Words that workCopywriting & clarity
7 practices · 2 case practices · 1 free
Turn complicated thoughts into clear, considerate writing.
Clear writing here means saying what you mean so that the reader can act on it: a changed date, a price, a claim about a product, an apology after a mistake. You write the message first, then read what a strong version includes and leaves out.
The readers are customers, clients and buyers. Some are case practices with a file to read before you write.
Situations you can practice
Every practice is a written scenario. Case practices add a file to investigate before you decide what to say.
Telling customers a Saturday workshop has moved to Sunday
Rewrite a vague notice so everyone booked knows the new time, their refund option, and the Friday 5pm deadline.
7 minFoundationsFree starter
Writing a budgeting app headline without unproven savings claims
Sort your team’s suggested lines against what has actually been tested, then write the headline from what the file supports, not from hoped-for savings.
12 minStretchCase practiceSoulful
Your newsletter had the wrong date, and a reader booked travel
Correct the date, own the mistake, and explain what you can do about the ticket and what needs a separate travel review.
9 minStretchSoulful
A client wants a fourth revision after the three included
Sort the new changes into what the agreement covers and what needs a paid round, then reply with the $120 price and the free option of picking a draft.
15 minDeep practiceCase practiceSoulful
A new client asks your price after a scoping call
Give Hui Min the $4,800 price, what it covers and what it doesn’t, the deposit, and how to say yes, without apologizing for the number.
9 minStretchSoulful
A director wants an AI system to run the whole company
Acknowledge the ambition, then propose one proof of concept that plugs into what the factory already has, with a measure and a decision after four weeks.
15 minDeep practiceSoulful
Writing an honest listing for a cheap refurbished laptop
Say what you checked and fixed, name the remaining risk plainly without hiding or exaggerating it, and say what happens if something goes wrong early.
13 minDeep practiceSoulful
Read more on copywriting & clarity
What to say when a client asks for one more revisionA reply for when a client wants changes beyond the agreed rounds: sort what is covered, state the price for the rest, and leave a free option.How to quote your price without apologizing for itPut the figure in the first lines of a quote, then say what it covers, what it leaves out and how to accept, with no apology or defensive build-up.Clear copy starts with a promise you can keepHow to turn an exaggerated advertising promise into specific copy with a clear next step, and what headline research does and does not tell you.The research behind these practices
Each practice cites the studies that informed its design and says where they may not apply. These are the sources cited most across the 7 practices on this page; they inform the practices and are not proof that the practices work.
- Practicing versus inventing with contrasting cases (Experiments · Journal of Educational Psychology, 2011). Cited by 2 practices here.
Schwartz, Chase, Oppezzo and Chin taught adolescents physics ideas with a ratio structure, such as density, using sets of cases that differed in the feature that matters. Students who tried to work out the principle from the cases before being told transferred it better than students told first and then practicing on the same cases. Leetsoul gives the guide first and one case per attempt, closer to the told-first group, so this supports building cases that differ in what matters, not the order; applying it to sorting statements against a case file is an inference.
- Simulation-based learning in higher education: a meta-analysis (Meta-analysis · 145 studies, 2020). Cited by 2 practices here.
Chernikova and colleagues pooled 145 studies of simulation-based learning in higher education and found a large overall effect on complex skills, with scaffolding a positive moderator. Learners with little prior knowledge gained more from worked examples and those with more gained more from reflection. Most studies came from medical and teacher education, so applying the results to adult people skills or to this product is an inference.
- The Power of Feedback Revisited (Meta-analysis · educational feedback, 2020). Cited by 2 practices here.
This synthesis examines educational feedback across studies and outcomes. Feedback content and context matter; generic praise and feedback on specific work should not be treated as equivalent.
- A consumer-side experimental examination of signaling theory: do consumers perceive warranties as signals of quality? (Experiment · Journal of Consumer Research, 1993). Cited by 1 practice here.
Boulding and Kirmani varied warranty length and scope in an experiment and found that consumer responses were generally consistent with signaling theory: a seller’s willingness to stand behind a product can be read as a sign of its quality, under certain conditions. It tested hypothetical purchases, not a small shop’s return promise.
- A scientific approach to entrepreneurial decision making: evidence from a randomized control trial (Randomized trial · Management Science, 2020). Cited by 1 practice here.
Camuffo and colleagues followed 116 Italian startups for about a year. All received general training, but those taught to state testable hypotheses and test them rigorously performed better and were more likely to change course, without dropping out more. The startups were new ventures, not established firms adding a system.
- Ad skepticism: the consequences of disbelief (Studies · Journal of Advertising, 2005). Cited by 1 practice here.
Obermiller, Spangenberg and MacLachlan found that more skeptical consumers relied less on advertising claims and more on other information. The findings are correlational and concern advertising in general, not claims backed by a specific test.
10 more sources are listed on the research page.
Limits
Studies of headlines and clear writing involve particular audiences and tasks. No wording guarantees a result, and the exercises do not promise one.
Leetsoul has not shown that these practices improve skill in real life, and the original scenarios have not been independently tested. The sources inform the design of the exercises.
Try one in your own words
Write your response to a fictional conversation, read the guidance, then decide what you would change. Three starter practices are free; Soulful opens the full library.
Written by Leetsoul. Updated . Scenarios are fictional.