The AI Smells Guide
Formatting Smells (And How to Fix Them)
Same words, completely different connection. Structure shows respect.
Formatting Smells (And How to Fix Them)
Same words, completely different connection. Structure shows you respect your reader's time.
Dana spent thirty minutes writing a project update. Clear language, accurate details, solid reasoning. She covered the timeline change, the budget impact, the three decisions the team needed to make, and the context behind each one. She sent it to twelve people.
Two replied. One asked a question she had already answered in paragraph four. The other forwarded it to their manager with the note: "TL;DR?"
Dana's writing was fine. Her formatting made the entire message invisible.
The next week, she sent the same information with bold deadlines, a numbered decision list, and section headers. Eleven out of twelve replied within the hour. Same words. Different structure. Completely different outcome.
Good formatting is a signal that you thought about the person reading this. When employees can find the deadline, the ask, and the context in seconds, that is respect. It compounds over every message you send.
Why scanability matters
Nielsen Norman Group's eye-tracking research found that users scan content in an F-shaped pattern: they read the first line, skim the left edge of what follows, and abandon the rest. Making content scannable improved measured usability by 47%. Combined with concise writing, that number hit 124%.
Most internal communications ignore this entirely. They arrive as undifferentiated paragraphs where every sentence carries the same visual weight:
- The deadline sits in the same font as the background context
- The action item blends into the rationale
- The decision needed hides in paragraph four
Recipients have three seconds of attention and zero visual cues telling them where to spend it. The result: low read rates, missed deadlines, and the dreaded "can you resend that?"
Visual weight smells
1Unbolded asks
The deadline, the ask, or the decision has no visual emphasis. When you bold everything, you bold nothing. The visual contrast that makes bold work disappears when the entire paragraph is heavy.
Fix: Bold the one thing they must see. One bolded phrase per section maximum.
2Context that competes with the message
Background information, caveats, and "nice to know" details sit in the same visual weight as the primary message. Readers cannot tell what matters and what is supplementary.
Fix: Use italics for context they can skip. This signals "read this if you have time" without cluttering the core ask.
3Underlined emphasis
Online readers have spent two decades learning that underlined text is clickable. Using underline for emphasis trains recipients to click on text that goes nowhere. It creates a micro-frustration that erodes trust in your formatting.
Fix: Reserve underline for links only.
4No headings on long messages
If the message extends past one screen, it needs section headers. Mobile recipients see three to four lines at a time. Headers let them jump to the section that matters and skip the rest.
Fix: Add headings when your message scrolls.
Structure smells
5Lists buried in prose
Three or more items of the same type joined by commas inside a paragraph. Readers have to extract the structure themselves, and most will not bother.
Fix: Extract parallel items into lists. Numbered when order matters, bulleted when it does not.
6Multi-idea paragraphs
Paragraphs that contain two or three distinct points. Each paragraph earns its whitespace by containing exactly one idea. Short paragraphs create scanning points. Long paragraphs create walls.
Fix: One idea per paragraph, three sentences maximum.
7Buried asks
The action or decision appears in the middle or end of the message. Most people write emails like essays: background, then reasoning, then the point. The people who need the context will keep reading. The people who just need the action item will have it in two seconds.
Fix: Front-load the ask. Conclusion first, evidence second, background last.
8No whitespace
Dense blocks of text with no spacing between sections. Before a single word is read, the visual density signals "this will take effort to parse."
Fix: Whitespace is formatting. A blank line between sections costs nothing and changes how the entire message feels.
Before and after: same words, 10x the engagement
Quick update on the Henderson project.
The March 15 deadline is moving to March 29 due to an API change on the vendor integration side. Engineering reviewed the scope and confirmed March 29 is achievable if we get sign-off on the revised SOW by this Friday.
Budget impact: ~$4,200 in additional QA hours, within our existing contingency.
I need three decisions from this group:
1. Does March 29 work for the client presentation?
2. Is the $4,200 overage approved?
3. Who owns the client communication about the timeline shift?
Please reply by EOD Thursday.
Same information. Same word count. The formatted version gets replies because readers can find the deadline in one second, skip the budget context if they already trust the number, and see exactly what they need to decide.
The math
| What you change | What improves |
|---|---|
| Bold key sentences | Read rates go up. Critical info becomes impossible to miss. |
| Add headings | Scan time drops. Employees find what matters in seconds. |
| Use lists | Response rates increase. Clear asks get clear answers. |
| Front-load the ask | Decision speed improves. No digging required. |
| Add whitespace | Perceived effort drops. People actually open the message. |
Formatting is free, and it is the fastest way to double the effectiveness of every message you send.
Try it: Free Email Scanability Formatter Prompt
Paste your draft into any LLM, then paste this prompt after it. The model will apply three formatting moves: bold your core sentences, capitalize section transitions into headings, and extract inline parallel items into lists. It uses only the words already in your draft.
Free prompt included with this guide
Enter your email to unlock the ready-to-use prompt. Copy, paste into your LLM, and use it forever.
Formatting is the second dimension of authentic AI-assisted communication. You have fixed how your message reads (AI Writing Smells) and how it looks. Now fix the visuals: Image Smells (And How to Fix Them). Or explore the full series at The AI Smells Guide.
This is what Rally does automatically: AI-powered internal communications engineered to be perfectly clear and impossible to miss, optimized for employee engagement.
Sources
- Nielsen Norman Group, "Concise, SCANNABLE, and Objective: How to Write for the Web." Scannable formatting improved usability 47%; combined with concise writing, 124%.
- Nielsen Norman Group, "F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content." Eye-tracking research on how users scan content.
- Nielsen Norman Group, "5 Formatting Techniques for Long-Form Content." Users fixate on bolded text, headings, and bullet points when scanning.
- New Zealand Government, "Use bold, italics, and underlining sparingly and consistently." Blocks of formatted text are less readable because visual contrast disappears.
