Go with the Flow: Embracing the concept of 'Processing Fluency' can keep your Readers Engaged
It’s rooted in our evolution
We write messages to inspire action - but first we have to grab - and more importantly keep - our audience’s attention. Key to holding attention is something called ‘processing fluency’. Messages high in processing fluency are easy for people to understand and remember, instil a more positive mood, and be more likely perceived as true - and as such more likely to effect behaviour change. If we ‘get’ what’s being communicated right away, then we are more likely to be persuaded. This is because the sensation that comes with high processing fluency is how our social brains detect safety and security: it’s that feeling of familiarity, and as an evolutionary rule of thumb, this is highly adaptive.
How can you make your messages higher processing fluency? There are some simple tips and tricks. The key is to avoid presenting too much info, and too much complexity. So using less text to convey your message, simple fonts, bullet points. If you are presenting a choice, try to reduce that choice to no more than three options (to avoid ‘choice overload’). Use alliteration and rhyme. Think also about fluency conveyed by meaning - do your associated images and colour scheme match the meaning of the message (e.g., statements referring to family ties relate to images involving family; using a green background for the environment, red for highlighting hazards). Be careful with the use of statistical / numerical information (e.g., using just one piece of statistical information to avoid complexity)
As noted, processing fluency is ultimately an evolutionary hang over - for our ancestors, if something was easy process that meant it was familiar, and familiar means safe (i.e., survival for longer!). This means it operates at the most visceral level. It should therefore just feel easy to get carried along by the momentum and flow of the message. If it feels like that, you’re likely to have a message that will be easy to process, and so be more impactful for it.