Turn skimmers into readers with this one change

_{Day 204/100}

Hey—It's Tim. 

You should introduce the main thing for the reader for each section.

In animation we have this concept of tell ‘em you’re gonna do a thing, do the thing, tell ‘em you did the thing.

And it turns out it’s a great thing to do for writing too.

I could explain the reading benefits of this, but there are much more viewing and skimming benefits.

Tell them what to expect

Add a one-sentence “promise line” and (optional) chips under each H2 so scanners know if it’s worth slowing down.

People skim.

So, grab the skimmers by telling them what to expect in this section.

It’s like a mini table of contents but just for that section.

And it’s been proven to turn skimmers into readers.

Old Penfriend would add 3 bullets under every H2 as a tl:dr for the section coming up.
Now we do it much smarter. Sometimes a sentence introducing that whole section is all that’s needed.

Regardless of how you do it.
You need to treat every section like the reader isn’t going to read the rest of the blog. Intro it. Tell them why it’s worth reading it. What are they going to get from this section.

It makes a huge difference.

See you tomorrow.

✌️ Tim "Skim Shady" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. I find writing these bullets helps to make better headings. Usually you list the main benefit of the section and then realise that would make for a better H2 than the one you have currently written.

Penfriend.ai
Made by content marketers. Used by better ones.