Anas Essop, a copywriter at Jaja and a Plain Numbers Practitioner, discusses how the Plain Numbers Approach has become a cornerstone in how he writes communications.

I did my Plain Numbers training over a year ago now. As a Copywriter for a credit card company, participating in the training seemed a no-brainer. Working for a business in the financial industry, part of my job as the Copywriter was ensuring our communications were clear and easy to understand. Credit can be complicated to comprehend, especially from a numbers perspective. It would benefit both the business and our customers if we sent out our communications with a higher certainty that the customers would understand the numbers, and therefore the overall messaging. We want our customers to understand our product, especially as it concerns their finances, which is important. The last thing we want is to put our customers in a difficult financial situation.

So, since undergoing the training, I can say that it has drastically changed the way I look at and write communications. The main difference? It has enabled greater empathy for the customer. It can be easy for anyone to assume that most other people know simple facts that are taken for granted as common knowledge within their businesses and wider industries. But more often than not, that isn’t the case, especially when it comes to numbers and finances. So, when I see a communication or brief with numbers now, my first thought is always “How simple is this for the customer to understand?” The Plain Numbers training has equipped me with the tools to answer that question, allowing me to see the communication from a customer POV. How many numbers are there? Is there a context for the numbers? Do we use any industry jargon? So, when it comes to actually writing a communication, a lot more thought goes into how the numbers and the information around them are represented. With the training I received, I have all the confidence in my ability to present those numbers to the customer in a way that is accessible and easy to understand.

I like to think of Plain Numbers as a win-win for everyone involved. As such, it’s been easy getting the business as a whole on board, because its benefits are clear to see. As a business, Jaja has embedded the Plain Numbers approach by getting employees from different parts of the business trained, so that there’s a holistic approach to applying the principles to any customer-facing communications.

It was a big surprise during the training to learn how widespread of an issue number comprehension was, and the different ways that can be alleviated with even the simplest of changes. With a year of experience as a Plain Numbers practitioner at Jaja, the biggest learning curve has been prioritising the right communications to get certified, and understanding that even a letter or email with a small amount of numbers can still benefit from the application of Plain Numbers.

Now, looking to the future, there’s much to look forward to with our Plain Numbers partnership. We’ve got exciting plans underway to get unique and pivotal applications of the Plain Numbers principles in customers’ hands. It’s engaging work that I can take pride in knowing that ultimately, it will help whoever’s reading my copy to understand what we’re communicating to them, so they can make the best decisions for themselves.