The UK financial sector is of huge significance, with customers and clients often relying on the clear, accurate and timely communication of statements, reminders and other crucial monetary information on a daily basis.
Insurance companies, banking chains, automobile finance organisations, wealth management stakeholders and many more specific service providers operate within this broad industry, which serves tens of millions of individuals with physical and digital documents every single day.
Significantly, the success of many industry-leading companies simply wouldn’t be possible without the correct messaging – not to mention the means of getting this information across.
With increasingly strict regulations and legal requirements ensuring that companies must conduct any communications in a highly organised and relevant manner, not to mention the nuanced requirements of customers within various areas, there’s plenty of value to be found in discussing the specific ways in which communication could and should be carried out within finance.
Let CFH take you through this guide to changing customer communication needs in the sector, with one eye on the future.
Be it a lack of transparency, the idea that a particular product will offer poor returns, or the common perception that service providers don’t act in the best interests of customers, the landscape is a tricky one for financial service providers to navigate in 2024.
Customer trust goes hand in hand with brand loyalty, allowing organisations to gain financial, competitive, and reputational benefits if trust is attained, but this is easier said than done. The Financial Conduct Authority found that just two years ago, 41% of surveyed adults had confidence in the UK financial services industry, with over half of respondents dissatisfied.
One prominent factor leading to this lack of concrete trust is likely the way in which organisations choose to communicate, alongside the forms of communication these providers favour. Just imagine the average ‘terms and conditions’ sections of a sensitive financial document, a large, jargon-filled block of text which is likely difficult to comprehend for the average individual receiving a bank statement or policy document.
Crucially, the manner in which an individual receives their financial communications can be just as important as the content itself. Whereas an SMS message or email may be an appropriate way in which to send out routine information and updates, it may not be deemed a trustworthy way of communicating a repayment notice or regulatory letter for example.
Knowing the way in which to approach consumers relevant to the information being communicated is a valuable skill for financial services providers to master.
Coming into force in July 2023, The Financial Conduct Authority Consumer Duty Principle is a regulatory change that was introduced to set higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across the financial services industry. Organisations are now always required to provide evidence that the communications they send are effective, clear and provide necessary information to the end audience.
A highly significant event for financial service providers up and down the country, the introduction of Consumer Duty guidelines has certainly changed the way in which many organisations operate. With Consumer Duty considered, financial services customers and clients should expect to have a choice of communication channels that best suit their individual needs at any given time, with the relevance and importance of information accounted for.
An example of this principle in practice would be an individual without internet access attempting to access bank account details, and not being provided with the option to view such information away from a web browser. With regulations in place, it would be necessary for the provider to grant access to a printed physical version, or a version better suited to the accessibility needs of the individual.
With Consumer Duty in mind, alongside modern customer and client expectations, the power or printed documents as a form of messaging certainly shouldn’t be overlooked. Interacted with more often and more thoroughly than emails, SMS messages and other forms of digitised communication, physical mail has long been a valuable tool for financial organisations, and this remains no less true today. Revealed in a 2023 JICMAIL study, 95% of mail was engaged with from a sample of 1000 households.
A simple way to upload, print and send documents, at scale, from the comfort of your home, office or elsewhere, hybrid mail solutions are a fantastic alternative to franking machines and traditional postal alternatives. Solutions like CFH’s industry-leading hybrid mail product, Docmail, is already used within small, medium and large financial services organisations, favoured as a scalable and flexible approach to sending printed documents at the click of a button.
The fact remains that a large number of financial decisions are made at home – with direct mail sent to the door of a recipient, and able to effectively start conversations with its shareable nature. Trust is also a huge factor when discussing financial communications, and mail remains a leading format in this regard, while security is just as important within contexts in which financial information is being communicated.
From getting across key information within invoices and bank statements to highlighting new services and products, printed mail is still a leading option to address varied communication needs in the finance sector.
CFH managed service solution provides a secure alternative to management and sending sensitive communications to 18,000 recipients.
Oakbrook Finance partners with CFH for compliant, efficient mail delivery of regulatory notices to clients.
Partnering with CFH, not for profit organisation Lewisham Plus Credit Union increase member engagement with 13,000 members with secure, printed communications.
Digitally transforming high street bank process to increase speed to market, audience sign up rate and remain competitive.
Managed service solution, streamlines the sending of 150,000 member statements for Capital Credit Union
RBKC streamline the communication process, to engage with members in a secure, cost effective and trusted way – hybrid mail.
CFH was involved in a successful initiative that secured £8.4 million for pensioners across London. With over 8,000 pensioners across London entitled to Pension Credit but not claiming, Policy in Practice, a social policy and analytics company, drove an initiative to engage with eligible residents.
