Amazingly Simple Stuff

Presentation by Irene Etzkorn

November 7, 2008

Plain English Symposium 2008

Simple stuff sells

Real Simple’s mission is to “edit life for

their readers.”

Source: Kristin van Ogtrop, Managing Editor of Real Simple

ING Direct

Arkadi Kuhlmann Chairman, President and CEO of ING Direct USA

“The busier life gets, the more value there is in simplicity as a point of competitive differentiation.”

“It’s good for American society, not just good business sense. Simplicity and clarity make us more productive.”

Google home page

Marissa Mayer Director of Consumer Web Products at Google

How does she fend off those who would muddy or clutter the home page?

“We audition new features on the advanced search page first.”

Less is more

Then, it goes through a scoring system:

+ They assign a “point” each time there is a change in type style, type size or color.

+ They add up the points; the maximum allowed for a promotion is 3 points.

+ The goal is the fewest possible number of points.

+ Mayer says, “More points = less simplicity.”

Philips Electronics

+ 30% of home-networking products are returned because people can’t get them to work.

+ 48% of people have put off buying a digital camera because they see them as too complicated.

+ Philips asked 1,650 consumers and 180 corporate customers in 8 countries, to identify big societal issues that the company should respond to.

Complexity and fear of technology were the sore points.

Andrea Ragnetti, Corporate Marketing Officer, Philips

“Philips is touching the core of people through simplicity.”

It’s the blend of art and science that

Simplicity requires which touches

people viscerally.

What does simple mean?

+ simple is clear.+ simple is fresh.+ simple is honest.+ simple is useful.+ simple is inspiring.

+ simple is smart.

Why are things so

complicated?

Industries talking to themselves

They don’t want you to know

The stranglehold of legalese

Using the word “not” three times and “included” twice in one sentence creates a brain twister.

Working at cross-purposes

“Right now, it’s like we’re trying to keep people out of college, not get them in… The whole thing is, ‘You want to go to college? Here are seven pages of bureaucracy, and here’s what you’re going to have to do to get it.’ As opposed to, ‘Here’s a simple way to do it, and here’s what we’re going to do for you, so you can get it.’ It’s the whole psychology.”

–Margaret SpellingsU.S. Education Secretary

The world is increasingly complex…

Don’t take our word for it

This isn’t just our opinion

Perplexity reigns

Internet survey developed by Siegel+Gale

+ 17 commonly-used documents rated on clarity and ease of understanding

+ Random sample of U.S. consumers

+ 1709 respondents completed the survey

+ Response rate of 14%

Most perplexing information sources in American’s daily lives

Source: “Perplexity Poll”, Siegel+Gale, June 2004, 1709 respondents

Type of document % of respondents Sample comment:

Insurance 18% “Letters from my health insurance company explaining what’s covered and what isn’t.”

Financial 12% “Stock market information, mutual funds, money market lingo, etc.”

Legal 11% “Anything in legalese (contracts, lease, loan, etc.).”

Instruction manuals

11% “Instructions for assembling things like grills or cabinets are difficult.”

Computer 9% “Computer user guides.”

How do we get there?

A better way

Hundreds of our clients have found a better way to communicate:

+ Streamlined processes

+ Customized, relevant content

+ Plain English disclosure

+ More powerful use of online capabilities

+ More cost-effective production

The elements of simplification

Analyzing information reveals underlying issues

Criteria for Evaluating

Communications

Customization

Are messages and other information

customized or personalized to the individual?

Avid, Interested, Limited

Structure and Navigational Ease

Is information

organized effectively and easy to navigate

from the user’s point of view?

Before

Results of the contracts’ simplification

+ Reduced and eliminated unnecessary paperwork:

+ Documents reduced from 12 to 1

+ Words from 19,000 to 9,500

+ Shorter sales cycle, resulting from reduced legal review times

+ 10 point increase in customer satisfaction

Educational Value

Does the document help clients to

understand their accounts or the topic

in general?

Taking the pain out of hospital bills

Before

After

After

Cost benefits of simplified hospital bills

$1 million additional revenue per month

as a result of 80% increase in patient payments

Length of bills reduced from 4 pages to 2-3 pages

in 40% of bills

Visual Appeal

Is the document easy to read and

visually appealing?

Personalized progress toward goal

Map of money flow

Usefulness

Is the information presented clearly,

using plain language or terms familiar to the audience?

Before and After of credit agreement

Use of information graphics

Information graphics

Marketing Potential

Does the document include appropriate

marketing opportunities?

Before

After

After

Customers preferred the new statements, particularly liking the new terminology

The new format would motivate customers to combine accounts into one mailing

Customers didn’t miss a separate reconciliation worksheet

Customers want a full year of statement history online

Cost benefit of statement redesign

Annual Savings

More combined statements $3,397,403

Fewer pages per statement $1,505,891

Total Annual Savings $4,903,294

One-time expenditure of $ 806,474

The benefits of Simplicity

+ Advance and protect an organization’s image+ Improved public perception and reputation

+ Differentiated offerings

+ Increased consideration, favorability, and likelihood to recommend

+ Improve customer experience and make it consistent+ Better prepared employees

+ Increased customer satisfaction and retention

+ Make operations more efficient+ Reduced customer service call volume/costs

+ Reduced printing, postage, and mailing costs

+ More efficient communications development process