The Financial Conduct Authority says customer-facing documents should be 'clear, fair and not misleading.'
Moreover, the Consumer Duty proposals set out that communications must be understandable and facilitate informed consumer decisions. It will also require more of firms to validate and adapt documents accordingly.
Would your company’s documents pass that test?
At Fairer Finance, we analyse hundreds of terms and conditions, and policy documents, every six months - as part of the research that underpins our unique customer experience ratings.
Most documents are too long, contain complex language that the average consumer may not understand, and are poorly designed.
We work with companies to make their documents clearer - both from a language and design perspective.
There are three tiers to the work we do with businesses.
1. Document review
Our document review service analyses and marks up documents line by line. As part of the service, calculating the reading grade of the document, highlight financial and everyday jargon, assess layout and design, and provide suggestions for how to improve language and structure.
2. Assisted rewrite
Our assisted rewrite service supports companies that are looking to rewrite their documents internally. We begin by providing a new draft structure for the document, helping order the document in a more intuitive way for customers. Then, once a first draft has been delivered to us, we mark up the document with suggestions for improvements. Crucially, we then hold at least one challenge session with key stakeholders from the legal and compliance departments - and also from underwriting in the case of insurance.
3. Complete rewrite
When we rewrite documents we start from scratch, creating a new structure before starting on a fresh draft. We create documents with a reading age of 11 or less. We then hold a series of challenge sessions with internal stakeholders to discuss concerns and work towards a final draft that is clear for customers but also protects the company.
