"May the flexible language lead clients (and customers). Exploring the significance of language in the insurance customer experience.
For the Finns, 'Kalevala' is what 'Pan Tadeusz' is for the Poles – a national epic. Written in the 19th century by a tailor, doctor, and linguist – Elias Lönnrot – it constitutes a collection of folk songs and legends from the regions of Finland, Estonia, and Karelia. Its language, narrative, and characters were an inspiration, among others, for Tolkien. Have any of you read 'Kalevala'? And has anyone read it in the original language?
Reading poetry, epic poems, or literature in general in translation often strips the texts of a certain magic, loses veiled meanings, and, by necessity, becomes an experience different from engaging with the original. Well, to read 'Kalevala,' unfortunately, one couldn't avoid learning Finnish. How many of us know Finnish? Exactly…
Insurance written in Finnish
Although the Finnish language is quite melodic, the country is beautiful, and the people are friendly, few decide to learn this particular language. The reasons can be varied – it is a rather difficult language to learn (partly because it belongs to the narrow Uralic language group) and is not widely spoken, so there is a lack of practical motivation for its study. Therefore, 'Kalevala' is primarily known through translation... Now, you may ask, what does all of this have to do with insurance and the user experience?
Although many insurance companies have understood, much like banking, that the key to upselling is user experience, unfortunately, they often stop at the purchase of travel insurance in three steps. And as we know, building user-friendly applications is more than just placing the 'close' button in the upper right corner and the 'next' button in the lower right. There are many more factors. One of them is the language in which the application, agreement, or terms are written. Poorly chosen language can increase the bounce rate (the rate at which users abandon the process at the beginning or during it).
For the average user, the language of 'insurance' is indeed like 'Finnish.' Writing in a way that is understandable for the user is gold, but only a few reach for it.
Our task is to translate 'insurance language' into Polish. But... which Polish? We need to answer the question – what language does the user speak? Who are they? In insurance, the answer will be diverse. It includes a law professor, marketer, construction worker, shop assistant, driver, nurse, courier, CEO, programmer, and lamp shop owner. It involves both newlyweds and those with long-term experience, single individuals, people with and without children, those wanting to insure themselves 'just in case' and those wanting to insure property against theft, fields against weather conditions, or dogs against medical costs. It's a very broad group of people – a cross-section of society.
Each of these subgroups uses the dialect of its region (I've been reminded of paper clips more than once 😉), the language appropriate for the family in which they were raised, and not infrequently a foreign language. Additionally, they also use the language specific to their professional group. So, what is a double-threaded socket? What are ACL, MCL, microservices architecture, or cognitive dissonance?
Cognitive biases
On one hand, none of us expects to know all these terms, especially if we're not part of a renovation team, not involved in orthopedics, not working in IT, or not a psychologist or therapist. However, we can be sure that each of these people – including ourselves – at some point in life will experience what is known as the 'curse of knowledge' when interacting with someone outside their professional bubble. It is one of the so-called cognitive biases, an illusion that the person we are communicating with possesses exactly the same knowledge as we do. And if so – there is no need to explain anything.
Every individual who delves into a particular subject for an extended period is exposed to the curse of knowledge. It causes the language we use, which is 'transparent' and understandable to us, to be difficult for the recipient to understand or, worse yet, misleading!
When we construct the language used in Technical Communication (TU), our task becomes even more challenging. On a daily basis, we communicate with a large, diverse audience with varying levels of knowledge, language proficiency, and cultural competence. Trying not to succumb to the curse of knowledge, we may be tempted to adopt the approach of 'explaining every little thing' and meticulously clarifying every concept, creating information overload. However, here awaits another hurdle thrown at us by the human cognitive process and the pace of our lives. Meet cognitive overload (I could have written 'cognitive,' it would have been a bit easier, right? 😉 You get my point).
Cognitive overload
Mr. and Mrs. X want to purchase property insurance. They not only have to choose an offer from the insurance company (TU), but after selecting it, they still have to read the General Terms and Conditions (OWU). On one hand, 'who reads terms and conditions these days?' On the other hand, it's worth knowing what you're buying, so they decided to dedicate 2 hours of their lives to this task. Mr. X is a doctor, and Mrs. X is a programmer. Both work quite a lot, mentally, and have high language skills. However, to read the General Terms and Conditions and navigate through the customer portal, they only have time in the evening after finishing work. Unfortunately, the motivation for this task is already scraping the bottom from the beginning. At the thought of contacting the insurance agent, Mrs. X gets anxious, so Mr. X spends an hour but falls asleep in the process due to fatigue.
