Readability
7 Effective Ways to Use Lists to Improve Readability
A well-written list can improve readability. Learn different ways to use lists in your content writing to provide a great user experience to a broader audience.
A well-written list can make information easier to understand. By definition, improving the ease of understanding is exactly the purpose of writing for readability.
There are several ways to use lists and just as many reasons to incorporate them into your content.
In this article, we’ll discuss why lists improve readability and how to use them to improve your content.
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Readability refers to how easy it is for a reader to comprehend your content. Making written text readable is the first step to inviting someone to engage with your copy.
Readability is critical because if someone can’t figure out the message, it creates a roadblock to the rest of the customer journey. When more people understand your message, there’s more opportunity for engagement.
The basic guidelines of readability include using clear, simple language written at the average reading level (about Grade 6), and organized into bite-sized pieces for easy consumption.
Using lists aligns with these guidelines because lists help with simplicity, organization, and breaking up text.
Note: The best readability score to aim for can vary by audience. So, make sure to tailor your content to align with your readers.
Incorporating a good list in content marketing can boost readability and help to accomplish related goals.
Here are some best readability practices and ways to use lists to improve readability:
Lists help to distill complex information into small pieces that are concise, clear, and easy to navigate.
Imagine putting together a ready-to-assemble bookshelf based on a guide that wasn’t in list form. Working through the directions would be very challenging if every action appeared buried in paragraph form instead of a brief, bulleted, or numbered step — which isn’t a good user experience.
However, a friendly, readable list guides a reader through a complex process in small, easy-to-accomplish, single steps with the customer in mind.
When you communicate complex information clearly to your readers, you also increase the likelihood of happy customers, another great benefit of readable content.
Similar to how complex information can be broken down into more manageable steps, a list can summarize dense, lengthy information in web publishing.
When a topic needs to be covered in depth, lengthy paragraphs are overwhelming on mobile screens.
So, divide content into smaller sections and break up some sections with bulleted lists to make the information easier to read, understand, and remember.
Skimming a list of information or numbered steps also provides a quick overview for a reader.
An overview can quicken understanding and allow readers to assess whether the information is what they are looking for and matches their search intent.
For example, if the benefits of a new SaaS product are bulleted in a list, a potential customer can quickly skim those bullets. If those benefits look good, they are likely to engage further with the rest of the article or product page, increasing metrics like time on page as well.
Including a list or two within a long article can break up dense text and give the reader a break.
Some information needs to be presented in paragraph form.
Yet, even when those paragraphs are short (ideally no longer than three sentences), reading chunks of text can get dull, and information can get buried or missed when a reader gets bored.
When possible, break chunky walls of text with a list, so that the reader has some variety and can consume these smaller bites easily.
Many people skim blog posts before deciding whether to read them thoroughly.
Ahrefs noted that as many as 73% of readers skim blog articles.
If a reader skims an article, it’s important to attract their attention fast. Headings and lists play a crucial role in this.
A well-placed list or two can quickly give a reader some insight because lists attract a reader’s eye.
If the listed information is relevant to their search, it only increases the chances they will continue reading.
Whether your readers are skimming, reading thoroughly or both, lists provide structure.
As well as clear headings, lists are key to excellent organization and readability for web content.
Well-organized content is easier to follow, which eases understanding, and improves overall readability.
In helping to break up the text, highlight key areas, and guide a reader, bulleted and numbered lists also contribute to the content’s visual presentation.
Visual design impacts readability. If the presentation of content is clean, simple, and clear, more readers can engage with it.
Lists contribute to simplicity, clarity, and understanding, so they inherently improve readability.
They help make the complex simple, break up dense areas of text that might be difficult to read, and present information that is easier to read, skim and process.
A good user experience and clear understanding are key to communicating with your audience. Sometimes, a good list can make all the difference in contributing to that goal.
Learn more about readability in our top guides: