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Concept

SUCCESs Checklist

The SUCCESs checklist is Chip and Dan Heath's six-point test (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories) for finding what a message is missing before you send it, and its final proof is that real listeners can repeat the core back unprompted.

Chip and Dan Heath gather their six principles under one slightly awkward acronym: SUCCESs, for Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories. The trick is to use it as a checklist, not a recipe. A recipe tells you to add every ingredient. A checklist asks whether anything important is missing. Few sticky messages use all six at full strength, and forcing every box crowds out the core. A safety rule may need only a clear core and one concrete image, while a fundraising appeal leans on feeling and story. The value of the list is that it shows you the gap you would otherwise walk past. That gap is often invisible to you because you know the message so well you can't hear how it lands. Ticks on paper don't finish anything, though. A message is done when real listeners can repeat its core back without being prompted.

A real-life example

Maya manages a dental clinic in Leeds. Her first draft of a staff notice read: "Adherence to infection-control protocols remains a priority." Running the checklist, she saw the gap was concreteness, not emotion or story. Her new version said: "Gloves off, hands washed, then the next patient. Your gloves just touched the drill, the lamp and the chart." The next morning she asked two assistants what the notice said. Both answered unprompted: "Wash between every patient, because gloves touch everything." Only then did she pin it up.

How to use it

  1. 1Write the core in one sentence. Then go through the six principles, asking of each one: is anything important missing here for this message?
  2. 2Strengthen only the one or two gaps that matter for the message's job. Leave the other boxes alone instead of stuffing them.
  3. 3Tell the message to two people who haven't seen it, and ask them a day later what they remember. If they can't repeat the core without prompting, it isn't finished.