If you’ve ever worked closely with a client rolling out a consumer-driven health care plan (CDHP) for the first time, you probably know that convincing employees to make the switch can sometimes feel like pulling teeth.

The problem isn’t that the CDHPs aren’t the right fit for many of them—they are. CDHPs offer employees clear-cut benefits like more control over their health care options—something 85% of consumers say they want—and reduce participants’ health care costs by an average of 12%. But unless employers are strategic and clear in the way they communicate the value of their CDHPs, employees are likely to assume the worst, letting their fears and anxieties drive their decisions.

Some are resentful of having to re-think their options. Others may be dubious that this new plan could be both good for their employer and good for them. They hear “consumer-driven” and think, “Wait, I’m responsible for figuring this all out now?” They hear “high deductible” and think, “Why would I want a plan that makes me pay more?” They find out that CDHPs usually come paired up with a HRA or HSA and think, “That sounds like a lot more work.” As a result, they default to the relative safety of the HMO or PPO plans they’re used to—even if those plans are costing them more time and money.

So what can agents like yourself do to help your clients communicate the value of CDHPs in a way that helps employees see the light? Here are four tips you might pass on:

1) Focus exclusively on what CDHPs can do for employees.

As you and your clients know well, employees who participate in a CDHP are more likely to weigh the costs of health care, take responsibility for budgeting for their needs and, ultimately, save money for themselves and your clients in both the long and short term.

But often, employees don’t care about the bigger picture. All they really want to know is: “What do I get? And how much is going to cost me?” So that’s all you need to tell them, as simply and clearly as possible, across all of your communications.

2) Use clear, attractive visuals to communicate CDHP savings.

Many employees would rather look at an infographic or chart than read a few paragraphs of text, regardless of how engaging it is. That’s why it’s worth your while to enlist the services of a graphic designer to create a snappy and easy-to-understand visual that compares the total CDHP costs (annual prices for all premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket expenses, with the savings subtracted from HRA/HSA) with the total costs of the other traditional plan options. Employees will be pleasantly surprised to see that the premiums plus the deductible of a CDHP may already be lower than their other options.

3) Explain CDHPs as a cohesive program.

Most CDHPs comprise some combination of a high-deductible health plan and either an HRA or HSA. To many employees, this sounds like double the headache. So instead of focusing on how a CDHP requires juggling two things, use language that presents these components as a unified program that gives employees more control.

Also, when you do talk about HRAs or HSAs, avoid complicated tax-related terms and keep the message very simple. For a client with an HRA plan, the message might simply be: “We give you money to use to pay for your health care expenses.”

4) If possible, create a more appealing name for the CDHP option.

The names employers assign to their plans can influence the decision making of their employees, for better or worse. If it’s possible—at least internally—choose plan names that are either neutral (The Red Plan, The Green Plan, The Blue Plan) or positioned in such a way to focus on the benefits you most want to advertise. Imagine, for example, how employees might respond to a “Low-Premium Plan” as opposed to a “High-Deductible Plan.”

At the end of the day, anything you can do to help both your clients and their employees save money is going to make you look better as an agent—while giving clients yet another reason to trust you with their business year in and year out.

Mark Rader is a benefits communication specialist for Jellyvision.