How To Write Like A Third Grader

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Alex, here. The worst writing habit I built during school was adding words to hit a word count. It’s not what people want. It’s not applicable. In business, the opposite holds true.

So, in my twenties, I needed to learn how to write like a third grader again.

That’s what today is about.

But first, checkout our partners Upfluence and Spellbound.

🔍 How To Write Like A Third Grader

Stanford professors, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Rober Sutton, defined “smart talk” as: “sounding confident, articulate, and eloquent; having interesting information and ideas; and possessing a good vocabulary.” Through research, they identified “smart talk” as a major obstacle to organizational actions.

In marketing, the goal of writing is to inspire action, buy a product, reply to an outreach email, or start a free trial.

Want to get busy people to take action? Get straight to the point.

How?

Write like a 3rd grader - simple & direct.

Example: Jasper AI

Tip 1: Remove Redundancy

Shorter sentences and paragraphs are more inviting. Easier to read. And avoids flooding with unnecessary writing.

“The Customer Is Not a Moron, She's Your Wife” - David Ogilvy

Tip 2: Be specific

Don’t let a reader guess what phrases like “scale up” mean, be specific. Your writing should inject confidence, not confusion.

This Google search ad from Jasper mentions that it can “double your output while keeping your brand voice.”

It’s clear. It’s concise. And injects confidence.

Example: Five Tran

Tip 3: Use active verbs

Longer sentences don’t inject confidence. Active verbs do.

Active verbs help the reader envision the activity clearly.

Tip 4: Write the way you talk

The way you talk to a friend is the way you should talk to a customer.

Natural. Colloquial. Simple.

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” – Elmore Leonard

Tip 5: Avoid jargon

Technical jargon. Business jargon.

Is a waste of words taking the limelight from your product.

“Jargon allows us to camouflage intellectual poverty with verbal extravagance.” - David Pratt

Example: Get Maude

Tip 6: Use short words

To make your writing more readable, use short words instead of long words if they mean the same thing.

Example: Ali Abdaal

Tip 7: Lose unnecessary adjectives.

Only include adjectives if they are necessary. Most are not. Do you need to say “high-quality insights” or “insights” is enough?

Shaan’s newsletter sign-up form communicates similar messaging without any “decorative adjectives”

“Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts.” - Harper Lee

Example: Glossier

Tip 8: Lose unnecessary adverbs.

Words like “really” and “truly” are vague adverbs. And don’t add any value. “89% skincare ingredients” conveys the same meaning in a more precise way.

Example: Seed

Tip 9: Assume everyone is a 3rd grader.

You are not writing to impress. You are writing to persuade. Inspire. And drive action.

Confusion kills conversions.

So as a reader, it requires minimum time and effort to grasp the message.

Writing like a third grader is more about using your eraser than it is about writing a thesis.