Its A Pity, But Doesnt Have To Be

Just so you know, I merit some compassion, too. At a community meeting not long ago, a pleasant, well-educated woman asked me what I do for a living. When I told her, she said: “Oh that must be awful!” Mystified, I asked why. “Well,” she said, “thats such a dry subject and no one understands it. How can you possibly write about something like that?” She was so convincing, I probably should have cried, just to let her know I felt her pain (or mine). Pity the poor insurance journalist.

This gulf between product and understanding is hardly new. The pages of National Underwriter have weighed in on it for a long time. Still, lets see if we cant move the discussion forward a notch by going in a new direction.

Dont blame the messengers. Help the marketing/PR people get a grip on the product. Remember, they know less about it than you. That means, dont just ship it over and say, “go thou and do your thing.” Say, “The consumer can do this and this and this. The owner can use it to.The client invests (or pays) so much, and then we….”

Invite the marketing/PR people in on the ground floor. Their input can assist you in deciding features that will fit different markets and fit with target customers. Most importantly, they can serve as an ever-present reminder that some things are just too complex.

Take an interdepartmental approach. Its embarrassing if someone from another department or division catches a glitch or doesnt get it, so for political reasons you just might want to avoid a broad internal review. But lets not forget that pride goes before the fall. Getting such feedback may be just what you need to bypass customer confusion later on. Even if a product is actuarially and legally correct, if it misses the mark, you might as well pack it in.

Listen. When consumers, family or callers tell you they dont get it, listen hard to what confuses them. For sure, you did not mean to confuse them (lets hope not), but apparently you have. Sometimes a person might be slow on the uptake, but that doesnt mean the person is wrong or that the product is right just as it is. Keep an open mind.

Check, test, recheck. Thats what engineers do, why not the product team? Dont just put the clarity burden on the backs of marketing and PR. Whether you are at a company or an agency, you work there, dont you? Urge the powers that be to take a second look at the design before it goes out. Maybe suggest passing it by a focus group, or non-industry family members. Is it clear? Does it make sense? If not, what would make it better?

Many firms do apply those measures but not all and not consistently. If your office is getting a lot of complaints about complexity, broaching the subject (tactfully, of course) could help. In fact, not trying to make it better would be the real pity.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 29, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.