Volume 1 | Issue 3 | December 2014

In This Issue

A picture is worth much more than a thousand words: The power of infographics Thinking about simplifying your contract language? We've got a resource for that How we added FATCA to financial industry forms Rewriting a lapse and reinstatement provision in plain language Financial literacy update Clear communication seminars a success Send us your questions, comments and ideas for future articles

Send us your questions, comments and ideas about clear communication.

We'd love to hear from you.

A picture is worth much more than a thousand words: The power of infographics If you're like most people, you're a visual learner.1 When someone says, "Picture this," you'll understand something faster and retain it longer than if you simply look at text. That's the premise behind infographics (information graphics) - they do the "picturing" for you. Lively illustrations present facts and figures in a format that's simple, interesting, and effective. Infographics can help business communications. Consider financial reports, which routinely throw out huge numbers representing earnings, profits, deficits, and other monetary figures. Using images makes it much easier for readers to visualize numbers with lots of zeroes. For example, try to convey the immensity of a trillion dollars with only words:

• 100 packets of 100 $100 bills = $1 million • 10 standard wooden platform pallets of packets = $1 billion • 10,000 pallets = $1 trillion double-stacked pallets, 100 along the front (50 on each level)

and 100 stretching into the distance (50 on each level)

Or, for a much better idea, go to http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html and see for yourself. Images are powerful, encouraging engagement. When you use images, more people read your material. Articles containing relevant images have 94 per cent more total views than articles without images, on average.2 Images, colour, font style and size, and themes all contribute to the allure of infographics. In the insurance business, infographics can help readers digest everything from health care costs to retirement survey results. Increasingly, communicators and marketers are using these stylized illustrations to bring numbers and concepts to life in digital, electronic, and print media. Infographics are popular for good reason: "Icons, illustrations, and graphics can all tell a story by synthesizing data, creating perspective, and communicating meaning at a glance. Infographics tell a compelling story that's interesting, easy to understand, and universal."3 The financial services industry needs messages with universal appeal. Advisors, in particular, work with Canadians from across the country to improve their finances. Understanding financial concepts, however, often challenges a large segment of society.

Levels of literacy

Level 1: Very poor literacy skills - may be unable to determine the correct medicine to give to a child Level 2: Deal only with simple, clear material involving uncomplicated tasks - may find it hard to learn new job skills Level 3: Adequate to cope with demands of everyday life and work in an advanced society - skill level required for successful high school completion and college entry Level 4/5: Strong skills - can process information that's complex and demanding [Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2013.]

Almost one out of two Canadians (48.5 per cent)4 operate at below Level three - the internationally-accepted literacy standard required to understand and use information to order to function in modern society.5 Even those at Level 3 have only an "adequate" understanding to cope with the demands of everyday life. Only 14 per cent of Canadians operate at Levels 4/5 and are capable of processing complex and demanding information. These standings prove it's crucial for financially related material to be simple and easy-to-understand; otherwise, most Canadians aren't likely to understand it. Infographics can help readers process information. The infographic's creed - clear, compelling, convincing When the design of your infographic enters new territory, pushing boundaries set by previous infographics, they'll stand out and be noticed. Search through the data, discover new connections and relationships, and tell the best story you can that no one has seen or heard before.6 Remember that the best infographics use your data to paint a picture.7 Easy to read, clean, with a bold heading, and divided by gender, the infographic below

effectively relates the necessity of possessing life insurance, as well as the need for more people to own it:

It's also interesting the way the infographic illustrates the percentage of "some kind of life insurance coverage" as an equivalent portion of the man's body and woman's body. You can see this infographic and others related to life insurance in this article. Helping consumers understand how the life insurance industry sets costs can be tricky. The following infographic illustrates factors that significantly increase the price of the premium; note the catchy title:

Research insights visually revealed In this country, an issue receiving extensive attention relates to Canadians living much longer than they did a century ago.8 This longer life expectancy affects finances, including the needs for better health care protection and for retirement income to last longer. To illustrate this longer life expectancy, Sun Life Financial published a major paper and created a package of marketing materials that included an infographic containing three sections: the increasing life expectancy of 65 year olds, the significant percentage of Canadians who will live past age 95, and the rising number of centenarians:

The big numbers take the reader from 65 years old to the possibility of living past the age of 95 and even to 100. Imagery plays on the many senses of the word "run"; that is, "running" out of money in retirement and needing enough money for longer life spans - the "long run." Another infographic related to the longevity project compared the number of Canadians over age 85 with the number of minor hockey players in this country:

