Why appealing to your readers is not enough

Think about something good that happened to you recently. Something small, something significant, it doesn’t matter what. Can you remember exactly what occurred?

As the memory comes back to you, think about the nature of what you are actually remembering. Are you recalling the things that were said, and that you say to yourself about what happened? Or are you picturing it, and even visualising the concept of happiness? Or perhaps the memory brings up strong feelings that you can almost feel again right now in your body?

For most people, it will be one of those more than the others. People experience the world in three different ways. They either hear it, see it, or feel it. When they recall experiences, it will mainly be through sounds, pictures or physical feelings.

We are all capable of experiencing in all three ways (and more), but there is usually one way that dominates all the others: hearing (auditory), seeing (visual), or feeling (kinesthetic).

These are called Representational Systems

Don’t let the name put you off. The concept comes from Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). Don’t let that name put you off either (if you haven’t heard of NLP, now might not be the best time to start – you’ll have a lot more fun reading the rest of this post).

Have you got which way you process information yet? Auditory, visual, or kinesthetic?

Let’s break it down to make it easier. If I asked a mixed group of people to think of something good that happened to them recently:

1. Auditory people

– would remember what was said and the things they tell themselves about what happened. “Jeffrey said my blog post was lovely”. “I remember thinking ‘that’s a nice surprise’”. They have the experience in sound bites. They can hear the story in words, and will remember other sounds as well. High noise levels or silence. A bird singing. The woman’s unusual voice.

2. Visual people

– would recall images and visual impressions of the experience. Specific snapshots of the scene, but also darkness and light, and even colours to represent how they felt. “It’s all a bit misty now”. They will recall visual details that others will have missed, such as the shadow a window frame cast on the wall.

3. Kinesthetic people

– would locate what happened in their bodies, either specifically (“like a bubble bursting upwards in my chest”) or as a general feeling (“I felt really light”). They’ll remember how they felt and also physical parts of the experience such as contact with others, or temperature in the room. They’ll probably remember being hungry or stuffed, or carrying an injury to a part of their bodies.

You can often spot which system people favour the most by watching their eyes when they recall experiences. If they look upwards, they’re most likely to be visual. Sideways indicates auditory, and down suggests more kinesthetic. A more reliable way is to listen to the words and phrases that they repeat.

But why am I telling you about this?

People engage best with information that appeals to their own system

You’re writing on the web to move your audience. You want them to get the picture that you’re painting. To believe your voice. If only you knew more about how they processed information…

Well now you do. People will be most receptive to ideas expressed in their dominant representational system.

Talk to auditory people in the language of hearing:

I heard an important truth and I need to tell you.
Does that sound good to you?
Let’s tone down the discussion.
Listen, we need to talk.

Show visual people what it looks like:

I saw this incredible example – does it look okay to you?
You need to see this.
Imagine the bigger picture for a moment.
Let’s make it as clear as day.

Touch kinesthetic people with physical descriptions:

Will they get a grip on this?
You’ll feel good about this tomorrow.
Hold that thought, don’t let it go.
We need to touch on the most important issue.

When writing to one person you can craft your communication to match their style (as long as you’ve found it out first). When writing to more than one, perhaps millions, on a web site for example, the important thing is to mix up the language and target all three types throughout your copy.

Don’t be restricted to your own system alone

My writing is usually heavy with imagery and visual expressions because I experience things visually. The first challenge for me is to expand my phrases and vocabulary to embrace the listeners and feelers too.

Appealing to your audience is a must if you’re a writer. Knowing that they don’t all experience the world in the same way that you do must be a good thing, as long as you can find new ways to engage on their terms. ‘Appealing’ for example is a more auditory concept – you must enlighten and grab them as well.

What is your preferred system? Do you get trapped in one way of describing things? Does mixing it up sound like a helpful tip for writing? Can you spot the ways I’ve appealed to the auditory, visual and kinesthetic in this post?