What Is Plain Language In Marketing?

Think of it as your secret weapon to cut through the noise, connect meaningfully, and drive real action. This approach isn’t just about simplicity; it’s about effectiveness.

Understanding Plain Language: More Than Just Simple Words

Many people hear “plain language” and think it means “dumbing things down.” But that’s not it at all. Let’s explore what it truly means and why it’s a game-changer for modern marketing.

What Exactly IS Plain Language?

Plain language is a way of writing and presenting information so the intended reader can easily understand it the first time they read or hear it. The main goal? Reader comprehension. You structure your sentences and choose your words so your audience doesn’t have to struggle.

It’s not about limiting vocabulary or avoiding complex ideas. Instead, it’s about expressing those ideas – simple or complex – with absolute clarity. You might be surprised to learn that plain language has roots in government and technical fields. These sectors realized that clear communication saved time, reduced errors, and improved public interaction. Now, marketing is catching on because the same benefits apply. Smart businesses know that clear communication is smart strategy.

Why Plain Language is No Longer Optional in Marketing

Think about your own online behavior. How much time do you give a confusing website or a jargon-filled email before you click away? Exactly. Our attention spans are shrinking, and we’re all dealing with information overload. Plain language helps you:

Build trust and credibility: When people understand you easily, they’re more likely to trust you. Transparency in language signals honesty.
Improve customer experience: Nobody enjoys feeling confused. Clear communication makes interactions with your brand smooth and pleasant.
Boost accessibility and inclusivity: Plain language ensures more people, including those with cognitive disabilities, lower literacy levels, or those for whom English is a second language, can understand your message.

In a world crowded with marketing messages, clarity is how you stand out. It shows you respect your audience’s time and intelligence.

The Tangible Benefits: How Plain Language Pays Off

Adopting plain language isn’t just a nice-to-do; it delivers concrete results. The advantages ripple out to both your business and your customers.

For Businesses:

Clear communication offers several key benefits:

Increased Conversion Rates: Clarity helps people understand your offer and its advantages, making them more likely to take the desired action (e.g., purchase, sign-up, demo request).
Improved Customer Understanding and Engagement: Clear messaging resonates with customers, fostering deeper engagement with your content and brand.
Reduced Customer Service Burden: Transparent website content, product descriptions, and FAQs minimize customer questions and issues, freeing up your support team.
Enhanced Brand Loyalty and Trust: Honest and straightforward communication builds customer confidence and appreciation.
Better SEO Performance: Search engines favor clear and well-structured content that effectively meets user needs, leading to improved rankings.

For Customers:

Easy Information: Find and understand what they need quickly, without confusion.
Confident Choices: Make informed decisions when buying or using services.
Less Frustration: Avoid feeling lost or confused by unclear communication.
Valued and Respected: Feel that their time and understanding are important.

Section Summary: Plain language is reader-focused communication. It’s about being clear, concise, and easy to understand. This approach doesn’t just make things simpler; it offers significant advantages for both businesses and their customers, leading to better engagement and results.

The Core Principles: Your Toolkit for Clear Communication

So, how do you actually do plain language? It boils down to a set of core principles. Think of these as your toolkit for crafting messages that hit the mark every time.

Know Your Audience Like the Back of Your Hand

This is foundational. You can’t write clearly for someone if you don’t know who they are.

What to research: Dive into their demographics (age, location, education), their needs and wants, their biggest challenges (pain points), and, crucially, the language they themselves use. Are they industry experts or complete beginners? This will heavily influence your word choice.
How to apply it: If your audience for a WooCommerce store consists of busy entrepreneurs, you’ll use different language than if you were addressing hobbyist bloggers.
Leveraging tools: For web creators using platforms to manage client communications, Send by Elementor offers features like audience segmentation. This allows you to group contacts based on their behavior, demographics, or purchase history for targeted messaging. Why is this gold? Because you can then tailor your plain language messages specifically to each segment, making your communication even more effective.

Structure is Your Friend: Organize for Clarity

A clear message needs a clear structure. How you organize your information is just as important as the words you use.