Tammy McKinnon, a graphic designer, enjoyed the word play as she created these visual messages. "The longevity infographic was interesting because the statistics were handled in a light-hearted way. Comparing 'dry' statistics to more easily understood references made it feel informal and friendly." Another example of an effective infographic uses results from a survey taking the pulse of Canadians' perceptions about their health and the health care they receive. Three of the answers the survey respondents gave to questions about health concerns aligned with answers showing that many Canadians don't have critical illness, long-term care, and personal health insurance. The petri dish and colour scheme helps to organize the survey results under three sections:

"I think it does a great job of breaking up the information into digestible tidbits, while following a storyline," said Designer Evan Grimba, who created the microscope theme. He notes their influence in social media: "Infographics are easy and fun to share, be it on Facebook or

"I think it does a great job of breaking up the information into digestible tidbits, while following a storyline," said Designer Evan Grimba, who created the microscope theme. He notes their influence in social media: "Infographics are easy and fun to share, be it on Facebook or Pinterest." They're fun, but it's still a business Storytelling, creativity, and employee engagement are all very important, but marketers are wise not to lose sight of their business goals. Financial services organizations increasingly require digital tools, online articles, and infographics to be measureable. "Knowing how many people are looking at our infographics, and for how long, shows us when they're interested in our content and brand," said Helene Michaud, Assistant Vice-President, Marketing and Communications Services, Individual Distribution & Marketing, Sun Life Financial. "Click-through rates, email responses, and surveys are all part of the evaluation process that lets us know if our designs and edgier marketing materials are resonating with clients, prospective customers, and financial advisors." Michaud keeps a close eye on reactions to the infographics her designers are creating, using infographics in presentations to reveal and explain measurement results - including their relationship to sales success. A member of Michaud's team, Graphic Designer Michelle Shortt, believes the popularity of infographics will continue to grow. "The way of the future is digital, and we know that as marketers, we only have a few seconds to grab a reader's attention." With their quick read on sometimes very complex data and information, infographics are doing their part to share insights, explain the numbers, improve financial literacy, and encourage Canadians to take action on their financial plans.

1 65 per cent of us are visual learners. Social Science Research Network, 2011. 2 MGDadvertising.com. 3 John T. Meyer, "Simple is Power: Why Infographics Work for Everyone," Steamfeed.com, June 25, 2013. 4 Learning - Adult Literacy, Employment and Social Development Canada, hrsdc.gc.ca, 2012. 5 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2013. 6 John T. Meyer, "Simple is Power: Why Infographics Work for Everyone," Steamfeed.com, June 25, 2013. 7 Frederik Vincx, "A hands-on guide to visual press releases," PR Daily, November 14, 2014. 8 The average Canadian's life expectancy at birth is age 81.7, up from 57 in 1921. Statistics Canada report, July 17, 2014. Also reported in National Post, July 17, 2014. Contributor(s): Paul Moser, Senior Writer, Individual Marketing and Communications, Sun Life Financial Return to top

Thinking about simplifying your contract language? We've got a

resource for that The CLHIA is pleased to provide members with a new reference document that applies clear communication writing techniques to some common life and health insurance policy provisions. Clear communication is essential to helping consumers understand life and health insurance products and services. Simply put, a consumer who understands what they are reading is better prepared to make responsible decisions. In this way, clear communication is an important contributing factor to financial literacy. We know that clear communication is on the federal government's agenda. Right now, our Financial Literacy Leader, Jane Rooney, is working to establish a national financial literacy strategy. We anticipate clear communication will play a role in the national strategy when it is released next spring. And the 2010 report of the National Task Force on Financial Literacy called on federal, provincial and territorial governments to require all financial services providers to simplify their informational materials and disclosure documents, including life and health insurance policies. While our reference document is a collection of examples and not a complete policy, it demonstrates that clear communication is possible in insurance policies. The document places unclear "historical" examples side-by-side with clear communication examples. The clear communication examples demonstrate the plain language writing techniques identified alongside the provision and are not intended as a translation of the old language. The reference document is a product of the CLHIA's Working Group on Simplified Disclosure, which was formed in December 2012 to develop resources to assist the industry with clear communication. Some of the other resources the working group has developed are:

• a reference document on developing a clear communication strategy in a life and health insurance company;

• programs and presentations from our clear communication seminars in 2013 and 2014;

• a plain language glossary of insurance terms; and • this publication, The Clear Communicator, our on-line newsletter of clear

communication information and resources for our industry.

