A client once told me my contracts were 'too lawyer-y' and I had to rethink everything

I was working with a small design agency in Austin and the owner straight up said my 12 page service agreement was scaring off clients. He told me 'nobody reads past page 3, just make it simple.' I cut it down to 5 pages with bullet points and plain language, and we started closing deals in 2 days instead of 2 weeks. Has anyone else had to dumb down their legal docs to make them work better?

3 comments

3 Comments

bettyfox1mo ago

My friend runs a bakery and had to rewrite her ingredient labels because customers kept complaining they were too confusing.

riveradams6d ago

theres also a class angle here that nobody talks about. people who grew up around food industry stuff or have family in baking pick up on the shorthand naturally, but if your bakery is in a diverse neighborhood you gotta account for everyone. my local bodega started putting pictures next to the ingredients list and suddenly way less stuff got returned. it sounds dumb but visuals help people who might not be super comfortable with english or who have dyslexia.

kaiharris1mo ago

That's a good lesson that applies to way more than just contracts. I've noticed people in general have gotten less patient with long winded explanations, whether it's instructions for assembling furniture or the terms of a warranty. They just want the key points fast and in plain English. It's the same reason why recipe blogs now have a "jump to recipe" button, nobody has time to read your life story when they just need to know how to roast a chicken. Your client was right that making things shorter and clearer actually builds trust, it shows you respect their time.