Are you kind to your customers?
TLDR - clarity is kindness - be clear with your customers.
It started with a letter.
With basic pixelated brown imagery, boring headings, and chunks of text, absolutely nothing jumped off the page.
I stared at it blankly.
It’s from my pension provider*, I realised.
I stared a bit longer, fully gormless by now.
What do they want me to do?
I wasn’t sure.
So I parked it in the spot reserved for letters destined for ‘the man draw’.
Hang about, I thought.
I’m a behavioural economist at Fairer Finance – if I can’t figure this out… then what hope do others have?
I returned with a vengeance (with a coffee).
I read every word.
Then, it hit me.
They don’t want me to do anything.
They’re writing to me because they have to (thank you regulation).
But they’re quite happy with the docile, inert Tim that they’re used to.
Clarity is kindness
‘Clarity is kindness’ has been attributed to different authors (I think I came across it in a Patrick Lencioni book). When clarity is possible, the decision to allow ambiguity is often unkind.**
Being clear with your customers is being kind because:
领英推荐
Ironically, the letter I received includes the sentence:
‘We want to help you get a better understanding of your pension and retirement options so you can make the most of your retirement.’
This is a classic example of writing for the regulator, rather than for the customer. I don’t feel like they really want me to get a better understanding.
Clarity is pro-competitive
We also care about clarity in communications because it helps consumers shop-around for the best products and services. And it would be hard for people to learn from their past decisions if they don't get clear communications (When will they learn? | LinkedIn).
More competition is usually good for consumers (accepting that in certain scenarios, regulation is required to mitigate the negative consequences of a highly competitive market).
Clarity is trusted
Even if you didn’t care about your consumers, clarity helps build trust in your brand.
If clarity is lacking, so will loyalty.
Next time I get a letter from my pension provider, I’m going to be damn sure to read it carefully to check they aren’t hiding anything in the small print. I probably wouldn’t have bothered otherwise.
How to make letters clear?
To be fair to my pension provider, that letter isn't the worst I've ever seen. But it does leave a lot of room for improvement.
Here are five ideas...
With the Consumer Duty, it is important to build the evidence that your letters are effective in communicating to customers. In doing so, you may need some Guinea Pigs to test them on.
*Brand name available on request.
**Obviously, this isn't an excuse to treat people without respect.