Page 175 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

81 USE LANGUAGE YOUR
CUSTOMERS CAN
UNDERSTAND

If you wanted your four-year-old to wait for you before crossing the
road, would you call out, “Darling, do you think, were I to recommend
that you refrained from a headlong incursion into the thoroughfare,
that you might attend me at the curbside?” I thought not.

Using an appropriate register for your reader is a pretty obvious
way of making sure they can understand you. So why do so many
organizations make it so hard for the target reader of a piece of copy
even to figure it out? It’s back to our old friend reader-centricity, I’m
afraid (or rather, the lack of it).

The idea

From a service station in West London
When I lived in Chiswick, a leafy part of West London, there was a
service station a mile or so away that had clearly become a magnet
for drunks on their way home from the pub, looking for a coffee,
a packet of fags, or a chocolate fix. Residents tended to complain
vociferously to HQ about “noise nuisance” and it had obviously
had an effect on the station manager. Right outside the kiosk was
a beautifully printed and mounted sign on which were set the
immortal lines:

Out of consideration for our neighbors, would patrons kindly
refrain from making undue noise or disturbance when
leaving the premises.

166 • 100 GREAT COPYWRITING IDEAS