Strategically-placed questions, varied sentence length, intentionally incomplete sentences — an often overlooked but powerful tool in fostering these connections is the use of sentence structure.
Let's see how it can be done.
The way we structure our sentences can impact how messages are perceived, understood, and responded to.
- Sentence structure influences how messages are perceived and understood.
- Short sentences suit mass-market brands; longer ones suit premium brands.
- Overusing commas and brackets creates confusing, hard-to-follow sentences.
- Active voice improves clarity, confidence, and drives engagement.
- Questions engage audiences by sparking curiosity and self-reflection, but they also may weaken calls to action.
- Varied sentence length maintains reader engagement and interest.
Length Matters
Some companies favor short, direct sentences while others prefer longer, more elaborate ones.
Typically, mass-market brands speak in shorter sentences, while premium and luxury brands use longer sentences to convey their sophistication and exclusiveness.
But there are exceptions to this rule — some premium brands make differentiate themselves by using short and sharp sentences.
For example, Apple, known for its minimalist design and branding, often uses concise, punchy sentences in its marketing.
This reflects the brand’s focus on simplicity and ease of use.
Elon Musk’s communication style, reflected in Tesla's marketing, is often brief and to the point, especially in product announcements.
Now let’s look at the brands that intentionally speak in longer, more complex sentences.
Patagonia's messaging is often thoughtful and educational, and its brand communication, especially around environmental issues, tends to use longer, more descriptive sentences.
For example: “We’re in business to save our home planet, and our mission has never been more urgent. Every purchase helps support causes that make a difference.”
The New York Times also frequently uses complex, longer sentences in their marketing:
“The truth is essential in times of crisis, and that’s why we continue to bring you the stories that matter.”
BMW’s ads and marketing tend to involve detailed and elaborate descriptions of performance, experience, and technology, often using longer sentences.
Another premium car brand, Mercedes, also often uses longer, more detailed sentences in its promotional materials to highlight the sophistication of its vehicles.
Add these Writitude rules to your custom tone of voice guide to adjust the sentence structure to your brand’s communication strategy:
- Limit average number of words per sentence
- Limit maximum number of words per sentence
Clarity And Its Enemies
No matter how long are the sentences your brand prefers, the imperative is — they must be clear to your audience.
The foundation of any strong relationship is trust, and trust begins with clear communication. Customers want to feel understood, and they seek clarity when interacting with brands.
Poorly structured sentences can lead to misunderstandings, leaving customers frustrated or unsure about the next steps.
Basecamp, a project management software, is known for its clear, concise communication. In its marketing materials, the brand uses straightforward sentence structures to convey how their product simplifies project management.
For example, a typical line from their website reads: “Basecamp organizes your projects, teams, and client work in one place.”
The clarity in this simple sentence structure eliminates confusion, making it easy for customers to understand what Basecamp offers, which helps build trust in the product’s effectiveness.
In practice, one of the simpliest ways how brands can maintain clarity in their communication is by limiting the use of commas and brackets in their sentences.
Limiting the number of commas in a sentence helps avoid unnecessary complexity. Commas are often used to add clauses or extra information, but when overused, they create long, winding sentences that can be difficult to follow.
For example, a sentence like “Our app, which was designed with busy professionals in mind, allows you to manage tasks, communicate with your team, and track progress, all in one place” feels overstuffed.
Compare this to a simpler version: “Our app helps busy professionals manage tasks, communicate with their team, and track progress — all in one place.”
By reducing the number of commas, the sentence becomes more direct, clearer, and easier to understand.
Brands need to be especially cautious with commas when writing call-to-action statements.
A concise call to action like “Sign up today to start saving time” is far more impactful than a convoluted one such as “Sign up today, and, after just a few steps, you’ll be on your way to saving valuable time, energy, and resources.”
Too many pauses disrupt the flow, causing the reader to work harder to extract the core message.
When customers can quickly grasp what they need to do next, they are more likely to take action, which ultimately strengthens trust in the brand.
Similarly, brands should limit their use of brackets (parentheses). While brackets are useful for adding supplemental information, they can easily break the reader's flow and distract from the primary message.
For instance, a sentence like “Our new product is designed for efficiency (especially for small businesses) and can be customized to meet specific needs (without any extra fees)” forces the reader to jump between the main idea and secondary points.
Instead, a more streamlined sentence might read: “Our new product is designed for efficiency and can be customized to meet the specific needs of small businesses — without any extra fees.”
By incorporating the information into the main structure of the sentence, the message becomes more fluid and less jarring for the reader.
By limiting commas and brackets, brands create tighter, more readable sentences. This reduces cognitive load for the audience, making it easier for them to process the information quickly and accurately.
When customers don’t have to work to understand a brand’s message, they are more likely to trust that brand and feel confident in making purchasing decisions.
Add these Writitude rules to your custom tone of voice guide to adjust the sentence structure to your brand’s communication strategy:
- Limit maximum number of commas per sentence
- Limit maximum number of brackets per sentence
Active Voice For Clarity
One of the most effective ways to ensure clarity of your message, is to put it into active sentences. Almost always, it makes sense to aim for active voice over passive voice, as it is more direct and easier to understand.
When a brand uses active voice, the message is easy to understand and leaves little room for confusion.
Let’s say you’re a clothing company promoting a new sale. An active sentence like "Shop now and save 30% on all items" clearly tells the customer what to do and what they get.
In contrast, a passive sentence like "A 30% discount can be enjoyed on all items" buries the action and may leave the customer wondering when or how the discount applies.
By being direct, you make your call-to-action more effective. “We will send your order tomorrow” is also much clearer and more reassuring than “Your order will be sent by us tomorrow.” Active voice also makes your brand sound more confident and reliable.
