Baffled buyers are bombarded with small print
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Research conducted by ICM on behalf of financial services consultancy Brandspeak shows that consumers sign forms confirming that they have read and understood terms and conditions of documents when they have either not read them at all or have read them but not understood them.
Part of the problem relates to the size of documents. Apparently, two and a quarter pages of A4 is all anyone can be expected to read, and documents should not take more than 25 minutes to trawl through.
Individuals are also turned off by dry language, a high density of text, the use of non-committal weasel words and the complexity of some costing structuresAs to why consumers are reluctant to ask for clarification when they struggle to understand product documents the research reveals that a full 22% think it's not important while an honest 16% say it doesn't matter how many times it is explained to them, they will never get their heads around financial jargon.
Meanwhile, 14% don't ask because they simply don't want to appear dim.
"In their efforts to cover all the regulatory bases providers bombard customers with information, which turns them off," Jeremy Braune, director at Brandspeak, told Chatroom. "This being the case the question has to be - are customers being treated fairly?
"Based on what this research exposes the first step towards ensuring customers are treated fairly would be for the regulator to acknowledge that half the adult population struggles to get to get to grips with even basic product information as it is currently presented.
"For providers this means working back from what the average customer is realistically prepared to digest and producing product literature that will get read," he added.
Source:
Lending Strategy
