Struggling to get your point across? This easy trick will help you!

Ever feel like your brilliant ideas are stuck in translation? Imagine sharing a discovery that could change lives, only to see your readers with the tilted puppy-head look? Don’t worry; you’re not alone. We've all been there, trying to sound smart, but ending up with more confusion than clarity. The good news? There’s an easy trick to make sure your point hits home every time.

Imagine having the secret sauce that turns your words into a clear, tasty message everyone loves. So, is this a formula for success or what? Buckle up, because the trick you're about to see is a bona fide thrill ride. Don’t be the writer who leaves their audience bewildered. From here on out, let clarity be your guide, shining bright like a sunny afternoon.

Here’s a quick history lesson. Back in 1948, Rudolph Flesch developed a scoring algorithm for the English language. The Flesch Reading Ease Score became the standard to calculate how easy a passage is to read. The higher the score, the easier to read.

About thirty years later. J. Peter Kincaid, contracted by the U.S. Navy, adapted Flesch’s Reading Ease Score to produce a number that roughly corresponds to grade level in U.S. public schools.

Regardless of your opinion about the current state of education in the United States, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level is still commonly used to calculate how easy to read a passage of English text.

You may not know it, but the Flesch Reading Ease Score and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level are built into Microsoft Word.

To get a score on how easy your copy is to read, just type it up in MS Word. Then select Review > Editor > Document Stats. MS Word will show you a dialog box with the Reading Ease Score and the Grade Level.

I use the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level because it’s easier to remember than the Reading Ease Score.

I typically write my blogs with less than a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 8, and my emails and sales funnel pages with less than a Grade Level 7.

Most people scan emails and sales pages, so I want them to be as easily understood as possible.

(MS Word says that this blog has a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 6.6.)

The opening paragraph of this blog post has a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 5.2, according to MS Word.

Fortunately, all AI Copywriting tools are familiar with this scoring algorithm.

For example, using Claude, my prompt will be:

And here's what it gives me:

Notice the difference?

Claude says that it’s a Grade Level 8, and MS Word says that it’s a Grade Level 7.8 – so they’re close enough.

Pick the right Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level for your audience. Then, tell your copywriting tool which Grade Level to write for. Or, if you’re writing it out yourself, use MS Word’s built in feature.

Use the right Grade Level for your audience. It’s another step forward to writing copy that excites.