona” - a short story about someone who must read what you write.

“Don’t guess about the people you’re writing for. Do user research to find out what readers know and don’t know, what words they use for your topic, and how motivated they are to come to and use your content,” Ginny says in Readability Formulas: 7 Reasons to Avoid Them and What to Do Instead.

Here is one example: Today, ___________ (someone’s name) decided to read ____________ (name of your content item) because ___ (appropriate pronoun) wanted to ____________________________ (reason why the person is reading).

Why this matters

For me personally, I like to know that the content I create has a return on investment and that it is helping people and the business I am consulting to.

With the use of AI surging, more scrutiny is being placed on marketing outputs, especially copywriting. Everyone can be a writer these days. How many times have you heard "GPT can do that?" Or "just GPT it."

Clarity is no longer optional. The ISO standard is gaining attention globally, especially in organisations that serve broad audiences.

At the same time, accessibility expectations are growing. WCAG 2.2 Guideline 3.1 requires that content be readable and understandable.

Whether you work in policy, compliance, marketing, or service delivery, this is the direction things are heading, and boards are accountable for exclusion.

So in summary, plain language helps people act. It builds trust, reduces rework, and improves outcomes.

I’m convinced that the most effective content doesn’t just sound good. It works well. And you can prove - and measure - it.

Thank you to Gael Spivak and Christopher Balmford for their leadership and generosity in shaping the ISO standard and championing clarity as a global standard, and all of the other contributors to this article.