Goal: Equip organisations to review and assess their current communication practices so they can identify issues, gather feedback, and prioritise improvements for clarity and accessibility.
Before improving communication, you need to know what’s working and what’s not. An audit helps you take stock and prioritise actions.
Steps to carry out an audit
Select materials to review — for example, customer letters, email templates, internal reports, public web pages, forms, or marketing materials.
Create an evaluation checklist. Check for things like:
- Are sentences short and easy to follow?
- Is jargon explained or avoided?
- Are documents well organised with clear headings and bullet points?
- Is visual design (font, spacing, layout) accessible and easy to navigate?
- Are the tone and style appropriate for the audience?
- Collect feedback from staff, clients, or external users on which documents they find difficult or unclear.
- Prioritise improvements. Focus on high-impact documents first — those that affect many people or deal with sensitive, financial, legal, or safety issues.
Practical tip
Use online readability tools to get a quick score on complexity, but combine this with human judgment.
Reflection prompt
- What are the main steps involved in auditing an organisation’s communication practices for clarity and accessibility?
- Why is it important to prioritise certain documents when planning plain language improvements?