Logical flow: Does your content follow a natural, predictable path? Start with the most important information.
Headings and subheadings: Break up your text with clear, descriptive headings. These act as signposts, guiding your reader.
Short sentences and paragraphs: Long, dense blocks of text are intimidating. Aim for one main idea per sentence and a few sentences per paragraph. This makes your content much easier to scan and digest.
Bullet points and numbered lists: Use these to present lists of items, steps in a process, or key takeaways. They’re incredibly effective for breaking down complex information.
White space: Don’t underestimate the power of “empty” space on the page. Generous margins and spacing between paragraphs make your content less cluttered and more inviting to read.

Word Choice Matters: Precision and Simplicity

The words you choose are the building blocks of your message.

Use common, everyday words: Opt for words that your average reader will understand without needing a dictionary. For example, use “use” instead of “utilize,” “help” instead of “facilitate,” and “get” instead of “procure.”
Avoid jargon and technical terms (or explain them): If you absolutely must use a specialized term, explain it immediately in simple language. Don’t assume your reader knows all the lingo of your industry. For web creators, this means explaining terms like “responsive design” or “SEO” if your client isn’t tech-savvy.
Be specific and concrete: Vague language confuses. Instead of saying “Our product offers significant improvements,” say “Our product loads 50% faster and increases sales by 10%.”
Use strong verbs and active voice: Active voice makes your sentences more direct, energetic, and easier to understand. For example, instead of “The email was sent by our team” (passive), write “Our team sent the email” (active). This is a key guideline for effective communication.

Tone and Voice: Keep it Conversational and Approachable

Plain language doesn’t mean robotic language. Your tone should be appropriate for your audience and your brand.

Write like you speak (professionally, of course): Imagine you’re explaining something to a friend or colleague. Your language would naturally be more direct and engaging.
Use contractions: Words like “it’s,” “you’re,” “we’ll,” and “can’t” make your writing sound more natural and less formal.
Address the reader directly: Use “you” and “your.” This creates a connection and makes the content feel more personal.
Maintain a positive and helpful tone: Even when discussing problems, frame your communication in a constructive way. Your goal is to help the reader.

Test, Test, and Test Again: Ensuring Comprehension

You might think your writing is perfectly clear, but the real test is whether your audience understands it.

Readability tools: Use tools like the Flesch Reading Ease score (which this article aims to meet!), Hemingway App, or Grammarly. These can help identify complex sentences, passive voice, and overly sophisticated vocabulary. The goal is a Flesch score that indicates easy readability for a broad audience (typically 60-80 is a good range for web content).
Get feedback from real users: Ask people from your target audience to read your content. Watch where they stumble or what questions they have. This is invaluable.
A/B testing: For critical pieces of copy like headlines, calls to action, or email subject lines, test different versions to see which one performs better. Often, the plainer version wins.

Section Summary: Mastering these principles – understanding your audience, structuring thoughtfully, choosing words carefully, adopting a conversational tone, and consistently testing – allows you to craft messages that are not only understood but also resonate deeply.

Plain Language in Action: Practical Applications for Web Creators

Knowing the principles is one thing; applying them is another. As web creators, you have numerous opportunities to use plain language to enhance the digital experiences you build for your clients.

Website Content: Your Digital Storefront

Your client’s website is often the first impression they make. Clarity here is paramount.

Homepage clarity: Can a visitor understand what the business does, who it’s for, and what they should do next within seconds? The headline and initial sentences are critical.
Service/product descriptions: Avoid feature-dumping. Instead, focus on the benefits for the customer, explained in simple terms. How does this service or product solve their problem or make their life better?
Clear calls to action (CTAs): Buttons and links should use direct, action-oriented language. “Get Started,” “Learn More,” “Download Your Free Guide” are much clearer than vague phrases like “Enter” or “Submit Information.”
Accessible navigation: Menus and site structure should be intuitive. Use common terms for page names.
WordPress-native advantages: When you build on WordPress, content updates become much simpler for your clients. This ease of use is further enhanced when their communication tools are also native to WordPress. For instance, if they need to update a product description or a contact form confirmation message, a system like Send by Elementor, which is truly WordPress-Native, means they are working within a familiar environment, making it easier to maintain plain language consistently across their communications.

