Key Takeaways
- Plain language improves both health outcomes and business success.
- Conduct qualitative and quantitative research to understand audience comprehension.
- Document and share plain language rules using clear examples and internal tools.
- Regularly audit and update content to enforce plain language standards effectively.
Last time, we focused on the ways in which plain language helps people improve their health outcomes and health businesses bolster their bottom lines. We'll wrap up our discussion by looking at conducting research, activating and implementing insights, enforcing standards, and spreading the word about plain language in your organization. We'll also talk about the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in content development.
Know your audience
First, invest in understanding what your audience understands. Conduct cognitive research to learn how well your audience comprehends the information you share with them. Qualitative (verbal) and quantitative (behavioral) research methods are important in testing cognitive ability. Using both gives you a more complete picture of your audience.
Here's an example of a result from qualitative research: We asked 1000 adults whether they know what provider means as a standalone word in a health care communication, and 76% of respondents said yes.
That's great, but it's far from being the whole story. The quantitative research tells a different tale: We presented a multiple-choice question to 1000 adults that asked them to select the correct definition of provider as a standalone word in health care communication, and 18% of respondents selected the correct definition.
The takeaways: Your audience doesn't actually understand provider as a standalone word in a health care communication, and they're likely to overestimate their ability to understand that word.
Your next step is to determine, through research, which word, phrase, or context clue improves comprehension when compared to provider. You'll then analyze the results, document them as a rule, and share the rule.
It's time for show and tell
Make it easy for everyone to see, understand, and use the rules that emerge from your research. A table that has columns for technical terms, plain language, rules, and usage examples is an effective way to document and display the rules. Here's an example:
| Technical term | Plain language | Rules | Examples |
| Provider | Doctor or health care professional | Use doctor as a standalone reference. Use health care professional when doctor isn't the most accurate term or when you need to include several types of health practitioners. | The doctor you usually see accepts your insurance plan. Health care professionals near you are ready to treat your seasonal allergies. |
Create an intranet page for your rules or add them to an existing set of style or brand rules. Ensure ongoing visibility and alignment by sending an email and posting an internal announcement when you update the rules. Take your research and rules on a roadshow. Walk-throughs are a great way to show value and results—and earn critically important buy-in.
Enforcing the rules
You've gained, activated, documented, and shared the insights that now shape your business's rules for plain language. Now, it's time to enforce those rules.
Audit existing content. Prioritize the messaging that is in market and is very likely to remain in market for the long haul. Volume and value are also important indicators. Here are two ways to get started immediately:
- Use the find and replace tool in the word-processing application you use. Target the technical words and phrases, and then switch them out with plain language. Sure, this is painfully straightforward—but avoid the temptation to rush in and hit the replace all button. It's essential that you replace technical language properly, case by case, based on the rules you've established.
- Purchase seat licenses for software that integrates into your word-processing software or works alongside it. The software should point out complex terminology, long sentences, multi-syllabic words, and other elements that complicate content. It should also offer a variety of readability frameworks and reading grade levels.
Continue to ensure the resource you've developed for plain language is front and center. Refer to or include the rules when completing creative briefs, working with external agencies, meeting with your sales and support teams, and so on. Take the time to make sure they understand the why behind it. Your goal is to guarantee that new content always aligns with research-backed standards for plain language.
Focus on continuous improvement and evolution, too. A word or concept that most understand today may be unclear to them five years from now. Ongoing test-and-learn activities will keep your rules for plain language fresh and relevant. A / B testing is an interesting and useful way to stay ahead. Compare your current state to a proposed future state, and then use the resulting data to make an objective decision about next steps.
The role of artificial intelligence
The benefits and value of AI in life science marketing.
Development & Technology • Insights & Trends
Should AI have a place in your strategy for plain language? Maybe. Right now, the risks outweigh the rewards when it comes to relying solely on a generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) solution for content-intensive work. Privacy, data ownership, and copyrights are very serious concerns that are unlikely to go away tomorrow.
Yes, a GPT solution can generate outputs with useful content, but it's really not equipped to handle brand voice, tone modulation, diversity in vocabulary and sentence structure, or requirements for reading grade levels. Experienced writers certainly are capable of doing those things and more.
So, what can AI do to add value to health care marketing and communications? It can aid the marketer by summarizing lengthy, complex clinical research quickly. If, for example, you wanted to create a campaign that encourages people to get tested for diabetes, you could upload a long, technical, scientific study to the GPT and prompt it to distill the scholarly research into a 100-word summary. The caveat, of course, is that you would then also have to do the following at a minimum:
- Review the GPT's output and check it against the source for accuracy. AI makes mistakes. AI also misses the point sometimes.
- Overhaul the GPT's output to ensure compliance with your rules for plain language, brand voice, tone, and more. Plus, you don't own the content the GPT produces for you, which makes substantial modification—if not a complete rewrite—an absolute must if your organization cares about copyright protection.
- Credit and cite the original work you summarized with at least a footnote in your campaign or communication.
“After all of that, I could have just summarized the research paper myself.” If that's what you're thinking, well, yeah—maybe. And don't forget about dialing in the prompts you give the GPT. In many cases, the less you give it to work with on the front end, the less it gives you to work with on the back end.
This is the most important thing to keep in mind: If there's anything you're not 100% certain about when it comes to using AI to develop content, consult with your company's legal counsel before you do anything at all with the technology.
A purpose that's plain to see
Health care involves investments of time, money, and emotion that typically exceed what people are used to making in their day-to-day decisions. When you communicate in plain language, you simplify the process of making care decisions and improve the way people feel about health care, their health outcomes, and your brand.
