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Weasel Words Weaken Claims Processing

by Gary Blake
Director
The Communication Workshop

The words you use in your claims correspondence define you and your insurance company. They can spell the difference between maintaining good professional relationships with claimants, regulators and attorneys, and straining those relationships with wishy-washiness and lots of extra words.

"Wordiness" is defined as using unnecessary words to make a point. Instead of writing: "This will acknowledge receipt of your letter of July 29, 1999," you could just write: "We've received your July 29th letter…."

Extra words, especially words that are stuffy, just weigh down a letter. If you don't think wordiness is a big deal, consider this: 100 million people are expected to be using e-mail by 2000, up from 66 million today. The typical claims professional receives an average of 25 e-mails per day. Many of the e-mails, sent and received, are filled with extra words and could be cut in half if the writers were trained to write carefully and care about the reader's attention span.

As I travel from insurance company to insurance company teaching claims writing, I find that more than 80 percent of the letters I read have large patches of wordiness—words that, with an extra moment's thought, you could cut without losing a drop of meaning.

To guide you in cutting extra words from your sentences and paragraphs, I'll give you some typical wordy phrases, each followed by a concise substitute in parentheses:

• A large number of (many).

• Absolutely complete (complete).

• After the conclusion of (after).

• As a general rule (generally).

• As you may or may not know (as you may know).

• Can be in a position to (can).

• Despite the fact that (although).

• Due to the fact that (since, because).

• During the course of (during).

• Hold a meeting (meet).

• In compliance with your request (at your request).

• In a timely manner (soon).

• In many cases (often).

• In the event that (if).

• In the majority of cases (often).

• Make a recommendation that (recommend).

• On a daily basis (daily).

• Perform an analysis of (analyze).

• Start off (start).

Hedging in your claims letters may seem second nature to you. After all, you cannot be expected to be absolutely sure of everything being claimed in a claim.

Yet that does not mean we should couch all of our statements in hedgy language, using weasel words to buy some "wiggle room" between the truth and our "understanding of the situation."

There are some situations that must be hedged because, clearly, the outcome is out of your control. For example: You wrote: "I've mailed you a letter and you should receive it Tuesday." You can't (unless you sent it via a speedy delivery service) guarantee that it will be there Tuesday. So, you could write: "I've mailed you a letter and you'll probably get it on Tuesday." Weaker: "I've mailed you a letter and you may get it on Tuesday."

Good writing is authoritative. Maybe that's why all those non-fiction bestsellers in the "How-To" category sell so well—they make a promise. No book would sell with the title "How To Possibly Win Friends and Often Influence People." Your readers look to you as a source of authoritative information.

If you are going to make a judgment or give an opinion, you should at least tell your reader where you got that opinion.

For example, don't write: "It is my understanding that your claimant made a right turn without signaling." Tell the reader your source of information: "According to Bill Smith, who witnessed the accident, you made a left turn without signaling."

The following list gives you weasel words and phrases to use sparingly:

• About

• Adequate

• And/or

• Appropriate

• Approximately

• As applicable

• As circumstances dictate

• As much as possible

• As needed

• As required

• As soon as possible

• At your earliest convenience

• Basically

• Depending on

• Frequently

• Good

• If appropriate

• If required

• If warranted

• In a timely manner

• Indicated

• In general

• In most cases

• In our opinion

• In some cases

• In most instances

• It is our understanding

• It may

• Major

• Make an effort to

• Maybe

• More or less

• Normally

• Often

• On occasion

• Perhaps

• Primary

• Relevant

• Roughly

• Should be

• Sometimes

• Striving for

• Suitable

• Tentatively

• Try

• Typically

• Usually

• Valid

• We intend to

• When necessary

• When possible

When you use hedge words, you sound like you're being evasive even when you don't intend to be.

While all the words and phrases on this list are real (that is, their definitions can be found in the dictionary), they become problematic when people overuse them. When that happens, people undermine their messages, watering down their ideas and their authority.

Whenever you're tempted to use a hedgy word, first see if you can get around the problem by using one of the following methods:

1) Do more research, so instead of making an educated guess, you have definite information. For example, instead of saying, "It is my understanding that the convention is in Anaheim on March 15," make a call, find out for sure, and write: "The convention will be in Anaheim on March 15."

2) If authoritative information is difficult to obtain, at least give your reader the source on which you've based your ideas: "According to Tom, who'll be an exhibitor, the convention will be in Anaheim on March 15."

3) Instead of qualifying a thought with a phrase such as "when warranted" or "if appropriate" or "in most cases," be specific. Do not write, "If appropriate, we send our reports in 10" x 13" envelopes." Instead, write, "When reports are more than 20 pages, we send them in 10" x 13" envelopes."

If you think your claims department letters are not hedgy, consider these snippets from a single claims letter written by an adjuster at a major insurer:

"I will try to discuss these issues in this letter … It is my understanding that … Although I cannot confirm the extent of the project, it appears … assuming the above to be accurate … I am advised that …presumably … To the extent that these events did occur … It appears the bathroom could be repaired for $100 …I have no knowledge as to why it is alleged to have warped …Thus it is hard to comment upon whether this would be covered …I believe the above covers all of the damage I am aware of."

This masterpiece of hedging belongs in the Guinness Book of World Records as hedgiest insurance letter ever written, or "maybe" it's more typical than we know!

Gary Blake is a Port Washington, N.Y.-based writing consultant who presents onsite writing seminars for claims and other Insurance professionals. He is the Author of "The Elements of Business Writing" (Macmillan). He welcomes E-mails at garyblake@aol.com or visit his web site at www.writingworkshop.com.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, May 29, 2000.
Copyright © 2000 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.
Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.