Simplifying communication for a business association
We prepared a series of 6 infographics explaining changes in health insurance contributions. As a result, association members stopped calling the office with the same questions.
The Small Workshops Association was drowning in inquiries from its members following changes to health insurance contribution regulations. We prepared materials that explained legal intricacies in 3 minutes without needing to consult the act. The result was a radical reduction in the association's secretariat workload.
The challenge
In August 2024, the Small Workshops Association office received an average of 34 calls per day from frustrated business owners. Most questions concerned the same issue: how to calculate the new health insurance contribution base after selling a fixed asset. Office staff spent over 4 hours every day on the same explanations instead of dealing with current membership matters.
The problem was that official government communications were written in hermetic language. Mechanics and small workshop owners from the Warsaw and Radom areas had neither the time nor the inclination to wade through 12 pages of explanatory memorandum to the act. The lack of clear information built frustration and generated errors in settlements, for which the association's management began to be blamed.
Our approach
The Frakcja Info team started with a one-day audit of inquiries in the secretariat, which we conducted on September 5, 2024. We identified 6 specific situations that caused the most resistance. Instead of writing another article for the website, we opted for a visual format that could be quickly viewed on a smartphone screen in the workshop.
We worked in a two-person team: a legal text analyst and a graphic designer. Each project was tested by one of the mechanics – if they didn't know what to do after 30 seconds of looking at the graphic, we threw the project in the trash. We focused on specific amounts and dates, discarding any unnecessary introductions about the 'importance of changes' or 'market dynamics'.
The solution
We delivered a package of 6 graphics in a purple color palette, matching the Association's identity. Each graphic answered one question, e.g., 'I sold a tow truck in July – what about ZUS?'. We limited the content to 4-5 steps, using arrows and large numbers. In addition, we included a one-page PDF document that served as a cheat sheet for office staff answering phones.
The entire package was sent in a newsletter to 147 association members on Thursday, September 12, at 9:00 AM. We chose this timing intentionally because the Association's data showed that most owners finish their morning briefing then and have a moment to check emails before getting under a car. We prepared the materials so they could be easily forwarded via the WhatsApp application.
Results
The introduction of simple graphics almost immediately cut out repetitive questions. Office staff regained time to prepare for the annual members' meeting, and workshop owners stopped feeling lost in the regulations.
Timeline
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September 5, 2024Analysis of phone logs and selection of 6 key problems.
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September 8, 2024Readability tests of the first version of graphics with mechanics.
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September 12, 2024Dispatch of finished materials and instructions for the secretariat.
"To be honest, I didn't believe that pictures could replace a lawyer's opinion. But after sending those graphics, the office phone simply stopped ringing every five minutes. Our members finally got something they understand without a dictionary."