For example, compare the sentences "Our team will fix any issue you have within 24 hours" versus "Any issue you have will be fixed within 24 hours." The first statement feels like a promise, with your team taking full responsibility. The second feels less assured and vague.
Consumers are more likely to trust a brand that confidently stands behind its products or services, and active voice helps you communicate that assurance.
Using active voice isn’t just about sounding confident — it’s also about keeping your audience engaged.
Sentences written in active voice tend to be shorter and punchier, which makes them easier to read and remember. When customers have to scroll through endless emails, ads, and social media posts, their attention spans are inevitably short.
Take an ad for a tech gadget, for example. A sentence like "Get faster speeds and more battery life with our latest model" is quick and to the point, while a passive alternative like "Faster speeds and more battery life are offered by our latest model" feels slower and less exciting.
Another key benefit is that active voice creates a sense of urgency. It drives immediate action by focusing on what the customer should do next.
In a retail ad, saying "Claim your 10% discount before midnight" is far more effective than "A 10% discount is available until midnight."
The first sentence creates urgency and motivates the customer to act quickly, whereas the passive version feels more like an afterthought.
When you're running a time-sensitive promotion, active voice makes all the difference in conversion rates.
Incorporating active voice in your brand communication can also humanize your message, making your brand sound more approachable and personable.
Imagine a customer service scenario: “We’re reviewing your request and will update you soon” feels more personal and attentive than “Your request is being reviewed.”
The former makes the brand sound like it genuinely cares about the customer’s experience, while the latter feels detached and impersonal. Active voice helps create that crucial connection between your brand and your audience.
Add this Writitude rule to your custom tone of voice guide to adjust the sentence structure to your brand’s communication strategy:
- Forbid the passive voice
The Power of Questions
In mediums like newsletters, social media posts, and ad campaigns, questions serve as a powerful tool to engage audiences. They encourage interaction, provoke thought, and can guide customers toward a desired action.
Questions inherently pique curiosity, drawing readers in by making them pause and consider an answer.
For example, starting a newsletter with, “Are you getting the most out of your current software?” immediately sparks self-reflection. This strategy prompts readers to engage with your content, as they want to see if your product or service provides a solution to their potential problem.
Unlike a straightforward statement, a question creates a gap in the customer’s mind that they’ll want to fill by continuing to read or by interacting with your brand.
Apple frequently uses questions in its product advertisements to spark curiosity and engagement. For example, in their marketing campaign for the iPhone X, they asked: “What’s next?” This simple question made customers think about the future of technology and piqued their curiosity about the product's innovations, encouraging them to explore what the iPhone X had to offer.
One of the key benefits of using questions in marketing is that they create a sense of personalization.
Even though your message is broadcast to a large audience, a well-placed question can make each recipient feel like the message is directed specifically to them.
In newsletters, this can be especially effective: “What’s holding you back from achieving your business goals this quarter?” feels personal and relevant, prompting the reader to self-reflect and explore the answer, often in the context of your services.
Spotify excels in personalized marketing, especially with its yearly “Wrapped” campaign.
In 2021, they asked, “How well do you know your own taste?” before revealing personalized listening data to users. This question made the experience feel interactive and personal, as though Spotify was directly engaging with each user’s music preferences.
Questions also build a sense of connection by mirroring how we communicate in real-life conversations.
When a brand asks a question, it feels like a dialogue is being opened.
This can soften the formality of corporate communication, making the tone more approachable and engaging, which helps to foster a stronger relationship with your audience.
Questions can also strategically guide customers toward making decisions. In marketing copy, questions often serve as subtle prompts, nudging the reader to consider how their current situation could improve with your product or service.
For instance, in an ad campaign, a question like, “What would your business look like with 20% more efficiency?” plants the idea that such an improvement is possible — likely with your company’s help.
By framing the question in a way that emphasizes a desired outcome, you can lead the customer down the path to explore how your brand could provide that solution. This technique makes the decision-making process feel more organic, rather than a hard sell.
At the same time, questions can be trickly. They can introduce doubt or place the burden of interpretation on the reader, which may not always align with brands’ goals.
For instance, asking, "Are you tired of slow service?" assumes the reader has a negative experience, which may not always be true, potentially alienating some customers.
In some situations, questions can weaken a call to action by making the communication feel less authoritative. Instead of asking, "Would you like to save money?" it's more effective to state, "Start saving money today."
So the use of questions is a deeply individual choice for each brand and for each occation.
Brands should use questions when they genuinely want to engage the audience in thought or conversation and avoid them when they want to make a statement.
Add these Writitude rules to your custom tone of voice guide to adjust the sentence structure to your brand’s communication strategy:
- Require the use of questions in text
- Forbid the use of questions in text
- Control the use of questions in text
Can You Drive Engagement Through Sentence Length?
Yes, absolutely!
Just like in a conversation, the rhythm of writing can engage readers and encourage them to keep reading.
If your sentence structure is repetitive or too monotonous, customers may lose interest. On the other hand, well-constructed sentences with varied lengths and patterns can make communication more engaging and dynamic.
The mix of brief, attention-grabbing sentences with more detailed ones creates a rhythm that keeps the reader engaged and ensures they understand the value of the feature.
To make your text more persuasive and engaging, alternate between short, punchy sentences and longer, more detailed ones.
Rhythm and flow in writing help maintain the customer’s attention, leading to deeper engagement with your message and ultimately strengthening the relationship.
Add this Writitude rule to your custom tone of voice guide to adjust the sentence structure to your brand’s communication strategy:
- Vary Sentence Length
The conclusion?
Sentence structure is much more than a technical detail of writing; it’s a vital tool for communication managers looking to build meaningful, lasting relationships with customers.
By ensuring clarity, creating engaging rhythms, and crafting active tone, you can strengthen your brand’s customer relationships one sentence at a time.
