When ‘More Human’ Means Nothing: Turning Fuzzy UK Client Notes Into an Edit Brief

‘Can you make it sound more human?’ is not an edit instruction. It is a mood, a shrug, and sometimes a cry for help. UK clients say it all the time, along with ‘less corporate’, ‘punchier’, and ‘warmer but still professional’. None of those phrases tell you which sentence to change. That is your job.

The uncomfortable truth is that vague feedback is normal. Clients are busy. They know how they want to feel when they read the copy, but they do not have the vocabulary of an editor. They are not being difficult. They are being human. Your value is not in nodding along and guessing. It is in translating the mood into a set of specific, testable edit decisions.

Why vague notes happen

A client reads a draft and feels something is off. Maybe it is too formal. Maybe it is too casual. Maybe it sounds like every other B2B software page. They reach for the nearest adjective and send a two-line email. They are describing a symptom, not a cause. If you treat ‘more human’ as an instruction to add contractions and exclamation marks, you will miss the point. If you treat it as a prompt to ask better questions, you can fix the actual problem.

The feedback-translation checklist

Before you touch the draft, run the note through a short checklist.

1. What is the client actually reacting to? A sentence, a section, or the whole document?
2. What is the opposite of the thing they dislike? If it is ‘too corporate’, what does ‘not corporate’ look like in their world?
3. Who is the reader? A cautious finance director and a stressed first-time buyer need different kinds of warmth.
4. What must not change? Legal wording, product names, approved claims, and brand terms are fixed points.
5. What would success look like in one sentence? ‘A reader should feel like a knowledgeable friend is explaining the process, not a call centre reading a script.’
6. Can you test it? If you cannot point to a before-and-after, the note is still too vague.

Write the answers down and send them back to the client in a short email. ‘Here is how I am reading “more human”: fewer passive constructions, shorter sentences, one concrete example per section, and no slang. Does that match?’ That single email prevents three rounds of revision.

Before and after: what the notes actually mean

‘More human’ usually means less distance. It does not mean jokes. It means removing the buffers between the writer and the reader. Before: ‘Customers are advised to ensure that documentation is retained.’ After: ‘Keep your documents. You may need them later.’ The second version is not casual. It is direct.

‘Less corporate’ usually means fewer abstract nouns and fewer group-speak phrases. Before: ‘We leverage cross-functional synergies to deliver value-added solutions.’ After: ‘We bring teams together to solve the problem faster.’ Again, not slang. Just plain English.

‘Punchier’ usually means tighter. It means cutting the throat-clearing at the start of sentences and putting the verb earlier. Before: ‘There are a number of ways in which you can get in touch with our team.’ After: ‘You can contact our team in three ways.’ The second version has a spine.

‘Warmer but still professional’ is the trickiest. It usually means the client wants empathy without losing credibility. Before: ‘We understand that this process can be difficult.’ After: ‘This process can be frustrating. Here is what happens next, and who to call if it goes wrong.’ The second version acknowledges the feeling and then does something useful. That is warmth with competence.

When the note is three contradictory requests in a trench coat

Sometimes a client sends one sentence that contains three incompatible wishes. ‘Make it punchier but keep all the detail, and warmer but not too informal, and shorter but don’t cut anything important.’ That is not a brief. That is a hostage negotiation.

Do not silently pick two out of three. Name the tension politely. ‘I can make this punchier by cutting the middle paragraph, or I can keep every detail and accept that it will read as a reference page rather than a quick scan. Which is more important for this page?’ Give them a choice between real trade-offs. Most clients will thank you. They did not realise they were asking for opposite things.

If they insist on all three, offer a compromise with a label. ‘I will keep the detail in a sidebar and make the main copy shorter. That gives you punch and detail, but the page will be longer overall.’ Then let them decide. The goal is not to win the argument. It is to make the decision visible.

Turn the edit into a testable plan

Once you have translated the note, build a short edit plan. List the changes you will make, the changes you will not make, and the reason for each. Keep it to half a page. Send it before you rewrite. This does two things: it gives the client a chance to correct your reading, and it protects you if they later change their mind.

A good edit plan sounds like this: ‘I will cut 15% of the word count by removing repeated setup sentences. I will replace three passive constructions with active ones. I will keep the legal disclaimer exactly as written. I will add one customer example to the second section to make the benefit concrete. I will not add exclamation marks or slang.’ That is not vague. That is a contract for the next draft.

The polite pushback script

When a note is genuinely unusable, you need a script that is firm without being defensive. Try: ‘Thanks for this. I want to make sure I get it right. When you say “less corporate”, do you mean fewer formal phrases, fewer product claims, or a different tone altogether? If you can point to a page you like, that would help me calibrate.’ This is not confrontation. It is quality control.

You can also offer two options. ‘I can take this in a warmer direction or a sharper direction. Here is a paragraph of each. Which feels closer?’ Clients often cannot describe what they want, but they can recognise it. Give them something to recognise.

Vague feedback is not a sign that the client is impossible. It is a sign that they trust you to interpret. Interpret deliberately. Write down what you think they mean, test it against the reader, and make the edit visible. That is how you turn ‘more human’ from a shrug into a brief.