{"id":3093,"date":"2025-12-19T17:39:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T17:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shiny.agency\/blog\/?p=3093"},"modified":"2025-12-19T17:39:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T17:39:29","slug":"clarity-and-simplicity-win-every-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shiny.agency\/blog\/clarity-and-simplicity-win-every-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarity and simplicity win, every time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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The other day I was talking with a colleague about trimming a Client communication and trotted out one of my favorite quotes* \u201cI\u2019m sorry I could not have written a shorter letter, but I didn\u2019t have time.\u201d I love that because it gets at the heart of the fact that communicating in a concise manner while still providing all the needed information and clarity, is challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That challenge is one that all of us involved in marketing financial services products need to rise to meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarity is what customers and prospective customers need to understand the value of financial services products and to keep them from getting lost in the morass of marketing details that just generates confusion and apathy. And too often, that clarity is sadly missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reduce marketing overload<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The financial services industry loves a great comparison chart, and for good reason: when done well product comparisons help people make a good choice for them. On the flipside, it\u2019s easy to make a poor comparison chart by jamming it with all the information about the products, and not thinking through how to provide a clear, stepped flow of information to help a prospective customer with the right information, at the right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several years ago we developed a credit card finder tool<\/a> for one of our Clients that enables people to get from a pool of 30+ cards to a curated view of ones that specifically meet their needs in a matter of seconds, no marketing copy needed. That\u2019s the type of helpfulness and clarity people need, and what sets our brands apart in the category. The results show that: after more than eight years in the market the tool continues to outperform challenger approaches, because it was built from the ground up, put into user testing with functioning prototypes, and the concept updated based on what we learned. The end result yielded a tool that helps people in a tangible, fast, and simple way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provide direct guidance, not vague suggestions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Our Chief Creative Officer, Shannon Stevens<\/a>, often talks about the critical importance of language in driving behavior. One of his favorite terms to call out is \u201clearn more\u201d as a CTA. As he would say, \u201c\u2019Learn more\u2019\u201d says to the user, if I click that, I\u2019ll have to do work and educate myself, instead of getting an answer the second I click. And no one wants homework when choosing a financial services product.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When thinking of CTA language use clear, tight language that explains what will happen after the person clicks. That \u201clearn more\u201d CTA could become something like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n