Email Marketing: Straight to the Inbox, Straight to the Point

Email remains a powerful marketing channel, but only if your messages get opened and understood.

Subject lines: These need to be clear, concise, and offer a compelling reason to open the email. Intrigue is good, but confusion is deadly. A plain language subject line might be: “Save 20% This Week Only” or “Your Guide to Easy Gardening.”
Email body:

Scannable: Use short paragraphs, headings, and bullet points. People often scan emails before deciding to read them fully.
Focused: Stick to one main goal per email.
Action-oriented: Make it obvious what you want the reader to do next.
Visual clarity with builders: Using a drag-and-drop email builder, like the one offered in Send by Elementor, helps create professional, responsive emails easily. This visual organization supports plain language by making the email’s structure intuitive. You can also utilize ready-made templates designed with Elementor best practices, which can be a great starting point for clear, effective layouts.

Tutorial: Simplifying an Abandoned Cart Email

Abandoned cart emails are crucial for WooCommerce stores. Let’s see how plain language makes them better.

Before (Complex Example): “Our automated systems have registered a pending transaction within your designated user profile. This notification pertains to certain items that were previously selected by you for potential acquisition. We strongly advise you to finalize your procurement process expeditiously to avoid the potential forfeiture of said items from your virtual shopping receptacle due to stock limitations or temporal offer expiration.”
Flesch Reading Ease: Likely very low (difficult to read).
After (Plain Language Example): “Did you forget something in your cart? Good news – your items are still waiting for you! Complete your order now before they run out or the special offer ends. [Link to Cart]”
Flesch Reading Ease: Much higher (easier to read).

This “after” version is direct, friendly, and creates a sense of urgency without being overly formal or complex. It clearly tells the recipient what happened and what they should do.

Web creators can significantly help their clients by setting up effective abandoned cart sequences. With a tool like Send by Elementor, you can use pre-built marketing automation flows for common scenarios like Abandoned Cart, Welcome Series, or Re-engagement campaigns. These templates offer an effortless setup, and you can then customize the wording to ensure it’s in plain language, perfectly tailored to your client’s brand and audience. This lowers the barrier for clients to implement effective marketing automation.

SMS Marketing: Short, Sweet, and Understood

SMS messages, by their very nature, demand conciseness. This makes them a perfect medium for plain language.

The ultimate test: You have very limited characters. Every word must count.
Clear offers: “Flash Sale: 25% off all tees today only! Show this text. Reply STOP to opt-out.”
Direct instructions: “Your appointment is confirmed for Tue at 2 PM. Reply C to confirm or R to reschedule.”
Respect the medium: SMS is personal and often urgent. Avoid overly casual slang if it doesn’t fit the brand, but keep the language direct and focused.
Streamlined delivery: For creators managing client communications, integrating SMS means using a tool that handles it efficiently. Send by Elementor allows you to engage customers directly via text messages as part of a comprehensive communication toolkit.

Marketing Automation: Clarity at Scale

Automation helps you send the right message at the right time. Plain language ensures that message is understood.

Welcome series: When someone new signs up, a clear welcome series can orient them to the brand, highlight key benefits, and guide them on what to do next. Each email should have a singular, clear purpose.
Re-engagement campaigns: Trying to win back inactive customers? Your message needs a straightforward value proposition. Why should they come back? What’s in it for them?
Effortless implementation: Web creators can set up these automated flows for their clients. Solutions like Send by Elementor are designed to simplify this, offering an intuitive interface and pre-built automation templates. This means you, the creator, can avoid getting bogged down in technical complexities and instead focus on crafting clear, compelling content for those automated messages.

Analytics and Reporting: Proving the Value of Clarity

How do you know if your plain language efforts are working? You track the results.

