Onboarding people is hard.
Onboarding busy people is even harder.
The secret to engaging busy people is to communicate more clearly.
I’m always on the look out for content that is applicable to customer onboarding. I found this webinar from the Harvard Kennedy School that talks about “The Science of Corresponding with Busy People.”
Todd Rogers, a behavioral scientist and professor of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School shares his take on the five principles for effective communication and how to implement them in your writing (emails, task instructions, meeting recaps, etc).
The 5 principles Todd shared are:
- Use fewer words. Less is more. Get to the point faster to get people to higher engagement.
- Decrease reading-level. Making it easier to read will increase engagement.
- Format to direct attention. Formatting can highlight what the writer thinks is most important. Use it judiciously.
- Make key information obvious. The point of the communication should be obvious. Don’t make it a maze to figure out what the communication is about.
- Make responding easy. When it’s easy to respond, people are more likely to engage.
How can we apply these principles to enhance onboarding in the following communications?
- Task Instructions
- Meeting Recaps
- PM Notes
Share your thoughts below or join the virtual workshop here to share your thoughts!