We encourage you to check out our new reference document and put it to use in your clear communication efforts. For a quick look at one of the policy provisions we rewrote in clear language, see Rewriting a lapse and reinstatement provision in plain language in this issue. Contributor(s): Erica Hiemstra & James Wood, CLHIA Return to top

How we added FATCA to financial industry forms Before the United States' Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) came into effect this past summer, the Canadian financial services industry had a challenge. We needed to design a form to collect taxpayer status information from clients who meet the Act's criteria.

As a technical communicator and forms analyst with Manulife, I joined the CLHIA working group on FATCA to tackle this problem. The resulting form is the International tax (FATCA) classification for an entity. In particular, we designed the first question on the form, which is called "international tax entity classification". Our question has been adopted across the financial services industry to the benefit of clients and financial institutions. Educated guesses When we started this process, the agreement between Canada and United States wasn't yet signed. In order to complete forms design, software development, and translation into French in time, we needed to make educated guesses about how FATCA would be enacted in Canadian law. After we had a draft we were satisfied with, the Canadian Bankers Association offered to simplify it further. A few weeks later, they returned it, untouched, with a tremendous compliment: They agreed that we had achieved the best possible clarity, under the circumstances. Translating American into Canadian From a plain language perspective, the most difficult part of our task was building a question to collect information in a way that was compliant with U.S. tax law. The American tax lexicon is different from ours, so it created the age-old problem of fitting square pegs into round holes. For example, the rules about what is considered a "registered charity" for tax exemption purposes is different in the U.S. than in Canada. Working through uncertainty to build an industry-wide solution Though our approach to the form design for FATCA was ultimately successful, there were many rocky moments. Here are a few examples of how we worked through the tough spots.

• We used draft forms as prototypes to help focus discussion and flush out concerns during the development of the legislation and the regulations. The process equipped the CLHIA team to influence how the new requirements were implemented so that financial institutions could administer them reasonably and with as little inconvenience as possible to customers.

• We distilled the complex U.S. legislation into a single question that the CLHIA was able to champion as an industry standard for collecting data.

A better outcome for clients and financial institutions Having an industry standard for collecting data benefits financial institutions and, more importantly, our clients. We know they may not thank us for asking for FATCA information, but we've eliminated frustration by asking our clients the same question consistently across the financial services industry. And financial institutions also win because industry standards help reduce error rates on forms and the associated remediation costs. You can find the International tax (FATCA) classification for an entity form under "CLHIA form for entities". Contributor(s): Shannon Lerner, Technical Communicator, Manulife Return to top

Rewriting a lapse and reinstatement provision in plain language The following example is taken from the CLHIA's new reference document, A Model Demonstrating Clear Communication Principles and Techniques Using Examples From Insurance Policies.

An historical example

REINSTATEMENT - If this contract lapses as provided in the clause "Termination", it may be reinstated by application within two years from the date of lapse upon the production of evidence of good health and other evidence of insurability satisfactory to the Company as at the date of application for reinstatement, and upon payment of all overdue premiums and other indebtedness to the Company under the contract with interest at six per cent per annum, compounded annually, provided no change has taken place in such good health and insurability subsequent to the date of such application and before the contract is reinstated, and provided further that in case the reinstatement is secured by any material misrepresentation, or by failure to disclose a fact material to the contract, the policy shall at the option of the Company be void.

Why is this provision unclear? Among other things, it's a single, 136 word, sentence.

A clear communication example

Restarting your policy If your policy lapses (ends) due to non-payment of premiums, you can apply to restart it. This is called reinstating your policy. To do so the insured person must be alive and still insurable by our standards and:

1. you must complete and submit a request for reinstatement to our office within two years of the lapse date;

2. you must submit evidence of insurability, including good health, satisfactory to us; 3. you must pay all unpaid premiums, plus interest, up to the date the policy is reinstated,

and 4. if you are not the insured person, the insured person must also sign the written

request if that person is 16 or older on the reinstatement date.

Other information about restarting your policy

• The insurance amount will be the amount in effect when your policy lapsed. • We may charge a reinstatement fee. • We will notify you when your reinstatement takes effect. • If your application for reinstatement is not approved, we will refund you any premiums

and interest you paid when you applied for reinstatement.

Why is this provision clearer?

