Start Chunking Content into Digestible Bites
As a content writer, how do you transition copy to design teams? Consider two common scenarios that fall short:
Content writers produce paragraphs with headings, letting designers determine visual display
Designers give writers templates full of lorem ipsum for them to fill out
While common, both of these options could lead to poor quality content and excessive time spent in design.
Instead, let’s discuss content chunking - a method that creates synergy between content and design teams, helping you build experiences that customers and prospects will love.
Content and design overlap
Design responsibilities include visual display and creating original graphics, while content responsibilities include ideation and copy. The gray area between both includes categorizing, grouping, and organizing information.
When writers learn how to “content chunk”, they eliminate that gray area and streamline the production process.
Let’s take a closer look at what content chunking means and its many benefits.
What is content chunking, and what does it solve?
Content chunking means breaking content into small consumable pieces. It’s a practice that originated in course design: breaking course content into shorter videos and modules makes learning retention easier.
However, content chunking is also important for marketing teams…
Scale production of quality content: Because handing off “chunked content” to designers streamlines production, you can hand off your copy in larger volumes. Quickly produce well-designed emails, collateral, presentations, infographics, and more. Plus, boost quality - content-first design tends to be much more compelling than the reverse.
Web page UX and SEO: Content blocks provide both UX and SEO benefits. Help people understand the value of what you’re selling with digestible blocks of information, and use headings to guide them to the information they need as they skim. Google will reward you for helping users in this way! It’s an SEO/CRO win.
Develop (and showcase) subject matter expertise: When writers are forced to group and list information, they gain a deep understanding of it. Take steps toward subject matter expertise. Learn the ins and outs of products and their benefits, and get better at writing and ideating new content.
Examples of content chunking
Content chunking can become second nature from simply viewing examples. Think about web pages, brochures, and collateral that have categorized sections in varying formats.
Marketing collateral examples from EBQ:
Landing page examples from Unbounce:
Product page example from Truffle Systems:
Your go-to formula for chunking content
Looking for a fool-proof process? Follow these guidelines when you write.
Use lists: When you’re trying to prove a point - try listing features, examples, or any supporting argument. Bullet points are your best friend! Designers can break these up with icons and imagery.
Use summaries: Summarize list items longer than 1 phrase with bolded text (as we did here). Likewise, summarize paragraphs with headings.
Use categories: Categorize information in groups of 3-6. For example, 4 paragraphs with headings can go into a group with its own heading.
Designers will easily see bullet points as icons and links as CTA buttons. Categories might be broken up with different backgrounds to show a topic change.
Leverage AI for content chunking
AI can help you streamline this process. If you can’t decide how to categorize or summarize pieces of information, ask it to do the heavy lifting. For instance:
Start seeing the benefits of organized content
Content chunking is a practice that’s appreciated by all. Who wants to read through a wall of text? Breaking things up into digestible blocks made reading more enjoyable for employees, prospects, and customers alike. The added benefits of Google rewarding your well-organized content is the icing on-top of the cake!
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