Impact on metrics: Clearer messaging often leads to higher email open rates (thanks to clear subject lines), better click-through rates (because the call to action is understood), and ultimately, more conversions.
Refinement through data: Use analytics to see which messages perform best. Are people dropping off at a certain point in your automation flow? Perhaps the language there needs simplification.
Showcasing ROI to clients: This is where web creators can truly shine. By using tools with robust analytics, you can demonstrate the tangible impact of your communication strategies. Send by Elementor provides real-time analytics that track campaign performance, revenue attribution, and customer engagement, all within the WordPress dashboard. This makes it easy to demonstrate ROI directly to clients, clearly connecting your marketing activities (and your clear messaging) to their revenue and customer retention.

Section Summary: Plain language isn’t just a theory; it has practical applications across all key marketing channels that web creators manage. From website copy to email and SMS, clarity drives results. Modern tools can significantly simplify the implementation of plain language strategies, helping creators deliver more value.

The Web Creator’s Advantage: Using Plain Language to Build Your Business

As a web creator, embracing and offering plain language communication services isn’t just about helping your clients – it’s a powerful way to grow your own business and differentiate yourself.

Moving Beyond Websites: Offering Comprehensive Communication Solutions

Your skills in building great websites are valuable. But what if you could offer more? Many clients need help not just with the structure of their online presence, but with the message itself.

Expand your services: By mastering plain language, you can offer services like content strategy, copywriting, email marketing management, and communication audits. Send by Elementor empowers web creators to elevate their client offerings beyond website builds. You can go beyond one-off projects and provide ongoing value.
Become a strategic partner: Instead of just taking orders for website features, you become a consultant who helps clients achieve their business goals through clear, effective communication. This deepens your client relationships.

Simplifying Marketing for Your Clients (and Yourself)

Many business owners find marketing intimidating or overly complex. Plain language, by its nature, is about simplification.

Address client intimidation: You can be the one who makes marketing understandable and accessible for them. If a client asks for “marketing stuff,” you can confidently guide them. For example, start simple with one automation like an Abandoned Cart flow, making sure the language is crystal clear.
Easy-to-use tools: When you use a communication toolkit built specifically for WordPress and WooCommerce, like Send by Elementor, you simplify these essential marketing tasks. It integrates into WordPress like any feature your client might already know. This WordPress-native approach eliminates many of the headaches associated with non-native platforms, such as managing external APIs, data syncing issues, or plugin conflicts. You get an all-in-one communication toolkit that handles Email, SMS, Automation, Segmentation, and Analytics without the usual complexity.
Focus on results, not jargon: You can explain marketing strategies in plain terms, focusing on the outcomes (like more sales or better customer retention) rather than confusing technical details.

Building Stronger Client Relationships and Recurring Revenue

When you help clients communicate more clearly, they see better results. Better results lead to happier clients who stick around.

Tangible results: Plain language leads to improved metrics that clients understand – more leads, higher conversion rates, better engagement.
Ongoing value: Communication isn’t a “set it and forget it” task for most businesses (though some automations can feel that way once set up well!). There’s always room for refinement, new campaigns, and adapting to changing customer needs. This creates opportunities for ongoing retainers.
Recurring income: Send by Elementor is designed to help creators unlock these recurring revenue streams. By providing ongoing marketing services that demonstrably boost sales and customer retention for your clients, you create a sustainable income model for your own business. You’re not just building a site; you’re fostering client loyalty and growth through effective communication.

Addressing Common Challenges in Implementing Plain Language

Even with the best intentions, you or your clients might encounter some hurdles when adopting plain language. Here’s how to address them:

“It sounds too simple or unprofessional.” Clarity is professional and respects the reader. Aim for easy understanding, not complex vocabulary.
“My industry uses complex terms, and my audience expects them.” Use technical terms for expert audiences. Explain or simplify for broader audiences, focusing on benefits.
“It takes too much time to write in plain language.” Initial effort saves time later through fewer misunderstandings and support queries. Tools can help.
“How do I get my clients to buy into plain language?” Show, don’t tell. Use examples, case studies, and highlight demonstrable ROI (sales, retention) through clearer communication and analytics.

