Download ArticleDownload Article

To make any type of writing as effective as possible, it is important that the writer understands his or her audience. What the reader wants, needs, knows, and feels about a topic are important factors in how the work will be received, and the more you know about the reader, the more effective your writing can be. This is true regardless of whether you are writing a speech, a scientific article, or instructions for someone applying for a loan or installing a piece of software. These instructions will help you analyze your audience and develop a strategy to target your writing appropriately.

Sample Audience Analysis

Part 1
Part 1 of 3:

Planning Ahead

Download Article
  1. How.com.vn English: Step 1 Decide who your audience is.
    In other words, who will be reading this document? You probably won't be able to provide a detailed answer to this question yet; that's why you're doing an audience analysis. You should, however, be able to answer the question in general terms.[1]
    • For example, will your document be read by someone trying to install some shelves? Employees of a certain company? Computer programmers trying to work out a bug in some new software?
    • Consider why this audience will be reading your document. What task will it help them perform, or what do they need to know?
  2. How.com.vn English: Step 2 Decide what you need to know about your audience.
    Depending on who you're writing for, there are different types of information that will be helpful for you as you work to make your document as useful and/or persuasive as possible.[2]
    • You will almost always want to ascertain your audience's levels of knowledge about and interest in the topic.
    • Depending on the audience, the situation, and the type of document you are preparing, there are many other pieces of information that might be valuable, such as where the audience is likely to read your document, and a variety of demographic factors such as age, gender, education, professional background, cultural background, and so on.[3]
    Advertisement
  3. How.com.vn English: Step 3 Decide how to conduct your analysis.
    Your audience analysis can be formal (i.e. using a survey or other questionnaire, structured interviews, etc.) or informal (i.e. based on more casual conversations with members of the audience). The best method will depend on the audience you are trying to reach, how much information you need about them, and what resources you have available for conducting your analysis.[4]
    • Sometimes, you may be able to find information that someone else has already collected in the form of surveys or marketing research that can stand in for collecting your own data.
  4. How.com.vn English: Step 4 Create your analytical tool.
    Your analytical tool is the instrument you'll use to gather your information, e.g. your actual questionnaire or interview questions. The content should be driven by your brainstorming in step two.[5]
    • Try to avoid creating questions that lead your participants toward a given answer, even if you think it is correct. For example: "Now that we've shown you how effective our product can be, how likely are you to buy it?" or "How do you feel about the president's oppressive tax policies?"
    • Avoid "double-barreled" questions. Questions that ask about more than one thing at a time may confuse your participants or result in unreliable data. For example, you shouldn't ask: "How often do you read articles about science and share them with other people?" Instead, break this into two questions: "How often do you read articles about science?" and "How often do you share articles about science with other people?"
    • If you use a survey, keep it as simple and short as possible.[6]
  5. Advertisement
Part 2
Part 2 of 3:

Conducting the Analysis

Download Article
  1. How.com.vn English: Step 1 Select your sample.
    Once you've decided which questions to ask, it's time to decide who you should ask them to. If you can't include everyone in the audience in your analysis, try to select a group of individuals who you think are representative of the audience you hope to understand.
    • For example, if you think your audience is mostly women, try to select a sample that reflects that.
    • Other characteristics that might be useful in selecting participants could be their occupation or employer (especially if you are writing something for people in a particular field), their ethnic backgrounds, the city or neighbourhood in which they live, or their membership in a particular organization.
    • Which characteristics are most important will vary based on the type of document you are producing and the audience you are hoping to reach.
  2. How.com.vn English: Step 2 Collect your data.
    Conduct your survey, interviews, or conversations with potential audience members.
    • If you are using a survey, you may want to let your participants remain anonymous, especially if you are asking them about anything sensitive or personal. This can lead to more honest responses.
    • If you are interviewing participants in person, you may find it useful to ask clarifying questions or probe for more information by saying things like "Can you tell me more about that?" or "Tell me why you feel that way." At the same time, how you conduct the interviews can affect how people answer your questions, so you'll need to work hard not to show your own biases or make your participants feel like they should answer in a particular way.
    • For interviews or informal conversations, it's often a good idea to record the conversation for later reference, if your participants agree to this. Never record anyone without their permission, as this may be a violation of state law.
  3. How.com.vn English: Step 3 Analyze your findings.
    Now it's time to have a look at the information you've collected and see what it tells you about your audience. How knowledgeable or interested are they about the topic you'll be writing about? How old is the average person in your sample? What proportion of them subscribe to the publication you are writing for?[7]
    • If you need to conduct in-depth statistical analyses of your data, there are software programs that can help you, such as Stata or SPSS. These programs are costly though, and for most purposes, calculating simple percentages is more than adequate. Common applications like Excel can help you with organizing and analyzing your data. Putting your questions across the top row in a data sheet and then placing each participant's responses in the rows below will allow you to quickly summarize the range of responses you got for each question.
    • If your analytical tool used open-ended questions, i.e. questions that do not specify a limited range of possible answers (for example "How do you feel about Company X?"), you will probably want to classify people's responses into categories (for example: "skeptical," "hostile," "uncertain," or "positive") so that you can summarize how large numbers of your participants responded (e.g. "the majority had a negative impression of Company X").
  4. How.com.vn English: Step 4 Create an audience profile.
    Once you've analyzed your data, collect your findings into a single document that summarizes who your audience is and what their needs are. Putting this together will help you organize your thoughts and create a coherent picture in your mind of who your audience is.
    • The sample document at the top of this article is a good example of an audience profile.
  5. Advertisement
Part 3
Part 3 of 3:

