The Consumer Duty 2.0 Report – Are you ready for the long game?

As the 31st of July edges ever closer, many financial brands are discovering that true success in meeting the FCA’s Consumer Duty is going to take more than a few sticking plasters. Our new research highlights the gaping holes within in the area of consumer understanding, and discusses the long-term, wider strategy that’s required to close them.  

Powerful insights  

Created in partnership with Quadient, this report details how when over 400 people were faced with non-marketing communications about things like Ts&Cs, fee increases or product maturity, fewer than 10% of them gave the correct answer when tested on comprehension.  

And perhaps even more striking than this, is how the low level of comprehension contrasts with customer’s perceived level of understanding. When asked if they felt they had a strong grasp of financial communications 53% were extremely confident in their ability. 

We increased understanding by 3 times  

When our financial communications experts applied a blend of content and behavioural science best practice, we saw a huge increase in customer understanding from 8% to 25%. However, 25% is still not likely to be enough to meet Consumer Duty expectation.  

True success only exists in the transformation of the wider strategy behind how customer communications are planned, designed, processed and measured. 

Consumer Duty 2.0 

It’s a long game. In particular, the shift that’s required to meet the expectations of Outcome 3: Consumer Understanding. Financial institutions need to stop thinking about a communication as an ‘output’ and understand that each one is a mid-point in a much bigger journey.  

What firms have to say about it 

We complemented our customer understanding research with powerful insights from individuals who are accountable for meeting Consumer Duty expectations, within some of the UK’s leading Financial Services brands. Here’s a snapshot of what they had to say: