How to Write Content for Spoonies

Spoonies, unless you are one, might not be a term you’ve heard of before. But that’s part of the problem. This guide aims to show you who spoonies are, what they need from your content, and how you can make your website a better experience for them.

It’s not forking hard to do. It’s just a few little things that make spoonies’ lives easier, and ultimately, make your products more likely to sell.

What does spoony mean?

A spoony is someone who suffers from a chronic condition that can’t be seen. The term was first coined by the blogger Christine Miserandino, who was trying to explain to a friend what it was like living with lupus. She described it like this:

You start the day with a series of spoons. Every time you do something that requires any effort, even seemingly insignificant stuff like watching the TV or scrolling on your phone, you lose one of your spoons. If you use up all your spoons, you have no spoons in reserve, so you have to go into your next day’s supply of spoons. That means the next day you’ll be bedridden, all out of spoons with which to perform even the most basic activities.

Spoonies have to make a decision: which tasks are worth using spoons for, and which ones can be left?

When it comes to your content, this matters.

How can content impact spoonies?

As a general rule, all web content should do three things: entice, inform and engage. That’s the ideal journey you want any potential customer to go on, getting them excited, showing them what you can do, and getting them through the purchase journey as quickly as possible.

For spoonies, this is even more important.

Long content can cause fatigue

Fatigue can quickly set in when reading long content. We’ve all found recipes online that require us to read the author’s life story before getting to the ingredients, but imagine doing this if your body is feeling tired already.

You’re never going to bake that cake, and the world is a better place with more cake in it.

Complex forms can take too long

It’s never fun filling in a form. Your name, your address, your favourite colour, your dog’s last dream, it can all seem to take too long when all you really want to do is order a product or sign up for a service.

Complex forms can easily trigger fatigue, preventing users from ever completing their action.

Heavy text can cause headaches or blurred vision

Big headlines, overuse of bold, or densely written content without the right spacing can bring on headaches or blurred vision. This on its own could be enough to make someone leave your website, costing you any money they might have spent.

A lack of paragraphs can become overwhelming

Paragraphs and line spacing makes text more readable for everyone, but if you have a chronic illness, they’re essential. Big blocks of text that aren’t broken up just look too much, and that’s before you even start reading them.

70% of the internet doesn’t cater for impaired user

Spoonies aren’t alone in their struggle for accessible content. A shocking 70% of all internet content is inaccessible for impaired users, meaning over 1.2 billion people across the world might be unable to access, read or engage with websites.

In the UK alone, this costs businesses around £17.1 billion every year in what’s called ‘the click-away pound’. This is the amount lost by people clicking off a website when it doesn’t meet their accessibility needs.

There are a few repeat offenders when it comes to inaccessible content, such as:

Colour contrast

Whenever you put text on a coloured background, the contrast needs to be high enough for the text to be readable. Too low and the words will go missing, or at best cause a severe headache.

Undescriptive links and buttons

A descriptive link or button tells you what clicking it will achieve. It makes sense out of context, meaning anyone using a screen reader won’t need to read all the content around it to understand it.

Undescriptive links and buttons often say things like ‘read more’ or ‘click here’. Without the context, these mean nothing.

No alt text on images

If you can’t see an image, alt text will tell your screen reader what the image depicts. Images without this may as well not be there at all as fair as impaired users are concerned.

Complex navigation

Have you ever looked at a menu in a restaurant and been overwhelmed by the amount of choice? Website navigation can do the same thing. If you have too many options to click on, you won’t know which one is the most important, and you might click on nothing at all.

Empty form labels

A form label, or box, should tell you what information to put in it. If this is missing, assistive technology won’t tell you how to fill it in, which could make ordering a product impossible.

Fast timeouts

Many websites will time you out of an order after a certain amount of time, making you start from the very beginning. If it naturally takes you longer to perform actions online, timeouts could become your worst enemy.

How to make your content spoony friendly

You don’t have to make any complicated technical changes to make your content work for spoonies - you just need to write nice. Good content that works for non-spoonies will also work for spoonies, so follow the same tips to ensure you’re ruling no-one out.

Use clear headings

Spoonies will get fatigued by reading too much content, so make things easier for them. Clear headings and subheadings mean people can scroll to the content they need without having to read the rest.

Break content up

Big, lengthy paragraphs aren’t easy to read. Instead, use bullet points, lists or short sections of texts. Break content up into smaller chunks, and people will be much more likely to read to the end.

Make actions clear

What do you want your audience to do? Make it obvious. If you want them to buy a hat, make your button say ‘buy a hat’. If you want them to read a blog, make your link say ‘read our blog about buying hats’. Options that aren’t about hats are available.

Make buttons bigger

As fatigue sets in, muscles will weaken and it might become harder to keep your cursor in one place. Make your buttons and navigation menus big enough for shaky hands to click.

Look at your tab order

For people who can’t use a mouse, they might use the tab key to navigate a site. This should take them from left to right, top to bottom, just like we’re taught to read as children. Anything that is clickable by a mouse should also be clickable by the tab key.

Use clear language

Voice recognition software uses plain English to help a user get around. Complicated language or industry jargon might not be picked up by it, which could lead to a lost customer.

Want more helpful support for spoony living?

We offer a range of helpful blogs for chronic fatigue, full of advice on how to talk about your condition and live with it. We also provide some great wellness products to ease any muscle fatigue.

Spoony life has its challenges, but there are ways we can make it easier.

Words: Ash Billinghay