Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex … It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction. — Albert Einstein
In the United States, one in seven adults can't read. That's 32 million people — roughly the population of Canada.
In Canada, 40% of adults struggle with low literacy. Among these nine million, 15% face "serious problems dealing with any printed materials".
We haven't talked about basic math skills or financial literacy yet.
Financial products and services have an additional burden: they are intangible. You can't gauge a good insurance contract by touch. You can't smell the better annuity.
You can be sure that you have clients and prospects who do not understand you, whether they admit this or not.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.—Albert Einstein
Visuals help. Audio recordings help. Video helps. Guess how many videos were viewed online in March 2009 in the US? Would you believe 11.5 billion? That's an increase of 64% over last year. In contrast, online newspaper readership is about 3.5 billion page views per month, an increase of 13% over last year. Even those who can read may prefer the ease of listening or watching.
How can you make your messages simpler?
Links
- 1 in 7 US adults are unable to read this story (USA Today)
- adult literacy in Canada (ABC Canada)
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