Four Tips To Write Like Amazon

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Writing clarifies thinking. Good communications originate from sound critical thinking. Be more effective at selling your ideas by crafting clear, concise and persuasive arguments.

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Introduction

Clear and concise business writing is an important communication tool in any organisation.

It enables an audience to quickly grasp the key issues at hand so that they can make timely, high-quality decisions.

Writing helps to clarify thinking. Good quality communications emanate from a sound critical thinking process. The writing process should help to clarify and structure your thoughts.

The problem with business communications is that they are often complex and ambiguous. This can lead to confusion for the audience, making it difficult to understand key business problems and solutions.

Amazon has implicit guidelines and expectations for written communications.

Use Amazon’s writing principles to craft more concise and persuasive arguments so that you can be more effective at communicating and selling your ideas.

Overview

The below is a summary of in-house writing tips that were published internally at Amazon.

I stumbled on these principles and thought that it would be a good share.

Amazon’s writing principles provide a window into a high-performing organisation, and how precise and exacting expectations are for internal communications.

Clearer communications lead to more efficient meetings, better quality decisions, and faster decisions and business outcomes.

Less time is spent trying to decipher meaning and sort through ambiguity.

At the scale of Amazon, this has the potential to drive enormous efficiencies across the business.

More time can be spent on business performance and, delivering customer value, rather than swimming through a continual stream of corporate jargon and waffle.

The art of communication has been lost in many businesses. It can be easy to be overwhelmed by the complexity and noise.

Four tips to write like Amazon

Amazon writing style tip #1

• Use less than 30 words per sentence

-       Due to the fact that … (BETTER) … because

-       Totally lacked the ability to … (BETTER) … could not 

• Replace adjectives with data

-       We made the performance much faster … (BETTER) … we reduced server-side latency from 10ms to 1ms

• Eliminate weasel words

-       Nearly all customers … (BETTER) … 87% of Amazon Prime members

-       Significantly better … (BETTER) … 25 % improvement

• Does your writing pass the “so what” test?

• If you get a question, reply with one of the four Amazon answers

  • Yes

  • No

  • A number

  • I don’t know (and will follow up when I do know)

Amazon writing style tip #2

• Be objective - avoid adjectives and adverbs

• Adjectives are imprecise and don’t contribute to decision-making

• Most Amazonians react negatively to buzzwords and qualifications without data

Amazon writing style tip #3

• Avoid jargon and acronyms as they exclude non-experts and newcomers

• Always explain technical terms, acronyms and abbreviations the first time they appear

  • After we sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)

•  Weasel words are vague and create the impression of meaning. Don’t use them!

  • “Would help the solution”

  • “Might bring clarity”

  • “Should result in benefits”

  • “Significantly better”

  • “Arguably the best”

Amazon writing style tip #4

• Use time efficiently – make sentences clear and concise

• Use subject-verb-object sentences with “doers” and “actions”

• Avoid long sentences (30+ words)

• Avoid “clutter” words and phrases

  • With the possible exception of … (BETTER) … except

  • Due to the fact that … (BETTER) … because

  • Totally lacked the ability to … (BETTER) … could not

  • Until such time as … (BETTER) … until

  • For the purpose of … (BETTER) … for
    

Conclusion

Much of what we do in business is about communicating and evangelising our ideas.

Trying to crystallise important and complex business issues can often be enough to get your head spinning.

High quality business communications are initiated through a deliberate and structured critical thinking process.

Writing enables you to effectively frame your ideas and arguments.

Weasel words, waffling and technical jargon create unnecessary confusion and complexity for your audience.

Poor business communications produce inefficiencies, particularly delayed decision-making.

Make sentences short, clear and concise. Say it with numbers!

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