I’ve Written Benefits Communications No One Wanted to Read—Here’s What I’ve Learned (Plus 5 Tips to Help You Do It Better)

Let me start with a confession:

I’ve written benefit communications that were... beautifully formatted, technically accurate, and completely unread.

We’ve all been there. Writing a detailed email or slide thinking “this will answer every question!” only to get hit with a flood of the same questions the very next day.

Over the years, I’ve been lucky to work with some incredible benefit communication vendors and internal comms teams who know how to bring a message to life. (And if you’ve got a budget and need a referral, feel free to DM me, I’m always happy to share a few trusted partners.)

But I’ve also been in roles where there was no budget, no design support, and no additional resources.

So I had to get creative fast.

Here’s what I’ve learned through trial, error, and a whole lot of open enrollment seasons:

1. Ditch the Jargon - It Doesn’t Help

Terms like HDHP, EOI, and FSA might feel natural to us in HR, but to most employees, they’re a foreign language. If they need a glossary to understand your message, they’re tuning out.

Say it simply. “Need extra life insurance? You may have to answer a few health questions first” is much easier to digest than “EOI is required.”

💡 Pro tip: If your friend outside of HR wouldn’t understand it, rewrite it.

2. Keep It Skimmable - People Are Busy

The truth is, most people won’t read the entire email, guide, or intranet post. And that’s okay! Your goal isn’t for them to read everything—it’s for them to walk away with one important thing that matters to them.

Use headlines, bullets, bolding, and short paragraphs. Help them get the info they need fast.

🧠 Think: “Could someone get the gist of this in under 30 seconds?”

3. Lead with What Matters Most

Don’t make people scroll through five paragraphs before they get to the good stuff.

Start with what’s new, what’s changing, or what’s in it for them. For example: “You can now add your partner to your health plan.” is way more compelling than “The 2025 open enrollment period will begin on…”

🎯 Employees want to know how this impacts them—make it easy.

4. Say It Again, in Different Ways

One email isn’t enough. If it’s important, it needs to be repeated—through email, Slack, meetings, the intranet, digital signage, posters, mailings or whatever works best for your people.

Consistency builds awareness. Repetition builds action.

🔁 Don’t be afraid to repeat yourself. Clarity takes follow-through.

5. Visuals Help - Even Basic Ones

A simple chart, comparison table, or screenshot of the benefits portal can save someone (and you) a lot of confusion.

You don’t need fancy graphics. Even a quick Canva layout or a labeled screenshot from your desktop can make a huge difference.

📸 Show them what to expect and where to click.

Final Thoughts

Not everyone will read the entire communication and that’s okay. Your job is to make sure they understand what they need to know in a way that’s easy, clear, and human.

Whether you have a vendor, an internal comms team, or just yourself and a Canva template, these five strategies can help you create messages people will actually pay attention to.

Need a little help?
I’ll be sharing more tips (using AI to help) and plug-and-play communication templates soon to make this part of your job a whole lot easier.

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