Measuring writing quality
Find out if your document, form, or web content is clear, effective, and efficient. Does it meet the Plain Language Act 2022? Use our expert review and feedback to help you craft a document that works.
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Plain language review
Does your document work? A review against the Write Plain Language Standard is a quick and easy way to find out if your writing is clear and effective. Or if it meets the Plain Language Act 2022, if you’re in government.
A review gives you advice you can act on immediately to make sure your document gets the result you want. You can ask us to review one document or several.
What you get from a plain language review
- Your document/s checked against the Write Plain Language Standard
- Independent and objective advice from a plain language specialist
- Advice you can use to connect with your intended audience or customers
- Tips and examples, so you can easily act on our feedback
We won’t edit or rewrite your document when we review it. If you need help to improve your document, use our writing and editing services.
What our clients say
Fantastic review. Thank you for turning this around so quickly for us. Covered everything we wanted to address. A great outcome to move forward with.
Trish Whillan
Whillans RealtyThank you for this feedback — the presentation of the feedback is very good and easy to understand.
Amy Wilson
Inland Revenue -
Plain language audit
Does the standard of writing at your place support your strategic objectives?
In a plain language audit, we assess a range of documents from across your organisation. We check your content against plain language principles. We find out if your content meets your purpose and reflects your brand.
Our ‘Discovery’ process yields insights from your stakeholders and writers. You get a wide view of writing production and quality at your place.
Use an audit to:
- find out how well your written communication supports your strategic objectives
- set a benchmark to measure progress if you are doing writing training or changing your writing culture
- identify specific problem areas or document types, so you can better target solutions
- discover what’s working well, so you know to keep doing it
- measure whether your government agency meets the Plain Language Act 2022, so you can report to the Public Service Commissioner.
What you get from a plain language audit
- Your documents reviewed against the Write Plain Language Standard
- A summary report that identifies areas of writing strength and weakness across your organisation
- Insights about the quality and effectiveness of your writing
- A benchmark for measuring progress
- A presentation of audit results and recommendations to key managers
- Recommendations you can act on immediately
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Document user-testing
How do your readers respond to your document? How does the writing and layout make them feel, believe, and act? Does your document get the results you are looking for?
Document user-testing gives you feedback from real readers
Document user-testing is a cost-effective, reliable way to test assumptions, prevent misunderstandings, or improve a document that’s not working well.
Document user-testing answers questions like these:
- Can your audience easily understand and act on your messages or instructions?
- Have you left anything important out of your document?
- Does the design support your messages and create the right impression?
- Do the tone of voice and writing style work for your audience?
- Is your document likely to get the results you want?
How we user-test your document
We’ll ask what you want to achieve with your document or project. We’ll set test goals and choose the best testing method. We’ll then recruit a test group that represents your users.
When we test your content, we’ll find out if users can accomplish typical tasks. We’ll check how well they understand your information. We’ll discover how easily they can find out what they need to do. We’ll also get their reaction to your document and find out what they’re likely to do with it.
What you get from document user-testing
- A summary report with valuable insights from your target audience
- Recommended actions to avoid costly misunderstandings, errors, or omissions
- A presentation to key managers of user-test results and recommendations
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The WriteMark symbol of clarity
The WriteMark® is an internationally recognised quality mark awarded to documents written to a high standard of plain language. It tells your customers you care about making your information easy to understand and act on.
Let your customers know how much you care with the WriteMark
A document that carries the WriteMark:
- is clear and easy to read
- builds goodwill and trust between you and the public
- saves you time and money
- is more likely to win you business.
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Combine with our editing services
We can help at any stage in the writing process
Wherever your words are up to, we can help. Get us to:
- write any type of document to a brief you provide
- edit and proofread your draft writing.
If you’re stuck with a tricky document, we can rework it to improve its clarity and reading ease.
What you’ll get
- Crystal-clear messages
- Information structure to guide your readers
- Language and tone that suits your audience and purpose
- A concise, easy-to-follow writing style
- Polished, error-free writing
- Improve the quality of your writing with our training
