{
  "title": "Customer reception: do instructions that are hard to read seem harder to follow?",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-lisibilite-consignes-effort-percu-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-03-28",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "The presentation of instructions can change the effort a visitor expects to make. That does not mean a more readable layout is enough to make a procedure accessible.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Client Reception",
  "place": {
    "name": "Fribourg",
    "region": "Fribourg",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Hyunjin Song and Norbert Schwarz (2008, Psychological Science) manipulated the typographic readability of instructions and observed differences in anticipated effort and stated motivation to perform the activity described."
    },
    {
      "heading": "When reading becomes a cue to difficulty",
      "point": "Adam L."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "One might conclude that larger type or a less crowded page is all it takes to improve reception."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the evidence cannot settle",
      "point": "The experiments cited are not an evaluation of workplace reception procedures, and the review brings together varied tasks and judgments."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Fribourg",
      "point": "As part of SHR's « Accueil client » programme, an agri-food site, a bilingual industrial company or a university reception service in Fribourg could test registration instructions with no safety implications, keeping exactly the same wording in two layouts."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Schwarz",
      "year": "2008",
      "source": "Psychological Science"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Oppenheimer",
      "year": "2009",
      "source": "Personality and Social Psychology Review"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 414,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-03-28-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-lisibilite-consignes-effort-percu",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-lisibilite-consignes-effort-percu-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-lisibilite-consignes-effort-percu-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-lisibilite-consignes-effort-percu-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/accueil-client/fribourg",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/fribourg",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}