Consumer Duty has forced firms to define fair value more carefully, but too many have treated this as a compliance exercise rather than a brand opportunity. You’ve put the work in to understand and define the value you deliver – so how can you make that clear, human and distinctive for customers, brokers, advisers and internal teams?

Consumer Duty has made clarity a regulatory requirement, but the opportunity is bigger than compliance. When customers and brokers really get what you’re offering, it’s easier for them to understand, trust, recommend and choose your brand. It makes sales and marketing a whole lot easier, too.

Most financial services firms have already done the hardest bit. They’ve workshopped their fair value assessments, updated their governance processes, fine-tuned their frameworks. The problem is, too little of that work then makes it into language their customers, brokers, advisers or members can actually understand, let alone use. And when value gets trapped inside an organisation, that’s not just a communications issue – it’s a brand issue.

The question is, how do you release that value from the confines of the governance documents and make it something people care about? The answer, as ever, lies in language.

Key takeaways

• Value that’s only understood internally isn’t yet brand value.
• Consumer Duty has made clear communication a regulatory and commercial priority.
• Plain English isn’t dumbing down – it’s reducing friction.
• Intermediaries need language they can repeat.
• Clearer value communication starts with sharper positioning.

Why value communication is so difficult in Financial Services

Financial Services was never going to be a walk in the park on the communications front.

Externally, the subject matter can come across as bone-dry at best and, for consumers, scary at worst. There’s inherent complexity in the products themselves, and the differences between them can be subtle to the point of causing confusion. And that’s without starting on the Ts & Cs.

Internally, pressure to comply with FCA and other stakeholders’ expectations, and to secure the all-important legal sign-off, can result in communications that tick all the regulatory boxes but lack the key ingredients for engaging a reader. That value you workshopped? It seems to be showing something of a talent for disguise.

On top of that, Financial Services has, to be blunt, some trust issues. Years of opacity, complexity, and – at times – straightforward dishonesty have left a legacy that the sector is still working through. And the response from too many FS brands has been to retreat further behind formal language, qualified statements, and risk-averse communications.

Which is a shame. Because people don’t want formal. They don’t want polished-to-the-point-of-meaningless. They want to feel that there’s a real organisation behind the logo – with real values, real people, and a genuine understanding of the world they inhabit.

Consumer Duty has changed the communications brief

Authenticity, openness, and genuine human warmth aren’t soft options for FS brands – to all intents and purposes, they’re a regulatory requirement. Because Consumer Duty is, at its core, a mandate to communicate more clearly and more humanly. 

The brands who’ve already understood that it isn’t just a compliance framework have had a head start. They know that it’s raised the bar for how firms explain value, support understanding and help people make better decisions – and they’ve already done the legwork required to put their customers’ needs first.

To stay competitive, that’s something all financial services brands should be doing. The starting point: using Consumer Duty as the best brand brief your sector has ever seen.

The jargon problem

The FCA is explicit: firms must communicate in a way that customers can understand. But you know as well as we do that the jargon is a problem. The FS sector has practically invented a second language – and it’s one designed, intentionally or not, to obscure rather than connect.

APRs. LTVs. ERCs. Who knows what they mean, and frankly, who cares? Life’s too short.

Believe it or not, you can be in Financial Services and still sound like a human being. 

Communicating clearly means that keeping it real – writing and speaking in plain, human language – is now both a commercial and a compliance imperative. The brands making the most progress are those who’ve noticed that the two are not in conflict. You can be compliant and clear. You can be regulated and real.

Five ways to communicate value more clearly

Crucially, we’re not talking about dumbing down here. You can make a complex proposition easier to understand without losing accuracy. It’s about keeping things simple. Speaking like a human being. Picking out a central message. Focusing on what your audience wants to hear (which, as we say, definitely isn’t jargon).

The fundamentals for value communication can be distilled into a few important ingredients:

• A clear audience
• A defined problem
• An advantage
• Proof
• Language people actually use
• Consistency across touchpoints

Let’s turn that into a practical framework:

1. Start with the audience’s world, not the product.
2. Translate features into meaningful outcomes.
3. Use language people already use.
4. Say what you do not do as well as what you do.
5. Build proof into the story, not as an afterthought.

