📈 Why "smart" LinkedIn posts fail

Read time: 4 minutes

You don't need to sound "smart" on LinkedIn to get clients.

I was grabbing coffee with a SaaS founder last week when he said "I want to write something unique and original."

While this isn't bad in principle, what this often means is long complicated sentences and arguments that no one reads.

He'd been writing LinkedIn posts full of acronyms and industry jargon.

He thought it made him look like an expert.

After 3 months of "leveraging synergies" and "fostering culture," his LinkedIn was not working for him.

And the data backs this up. We analyzed ~25,000 Saywhat user posts in Q1 2025 and found that posts with complex words get half the engagement.

So I told him what I tell every founder who comes to me with this problem:

Your number 1 goal is to be understood.

If people don't understand your content immediately, they just scroll by it.

The Grade 5 LinkedIn Rule

Here's what most creators miss:

Your audience isn't sitting across from you at dinner. They haven't decided they want to listen to you.

They're doom-scrolling between meetings.

Speed-reading on their commute.

You have 0.8 seconds to stop their thumb. And complex language makes them scroll faster.

The goal is to write as simply as possible. Like you're talking to a friend.

Why Smart People Write Posts Nobody Reads

The brutal truth about LinkedIn readability:

Justin Welsh writes at Grade 4-6 (700k followers)

• You Don’t Have To Build Your Own Thing → 48,321 reactions

• People Think They Need A Business Plan → 13,057 reactions

Sahil Bloom writes at Grade 5-7 (400k followers)

• Your Entire Life Can Change In One Year → 23,790 reactions

• The Silent Productivity Killer You’ve Never Heard Of → 19,570 reactions

Most LinkedIn "thought leaders"? Grade 12+ (under 1,000 followers)

See the pattern?

The biggest creators write like they're explaining something to a 10 year old.

Not because their audience is dumb.

Because they know their audience is barely paying attention.

How to Write LinkedIn Posts at Grade 5

Here's exactly how to simplify your LinkedIn writing:

Beginners: Run everything through Hemingway App. Paste your post in there and aim for Grade 5 or below.

Then apply the "Bar Test." If I wouldn't say it at a bar, I rewrite it. It should sound like you talking out loud to a friend.

Remove all buzzwords. "Leverage" becomes "use." "Innovative" becomes "new." "Thought leader" gets deleted entirely

Finally, get a friend to read it and ask them: Did you have to think to understand any part of this? If yes, keep simplifying until they could.

Your LinkedIn Challenge This Week

Take your last LinkedIn post that flopped.

Follow those 4 steps. Post it and compare the metrics after 48 hours.

I guarantee the simple one wins.

See you next week,

Will

P.S. I write all my posts in Saywhat’s Collab feature that automatically uses simple language. Its all Ashley Couto uses to write her posts that get millions of views.

Will McTighe

Forwarded this email? Sign Up Here
Connect with me on LinkedIn | Instagram