We are committed to shattering the negative views customers have of insurance.
Peter Levy, Managing Director, BCIC
To fly 12,757 km from Auckland to Kingston takes almost 24 hours. But a shared commitment to clarity crossed borders instantly, for remarkable rewards.
In an industry often criticised for its complex documents, British Caribbean Insurance Company (BCIC) is doing things differently. BCIC is a flagbearer for plain language, proving that clear communication with customers builds trust and delivers business benefits wherever you are in the world.
We are committed to shattering the negative views customers have of insurance.
Peter Levy, Managing Director, BCIC
BCIC is a market leader in Jamaica’s insurance industry, offering insurance solutions for over 60 years. You can also find their insurance products in Barbados, Turks and Caicos Islands, and in more markets to come in 2025.
The company embarked on a clarity journey in 2021, known as Mission Clarity. They wanted to transform the writing culture of BCIC and create insurance products that were as easy as possible for their people and customers to read, understand, and act on.
We’re trying to remove the hoops through which we ask people to jump on a routine basis — hoops that serve no useful purpose a lot of the time.
BCIC partnered with Write Group to build a culture of clear communication across the organisation. Working together was a natural fit for Write because BCIC wanted no barriers to understanding, valued their customers and staff, and would do their best for them.
The heartbeat is the customer. They determine if our communication is clear.
The project was about changing mindsets and creating a workplace culture that valued clarity.
In essence, Mission Clarity followed Write Group’s renowned Rewrite for Change™ framework, which starts with a clear Standard, sets expectations, and trains and supports people to use the Standard.
Figure 1: Rewrite for Change framework™
At the outset, BCIC adopted a tagline for Mission Clarity — ‘Tell me so I can understand’. To help staff understand what was needed and why, the project was launched with videos, presentations, and conversations about what was working well, what could be improved, and the necessary steps towards a plain language culture.
Write helped create a bespoke Plain Language Standard, checklist, and guidelines for all staff to use. The project launch helped people understand the mission and gave them the tools and support to fulfil that mission.
Everyone at BCIC learned how to write so their customers could understand — using the principles of plain language. A dedicated trainer created tailored small-group workshops online with customised materials and examples — training managers and plain language champions first to set the tone and clear expectations.
This initial training was backed up with on-tap microlearning through Write Online, ongoing advice, and a content library of rewritten examples.
The project also took a comprehensive approach to reviewing, rewriting, and user-testing policy documents that went beyond simplifying language.
I was very happy with the way that the work encompassed layout, organisation of content, language — all the ways in which customers interact with one of our documents. If we can’t make it shorter, then we have to at least make it so that people can find what they’re looking for.
Policy document transformations included:
The transformed documents smoothed the way for customers.
BCIC’s commitment to clarity is already making business better.
Three major benefits emerged for BCIC staff and external brokers who interact with BCIC’s customers.
My reaction when I read through this policy was that I was really impressed. I was so impressed with the work that was done, and I hope that the customers who need it are able to navigate it easier, understand it better, and may be less intimidated by it.
That’s really key, you know — if we can remove that feeling of intimidation, we can prevent a lot of negativity that creates problems without us even realising it.
Even the number of questions asked on a form can be intimidating. Peter says an insurance broker who looked at different companies’ insurance application forms found that the highest number of questions asked was 80. The average number was 50, and BCIC’s was 26.
Some benefits are not as easy to measure.
It’s one of those things where what you’re doing is preventing things from happening. You sometimes don’t get the feedback because fewer bad things happen. It’s hard to measure the things that didn’t happen.
The improved documents are also helping BCIC reduce waste.
While it’s natural to expect that a document rewritten to follow the principles of plain language will be shorter than the original — that’s not always the case. Sometimes, it takes more words, summaries, examples, and graphics to help explain a complex topic.
One of the surprising lessons that I came away with was that it sometimes takes more words to say things plainly. Because you think of length and complexity as kind of intertwined, but it’s not necessarily so.
In May 2024, BCIC won the Before & After — Print category at the 2024 ClearMark Awards. Run by the Center for Plain Language in the USA, the Awards recognise the best in plain-language communications — in English, French, or Spanish — from government, non-profit, and private companies across North America.
BCIC won for their Max Motor Policy Booklet. The judges praised BCIC for ‘speaking to users in a way they can understand’ and their ‘fantastic’ testing and evaluation process.
Max Motor Policy Booklet.
The fact that we won in the ‘Before and After’ category was a direct validation of our approach and process.
BCIC also achieved the WriteMark® quality mark on their Home Cover All Policy Booklet. To become a WriteMark® holder, a document must show that it excels in clear communication.
Home Cover All Policy Booklet
With this international recognition, we want customers to know that we care about making our information easy to understand and act on.
BCIC continues to expand their clarity initiative. They’ve transformed their residential and private motor policies and have a roadmap for transforming additional policies and associated information. The company is also expanding its clear communication approach to include its website, emails, letters, and other non-standard communications.
Peter says that doing business across the seas was plain sailing because Write Group invested in their success.
I am very happy with our association with Write — the work that Write did with us and us with Write. I think one of the things that I got from my conversations with Write was that this is a mission for you. It really feels like something that you guys are passionate about and want to do. And, you know, we have dealt with a lot of consulting firms and that’s not typical.
Plain language can transform how you do business and how your customers view you.
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