Why not trial it on smaller, everyday comms until it becomes a habit – and then roll it out across everything, policy wordings and all?

What this looks like in practice

So far, so abstract. Time for a dive into some concrete examples of what it really means to speak your audience’s language.

Bevan Money

Our work with Bevan Money is a great illustration of human value communication in the Banking & Lending sector. Bevan was founded to provide mortgages and savings to public sector workers who cannot afford an average-priced home across most of the UK. Our “Are you ready for the best shift ever?” campaign shows how honing in on values shared between firm and consumer can set the scene for a financial proposition that’s human, specific and memorable. The language we used to describe their goals is direct, accessible and jargon-free – clarity that their audience more than deserves.

Pepper Money

Our work on Pepper Money’s verbal identity is further proof that language matters. This mortgage lender specialises in supporting those who struggle to get credit elsewhere. Working with customers who are sometimes vulnerable – sometimes even scared – requires communication that’s direct, inclusive, non-judgemental and down-to-earth.

We developed a bespoke verbal ecosystem for Pepper, using accessible language and Flesch-Kincaid Grades 6–8 as a pillar. The result: the brand can now speak in an unthreatening way that all their customers can understand, while still making sure important messages get through.

Willis Towers Watson Affinity

As we noted earlier, the FS sector is dogged by complexity – but where there’s a will, there’s a way to simplify more or less anything. Even in the complicated B2B InsurTech market. Working with Willis Towers Watson Affinity, we got round this challenge by approaching our audience as human beings prone to falling into the trap of thinking ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. And so, our ‘Never Settle’ concept was born – dramatised with the sector-defying assertion that ‘acceptable is unacceptable’. WTW emerged as a thought leader, and all thanks to the power of talking to, and like, real people.

Over to you

Authenticity, openness, and genuine human warmth aren’t soft options for FS brands – they’re a regulatory and commercial imperative. If your value is clear internally but not landing externally, the problem may not be the product. It may be the story. Need some help with that? Let’s talk.

A practical value communication checklist

• Who needs to understand our value?
• What pressure or problem are they facing?
• What do we make possible?
• What can we prove?
• What would they say about us in their own words?
• What jargon can we remove?
• What is the single sentence we want people to remember?

FAQs

What is value communication in financial services?

Value communication is all about clearly explaining the benefits a financial product or service provides to customers. Rather than focusing on features alone, it helps people understand how a product meets their needs and why it’s good value. For financial services brands, this means turning complex propositions into simple, customer-focused messages that build trust and help them make better decisions.

How does Consumer Duty affect brand messaging?

Consumer Duty requires financial services firms to communicate clearly and help customers make informed decisions. This means messaging should focus on transparency, customer outcomes, and explaining benefits, costs and risks in a way that’s easy for them to understand. The result: communications that are not only more compliant, but also more effective at building customer trust and engagement.

Why is plain English important in financial services?

Financial products can be complex, but customer communications shouldn’t be. Using plain English helps customers understand important information quickly and confidently, reducing the risk of confusion or poor financial decisions. It also supports accessibility, making products and services easier to grasp for a wider audience.

From a regulatory perspective, clear communication is a key expectation under Consumer Duty. Firms must ensure that information is presented in a way that customers can genuinely understand, rather than simply making it available.

Beyond compliance, using plain English has commercial benefits. Customers are more likely to engage with messaging they can easily understand, and clear communication helps build credibility, trust, and stronger long-term relationships.

How can a regulated firm sound more human?

It’s simple: by using clear, customer-focused language and avoiding unnecessary jargon. You can be approachable and relatable without losing accuracy, professionalism or compliance. Translate features into meaningful outcomes and talk to customers in their own language. And don’t forget to build in proof by using evidence-based explanations of benefits.

How can intermediaries help communicate value?

Intermediaries such as advisers, brokers, and comparison platforms play an important role in helping customers understand the value of your financial products and services. Providing you can explain your proposition clearly to them, they can then explain complex information in simpler terms to customers, highlighting how your products meet their specific needs and providing context around costs, benefits, and risks. This helps improve customers’ understanding of your offering so that they can make better decisions.