Words you don't need on your website: 'just' and 'simply click'

‘Why is it’ says my friend Ian Brodie on Twitter, 'that the use of the word ‘just’ associated with a price always precedes some outrageous sum?’

In his classic comedy sketch The Blood Donor, Tony Hancock believes that the pinprick sample taken from his thumb is the full donation. The doctor says:

‘That’s just a smear.’

‘It may be just a smear to you, mate, but it’s life and death to some poor devil,’ says Hancock.

This comic misunderstanding hinges on the lack of communication between Hancock and the doctor, especially that little word ‘just’. The doctor has assumed that the donor knows what to expect, and has underestimated Hancock’s fear of the procedure. 

‘Small’ can also be relative. I run workshops with nurses on the use of clear language in patient information leaflets. One leaflet we worked on contained the line ‘A small telescope will be inserted into your penis.’ The two men in the room had their legs crossed and tears in their eyes. ‘It may be a small telescope to them,’ said one, ‘but if you’re going to put it there, it may as well be the Jodrell Bank Observatory.’ Here the word ‘small’ means one thing to the health professional and quite another to the patient.

We think that we can use subjective words like ‘just’ and ‘small’ to reassure. For example, on the ill-fated Antarctic expedition, Captain Lawrence Oates is credited with telling Scott:

‘I'm just going outside and may be some time.’

Is the ‘just’ there to reassure Scott that Oates plans to return, eventually? Without it, would Scott have followed Oates out into the snow?

Not so simple

And don't get me started on ‘simply click’.When you read ‘simply click’ is it clear what you are meant to do next? If you are an experienced web developer, clicking may indeed be simple. If you are a web novice, it may not. First, you have to decide:

• Where do I want to go next?
• Which button or link will take me there?
• How do I move the mouse there?
• Is it left-click or right click?
• What happens if I click this?…oops, not there then
• How do I get back to where I was before?

Tip: Think about the words you use that suggest that you have made a judgment about size, cost, or ease, for example:

• just
• straightforward
• simple
• only
• small
• for a fraction of…
• …requires very little effort on your part
• …all you have to do is….

Then let them be the judge of how just how straightforward your product or procedure is. And if you can’t make it simple, well, I know a man who can.