Analysis Document

Download Article
  1. How.com.vn English: Step 1 Consider your format.
    Depending on your audience, some formats might be more effective than others. If this decision hasn't already been made for you by your employer, pick a format you think will be appropriate for your audience.[8]
    • If your audience will be reading your document while carrying out a task, a technical manual or instruction sheet made up of bullet points and possibly diagrams may be most effective.
    • On the other hand, if you are hoping to inform professionals about new research in their field, an article or newsletter format might be best.
  2. How.com.vn English: Step 2 Create an outline.
    Before you actually write your document, create an outline to organize and plan your content. This will not only make writing easier, but it's also a good way to ensure that the information you have deemed most important will all be present and that it will be organized in a way that will make sense to your audience.
    • Outlines are also a good way of developing headings for the different sections in your document, which will be useful in helping readers identify the key pieces of information they are looking for.
  3. How.com.vn English: Step 3 Set the tone.
    One of the most valuable things about audience analysis is that it allows you to select a writing voice that will be compelling and effective for reaching your audience. The right choice of words and sentence structure can make a big difference in getting your message across to your audience.
    • For example, if your audience is highly educated and/or well-versed in the topic you are writing about, the use of highly specific and technical vocabulary may be acceptable or even helpful. If your audience is not well-informed about your topic, such language should be avoided.
    • Likewise, if your audience is likely to be reading your work while carrying out a specific task or in a work environment with many distractions, the use of short, simple sentences is advisable. If they'll be reading your work at home and giving it their undivided attention, varying sentence length and structure will make your writing more compelling and enjoyable.
  4. How.com.vn English: Step 4 Address the audience's needs and objectives.
    Most importantly, knowing what your audience hopes to learn from the document you are crafting will allow you to make sure that the information they need most is presented in a way that is easy for them to locate and understand.[9]
  5. Advertisement


Community Q&A

Search
Add New Question
  • Question
    What does a director do with my report?
    How.com.vn English: Community Answer
    Community Answer
    The report helps the director to make informed decisions and plan a new strategies.
  • Question
    How would you know who would be in your audience? How would you know what people would do to your website?
    How.com.vn English: Chen Anna
    Chen Anna
    Community Answer
    You can imagine who will be interested in the kind of document or article you are writing. For example, an article about Google algorithm updates will peak the interest of digital marketing specialists and bloggers, as they will need that information to protect and optimise their websites. Although we may not be sure what people will do to the website, if the article or document is interesting, they will probably continue reading and perhaps move on to another article or document you offer.
  • Question
    How do you know that your audience will actually visit your website?
    How.com.vn English: Community Answer
    Community Answer
    People will visit your website if you offer what they need or are curious about.
See more answers
Ask a Question
200 characters left
Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Submit
      Advertisement

      Tips

      • If there is more than one audience for your document, you can write sections specifically pertaining to the corresponding audiences, or write in one particular fashion that applies across the board.
      • Similarly, if there is a wide variability in the audience, cater to the majority--write to the majority of the people who will be reading the document. References to other sources with alternative information may need to be included to aid those in the minority.
      • Demographic characteristics of the audience can help determine the style and content of a document. Age groups, areas of residence, gender, and political preferences, for example, are all potentially important. Paying attention to these features of the audience can also help sidestep any offensive remarks or topics that the audience would not relate to or appreciate.
      Submit a Tip
      All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published
      Thanks for submitting a tip for review!
      Advertisement

      About This Article

      How.com.vn English: Janet Peischel
      Co-authored by:
      Digital Media Expert
      This article was co-authored by Janet Peischel. Janet Peischel is a Writer and Digital Media Expert and the Owner of Top of Mind Marketing. With more than 15 years of consulting experience, she develops content strategies and builds online brands for her clients. Prior to consulting, Janet spent over 15 years in the marketing industry, in positions such as the Vice President of Marketing Communications for the Bank of America. Janet holds a BA and MA from the University of Washington. This article has been viewed 490,580 times.
      13 votes - 60%
      Co-authors: 32
      Updated: November 20, 2023
      Views: 490,580
      Categories: Writing Techniques
      Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 490,580 times.

      Reader Success Stories

      • How.com.vn English: KhinZaw Maung

        KhinZaw Maung

        Jan 31, 2019

        "Awesome and clear explanation with examples. I can correct many things through this, and it will definitely have a..." more
      Share your story

      Did this article help you?

      ⚠️ Disclaimer:

      Content from Wiki How English language website. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License; additional terms may apply.
      Wiki How does not encourage the violation of any laws, and cannot be responsible for any violations of such laws, should you link to this domain, or use, reproduce, or republish the information contained herein.

      Notices:
      • - A few of these subjects are frequently censored by educational, governmental, corporate, parental and other filtering schemes.
      • - Some articles may contain names, images, artworks or descriptions of events that some cultures restrict access to
      • - Please note: Wiki How does not give you opinion about the law, or advice about medical. If you need specific advice (for example, medical, legal, financial or risk management), please seek a professional who is licensed or knowledgeable in that area.
      • - Readers should not judge the importance of topics based on their coverage on Wiki How, nor think a topic is important just because it is the subject of a Wiki article.

      Advertisement