1. Plain English Symposium 2008
Amazingly Simple Stuff
November 7, 2008
Presentation by Irene Etzkorn

2. Simple stuff
sells

4. Real Simple’s
mission is to
“edit life for
their readers.”
Source: Kristin van Ogtrop, Managing Editor of Real Simple

5. ING Direct

6. 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.”

7. Google home page

8. 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.”

9. 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.”

11. 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.

12. Andrea Ragnetti, Corporate Marketing
Officer, Philips
“Philips is touching the core of people
through simplicity.”

13. It’s the blend of
art and science
that Simplicity
requires which
touches people
viscerally.

14. What does simple mean?
+ simple is clear.
+ simple is fresh.
+ simple is honest.
+ simple is useful.
+ simple is inspiring.
+ simple is smart.

15. Why are
things so
complicated?

16. Industries talking to themselves

17. They don’t want you to know

18. The stranglehold of legalese
Using the word “not” three times and “included” twice
in one sentence creates a brain twister.

19. 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 Spellings
U.S. Education Secretary

20. The world is increasingly complex…

21. Don’t take our
word for it
This isn’t just
our opinion

22. 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%

23. Most perplexing information
sources in American’s daily lives
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 11% “Instructions for assembling things like
grills or cabinets are difficult.”
manuals
Computer 9% “Computer user guides.”
Source: “Perplexity Poll”, Siegel+Gale, June 2004, 1709 respondents

24. How do we
get there?

25. 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

26. The elements of simplification

27. Analyzing information reveals
underlying issues

28. Criteria for
Evaluating
Communications

29. Customization
Are messages and
other information
customized or
personalized to
the individual?

30. Avid, Interested, Limited

32. Structure and
Navigational Ease
Is information
organized effectively
and easy to navigate
from the user’s
point of view?

33. Before

36. 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

37. Educational Value
Does the document
help clients to
understand their
accounts or the
topic in general?

38. Taking the pain out of hospital bills

39. Before

40. After

41. After

42. 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

43. Visual Appeal
Is the document
easy to read and
visually appealing?

44. Personalized progress toward goal

45. Map of money flow

46. Usefulness
Is the information
presented clearly,
using plain language
or terms familiar
to the audience?

47. Before and After of credit
agreement

48. Use of information graphics

49. Information graphics

52. Marketing Potential
Does the document
include appropriate
marketing
opportunities?

53. Before

54. After

55. After
preferred the new
Customers
statements, particularly liking the new terminology
combine
The new format would motivate customers to
accounts into one mailing
didn’t miss a separate
Customers
reconciliation worksheet
full year of statement
Customers want a
history online

58. 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

59. 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