Can neuro writing entice your readers?

A mindful narrative tactic that engages

The term neuro writing sounds sinister and creepy, doesn’t it? It isn’t. Based on neuroscience, its goal is to entice readers and grab their attention by triggering fundamental cognitive dispositions.

Reading and understanding are complex neurological concepts. We want to “get into our readers’ minds” to give them what they need when they need it in an understandable and valuable way. We want to motivate them to appreciate and consciously act upon our writing.

Neuro writing helps do that. It is a neurocognitive tactic that uses persuasive, engaging, honest, straightforward, easy-to-grasp, yet stimulating language.

Here are a few concepts in neuro writing to help trigger your readers’ emotional and cognitive responses:

1. Use numbers in your headings and lists in your copy. We seem to be wired to pay attention to numbers and numbered lists. They provide a sense of order. And there is even psychology behind odd and even numbers: even-numbered lists imply something is missing (was the list rounded up or down?) and then trigger us to dig deeper; odd numbers are thought-provoking because they seem haphazard.