Section Summary: For web creators, championing plain language is a strategic move. It opens doors to expanded service offerings, simplifies complex marketing tasks for clients, and paves the way for stronger, long-term relationships and recurring revenue. With the right approach and a supportive toolkit, this becomes a key differentiator.

Getting Started: Practical Steps to Plain Language Mastery

Ready to make plain language a core part of your web creation services? Here are some practical steps to get you going.

Step-by-Step: Auditing and Revising Your Existing Content (or Your Client’s)

Identify Key Materials: Start with high-impact content. This could be the website homepage, main service pages, popular blog posts, key email templates (like welcome emails or newsletters), and lead generation forms.
Analyze from the Audience’s Perspective: Put yourself in their shoes. Read the content as if you’re encountering it for the first time. What questions arise? Where is there ambiguity? Is the main message immediately clear?
Check Readability Scores: Use online tools (like Flesch Reading Ease calculators) to get an objective measure of how easy the content is to read. Aim for scores in the 60-80 range for general web content.
Simplify and Clarify:

Shorten long sentences. Break them into two if needed.
Replace jargon and complex words with simpler alternatives.
Ensure every paragraph has one clear topic.
Strengthen calls to action – make them direct and benefit-oriented.
Use active voice.

Get Feedback: If possible, have someone from the target audience review the revised content. Ask them to explain the main points in their own words. This will quickly reveal any remaining areas of confusion.

Tools and Resources to Help You on Your Way

You don’t have to go it alone. Several tools and resources can support your plain language efforts:

Readability Checkers:

Hemingway App: Highlights lengthy, complex sentences, adverbs, passive voice, and words with simpler alternatives.
Grammarly: Offers suggestions for clarity, conciseness, and correctness, including a readability score.
Online Flesch Reading Ease Calculators: Many free tools will instantly score your text.

Style Guides: Create a simple style guide for your brand or for your clients. This document can outline preferences for tone, voice, common terms to use or avoid, and formatting guidelines. It helps maintain consistency.
Integrated Platforms: When your communication tools are designed for ease of use, creating clear content becomes more natural. For example, Send by Elementor provides a drag-and-drop email builder and ready-made templates based on Elementor best practices. These features inherently support clearer visual layouts and streamline the process of crafting messages, aligning with its “effortless setup and management” philosophy. When the tool itself is intuitive, you can focus more on the clarity of the message.

Fostering a Plain Language Culture

Making plain language stick requires a conscious effort, whether you’re a freelancer or part of an agency.

For Agencies:

Train your team: Conduct workshops on plain language principles. Share resources and examples.
Make it part of the review process: Include a plain language check in your standard content review workflow.
Lead by example: Ensure your own agency’s communications (website, proposals, emails) are models of clarity.
For Freelancers:

Make it a core part of your process: Build plain language checks into every project from the start.
Educate your clients: Gently guide them on the benefits of clear communication. Frame it as a way to achieve their goals more effectively. When clients are new to marketing and asking for “marketing stuff”, you can explain how Send integrates easily into WordPress and how starting with a simple, clear automation (like an Abandoned Cart flow) can deliver results without complexity or site slowdowns.
Advocate with Confidence: Whether you’re talking to your team or your clients, be prepared to explain why plain language matters. Use data, examples, and focus on the business impact – client growth and, for you as the creator, the opportunity for enhanced service offerings and revenue.

Conclusion: The Future is Clear – And So is Your Marketing

In a digital landscape that’s only getting noisier, plain language is your pathway to clarity and connection. It’s about respecting your audience, building trust, and ultimately, driving better results for your clients and your own web creation business. By adopting these principles, you move from simply providing services to becoming an indispensable partner in your clients’ success.

The shift towards clearer communication isn’t a fleeting trend; it’s a fundamental change in how effective businesses connect with their customers. And the good news? With the right approach and supportive tools designed for your workflow – tools that seamlessly integrate essential communication features like email and SMS marketing right within the WordPress environment you already master – clear communication is not just an ideal. It’s an achievable, powerful strategy that drives engagement, boosts retention, and increases revenue, effortlessly. Now, how can you use plain language to make a difference today?

What is Plain Language in Marketing?