• It uses active voice (you and we) • It uses lists to convey detailed information • It uses short sentences • It prioritizes the information for the reader, giving the most important information first • It avoids jargon (e.g. "restarting your policy" instead of "reinstatement") • It uses must to indicate actions the policyowner needs to take to restart the policy

To learn more about clear communication techniques and to see other policy provisions in clear language, go to our new reference document. Contributor(s): Erica Hiemstra, CLHIA Return to top

Financial literacy update

From Leslie Byrnes, CLHIA Vice President, Distribution and Pensions & member of the National Steering Committee on Financial Literacy Report on national activities:

• Jane Rooney, as Financial Literacy Leader, is shepherding a consultation process that will lead to a national financial literacy strategy, to be unveiled spring 2015.

• A National Steering Committee provides advice to her and acts as a two-way communication link between the national initiatives and those of our stakeholders.

• The first of three consultations, held in the summer 2014, was on financial literacy for seniors. The report on seniors' financial literacy was released October 17th. One of its goals is to engage more Canadians in preparing financially for their senior years, and it highlights the importance of understanding RRSPs, TFSAs and workplace pensions. It encourages governments and PRPP administrators to promote employer participation in PRPPs. It also encourages financial service providers to use clear, transparent and user-friendly information and forms to explain financial topics to seniors.

• The second consultation, on financial literacy for priority groups (low-income, newcomers and Aboriginals), was released for comment October 17th. A third

consultation, on financial literacy for youth and adults, was released November 6th.

• FCAC hosted a Financial Literacy Conference in Vancouver November 6-7. The program focused on "Strengthening Financial Literacy through Collaboration" and included facilitated roundtable discussions on the national strategy, as well as presentations on success stories, measuring effectiveness, and the impact of behavioural economics or "nudges". The conference attracted attendees from government, the financial services sector and non-profit community organizations.

• On November 7th, FCAC launched a national resource database of financial literacy resources, tools and information. Financial services providers, educators and other stakeholders have been invited to submit resources for the database.

• November is Financial Literacy Month. Organizations can register their FLM activities on FCAC's calendar of events. FCAC is also organizing a "My Financial Literacy Selfie" contest for young Canadians.

Report on CLHIA Activities:

• CLHIA is actively involved in the national initiatives: as a participant on the National Steering Committee; providing input to the seniors' strategy consultation as well as the subsequent two consultations; submitting consumer publications to the national resource database; acting as a sponsor at the Financial Literacy Conference; and participating in Financial Literacy Month.

• CLHIA hosted two successful "Clear Communication" one-day seminars in October. The sessions, in Toronto and Montreal, featured clear communication experts, as well as member company success stories.

• The second issue of CLHIA's "The Clear Communicator" online newsletter for members was issued in July 2014.

• A clear-language glossary of insurance terminology was posted on CLHIA's website in September.

• A new Reference Document for members will be released in November. Entitled "A Model demonstrating clear communication principles and technique using examples from insurance policies", it is designed as a tool to help further clear communication in our industry's documents.

Contributor(s): Leslie Byrnes, CLHIA Return to Top

Clear communication seminars a success

On October 2 and 7, 2014 the CLHIA hosted its second Clear Communication Seminars in Toronto (English) and Montreal (French). The seminars were attended by 150 member

company representatives. Each seminar offered a full-day program featuring presentations on clear language writing skills, CLHIA resources, and member company initiatives. In addition, Canada's Financial Literacy Leader, Jane Rooney, presented at both seminars to share her thoughts on how clear communication contributes to consumers' financial literacy. The presentations from both Seminars are available on CLHIA's website at the following links.

Contributor(s): Erica Hiemstra and Claude Di Stasio, CLHIA Return to top

Send us your questions, comments and ideas for future articles A number of our readers have asked how they can get in touch with us about articles they've read in The Clear Communicator or how they can share their questions, comments and ideas about clear communication. Here are a couple of ways you can communicate with us.

• On-line - Visit The Clear Communicator home page any time and click the "comments and ideas" button to send us an e-mail with your comments.

• Via e-mail - We'll include the "comments and ideas" button with each issue of The Clear Communicator that you receive by e-mail. Click the button and send us your thoughts on our current issue and ideas for future articles.

We would love to hear from you!

Contributor(s): Erica Hiemstra, CLHIA Return to top

Staff Contact Erica Hiemstra, Director, Distribution and Consumer Affairs ehiemstra@clhia.ca 416.359.2013 Contact Erica with your questions, suggestions for future articles and to subscribe. Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association 79 Wellington Street West, Suite 2300 P.O. Box 99, TD South Tower Toronto, Ontario M5K 1G8