How business readers differ from pleasure readers

A rose is a rose, it is said.  But reading is not necessarily reading.  Below are some significant ways in which people may read differently for business than they do for pleasure.  If you understand these differences, you will be able to write more effectively for a business audience.

1.    People reading for business often are under time pressure to find specific information. One or many people may be waiting for the information, in order to make a decision or take some form of action. 

2.    Many people find reading difficult, and find reading business writing even more  so than other writing.  Business writing often is more tedious, more technical, and more densely written.

3.    People reading for business often are looking for something specific.  They don’t want to read the entire article – only that which is relevant. 

4.    People reading for business want an inductive process, by which they proceed directly to the answer for which they are looking, rather than a deductive one in which one must read through and eliminate all the incorrect answers in order to arrive at the correct one.

5.    Readers of business literature often are reading sales or marketing-oriented
pieces, which may not be straightforward in the description of a given product or service’s capabilities or costs.  The reader often will be required to cut through the marketing “slant” to ferret out the facts.
    
6.    Often writers of business literature seek to impress readers - or to appear superior - with their use of high-level terminology.  Business writers should remember the old saying “write to express, not to impress.”

7.    Business readers are “scanning,” not really reading.  If the writer organizes his or her material logically and uses headlines/subheadlines, charts, graphs, and tables will significantly help the reader locate the relevant content.

8.    People reading for business often do not read carefully.  Business writers do  well to highlight and or repeat critical information, and to write in a simple, straightforward style. 

9.    Business readers often must read marketing materials from competing vendors and suppliers.  The writers of these materials are trying to position their own products and services in the most positive light, often by casting doubts about the value of competing products.  The business reader must take the claims presented in such literature with “a grain of salt”.

10.    It is likely that the person seeking information in business literature will be evaluated by how quickly he or she can find what is needed.