Despite Mrs. X's strong aversion, who – despite being a millennial – has an attitude towards phone calls closer to Gen Z, the X family schedules a conversation with the agent. When asked, 'How many electrical devices do you have in your home?' both Mrs. X and Mr. X are already mentally on their upcoming vacation, hearing nothing but the steady hum of the sea in their minds. The only response they can muster is 'um... well, quite a few.
The scenario is fictional but highly probable. Cognitive overload is the daily companion of Mr. and Mrs. X (and most of us). Because they engage their cognitive resources intensively throughout the day (another difficult word 😉), by the end of the day, they dream only of passively watching Netflix. Mental effort is slowly surpassing the capacities of their bodies. So, is it possible to conduct the purchasing process of an insurance product in a consumer-friendly way for such individuals?
Questions and answers
To help the user understand and navigate through the insurance process without obtaining a doctorate in insurance, a few things can be done. This, of course, includes replacing difficult industry words (which may sound nice, impressive, and professional but are less friendly to the 'average person') with simple equivalents and explanations. It also involves opting for straightforward syntax and uncomplicated sentences. However, it is also about the way we ask questions! Sometimes, asking a question differently or asking more questions, but simpler ones, can make the entire process more user-friendly. Instead of asking about the number of electrical/electronic devices, you can inquire: "Do you have – a refrigerator, washing machine, microwave, laptop (how many?), obtaining the same data (and even more detailed), but smoothing out the whole process in the client's awareness."
Please, do not expect from me
Not only is the language in which the General Terms and Conditions (OWU) are written or the process of collecting data from the client exposed to being entirely non-user-friendly, but labels or input field labels often take forms that, while sounding professional, only obscure the picture for the customer. They can be described in a much friendlier way:
Due date for the next regular premium 👉🏻 Payment deadline for the premium
(It can be presented as a date if it's longer than 10 days, and if it's shorter – provide the number of days remaining, which will also save cognitive resources 😉)
Often, due to the complexity of insurance products, internal glossaries of terms are created to help users navigate the complex world of the insurance company (TU - Insurance Company). But in light of what we've discussed about cognitive overload, do they really help?
Glossary of terms – down the rabbit hole
Such a dictionary seems to be a place where the user acquires language skills, enabling them to navigate insurance products efficiently. We will learn from it what 'premium allocation,' 'units of participation,' or 'extension' mean. However, often after delving into it, we find explanations that refer to other terms in the glossary. And now the user is lost, jumping from term to term in the glossary. And even if we have avoided such 'loops' in our glossary – how long will it take for the user to read and grasp all the concepts they find there?
Often, it turns out from the user's perspective that the glossary is incomplete (we succumbed to the 'curse of knowledge,' considering something obvious or, on the contrary, decided not to translate something to avoid overwhelming the client), and our clients still have questions for us. The need arises to create a knowledge base in the form of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions). However, even it is not entirely sufficient, leading to the necessity of contacting an agent/hotline or searching for information online.
Summary
To create a user-friendly environment, we need to remember not so much to supplement their knowledge and language skills but to acknowledge the existence of cognitive biases, such as the curse of knowledge, and cognitive overload. Despite the client's high language proficiency and sincere willingness, these cognitive challenges can significantly hinder the understanding of the insurance service/product.
What to do? Where possible, let's use simple language, ask about key things (avoid asking about the TV or car model), which will enable a broader audience to understand the product. Pose questions to clients that won't require significant cognitive resources. When faced with the choice between understandable and persuasive language, stylized versus simple, always choose the one that better facilitates understanding the product. Keep in mind that we are 'translating from Finnish,' so don't be discouraged if questions continue to arise. Some may still confuse gross and net 😉.
If you need help with user experience design, our team will assist you not only in tailoring the language to your user group but also in designing the user journey, low- and hi-fi prototyping, graphic design, and the design and implementation of IT solutions. Contact us at info@finture.com.
