What We Do

Research, Testing & Expert Testimony

Clarity is not easy. Many organizations don’t know enough about their readers to make wise choices about how to reach them. At Karen Schriver Associates (KSA), it’s all about your readers – what works for them and why. Deciding what works should not be left to intuition. We test our ideas. And take listening seriously.

We are an award-winning consultancy that has earned an international reputation for excellence in communication design and research. We offer practical advice about writing and design based on empirical evidence. Let us help you in these ways:

• Explore customers’ unique needs and desires for visual and verbal content. Understand why people engage with some messages and reject others.
• Make messages stick by exploring ways to combine data with the power of narrative.
• Evaluate the usefulness of content with one-on-one customer interviews, comprehension testing, customer journeys, shadowing, focus groups, surveys, and usability testing. We focus on cognitive, emotional, and cultural aspects of engagement.
• Benchmark quality with metrics and track improvement of content.
• Bolster your legal case with expert witness testimony from a world leader in evidence-based plain language and information design.
• Get a plain language audit of strengths and weaknesses of your business communication. We conduct expert analyses of visual and verbal features related to clarity (e.g., style, structure, graphics, typography, etc.).