Webinar: Communicating with Impact: Delivering Better Outcomes for Vulnerable Customers

A communication being delivered doesn’t mean it worked

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A letter arrives.

An email is opened.

An SMS reaches the right phone.

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Useful measures, certainly. But they don’t prove the customer understood the message, knew what mattered or could take the next step.

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That distinction matters for every customer. It matters even more when someone is under financial or emotional pressure, dealing with poor health, facing a major life event or struggling with low confidence.

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Vulnerability is not always recorded. It can be hidden, temporary or triggered by a sudden change in someone’s circumstances. Designing communications only around disclosed needs will always leave gaps.

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The better question is not simply, “Did we send it?”

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It is, “Did the customer have a fair opportunity to receive it, understand it and act?”

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Why important messages still fail

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When someone is under pressure, their ability to take in information and make decisions can reduce.

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A dense or threatening message may make matters worse. The customer avoids it, misses the required action and faces greater pressure when the next communication arrives.

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From the organisation’s point of view, the account shows no response.

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From the customer’s side, the problem may be confusion, fear or not knowing where to begin.

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This doesn’t mean assuming vulnerability every time someone misses a payment or fails to respond. It means recognising that the organisation may not know the full story, then designing communications that reduce avoidable harm.

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A practical way to review customer communications

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During our recent webinar with the Credit Services Association, we introduced the CLEAR framework.

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CLEAR is a practical way to review the whole customer journey, rather than focusing only on the wording of one letter, email or SMS.

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Consider the customer

‍What’s happening in the customer’s world?

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Customer records tell you what has happened.

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Two missed payments. No reply. An overdue balance.

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They rarely explain why.

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Poor health, bereavement or a loss of income may sit behind that behaviour. Or it may be something else entirely. The aim is not to guess or diagnose the customer’s circumstances.

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Instead, ask:

• What could they misunderstand?
• What harm could that misunderstanding cause?
• Would this communication still feel fair and clear if an unrecorded support need existed?

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Data may highlight a pattern worth reviewing. It should not be treated as a complete explanation of the person behind it.

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Lower the mental load

‍Is the message easy to understand?

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Lowering the mental load does not mean stripping out important legal or operational detail.

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It means deciding what the customer needs to understand first.

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A useful hierarchy is:

1. What this is about
2. What to do next
3. Where to get help

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If someone needs to pay £50 by Friday, make that easy to find. Don’t bury it halfway down the second page.

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Try giving the communication to someone outside the team that wrote it. Ask them what it means and what they would do next.

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A pause usually tells you something.

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Clear does not mean incomplete. It means prioritised.

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Enable access and action

‍Can they access the information and take the next step?

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Accessibility has two parts.

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First, can the customer receive the information in a format that works for them?

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That might mean large text, a requested paper colour or another suitable format. The right choice should follow the customer’s stated need, not an assumption about a condition.

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Then comes action.

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Can they find the next step? Are links and contact details accurate? Is there a simple route to request help? Can they reach a person when self-service is not enough?

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Open the communication on your phone. Follow the links. Try completing the action yourself.

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Count the steps.

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The customer should not have to overcome a second problem just to respond to the first.

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Align channel and timing

‍Are we using the right communication channel?

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There is no universal hierarchy where digital is always better than print, or print is always more dependable than digital.

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The right route depends on the importance and complexity of the message, the customer’s needs, the timing and what has worked before.

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A secure digital communication may provide speed and visibility. SMS can work well as a prompt. Email offers convenient access. Physical mail gives the customer something permanent that can remain visible in the home.

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Sometimes one channel is enough.

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Often, the better answer is a planned combination where each channel has a clear job.

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The choice should be driven by the outcome you need, not by whichever system is easiest for the organisation to use.

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Respond to behaviour

‍How do we know the communication actually worked?

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Silence is a signal, not an outcome.

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Start with three questions:

• Was it delivered?
• Did the customer engage?
• Did they act?

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The available evidence will vary by channel. A digital interaction may provide engagement data that physical mail cannot. That limitation needs to be recognised rather than ignored.

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The response should also be planned before the first message is sent.

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An undelivered message may require corrected details. A delivered but unopened message might lead to a reminder or a switch of channel. A customer who engages but does not act may need clearer support or human follow-up.

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What should not happen by default is no response leading automatically to a stronger version of the same letter.

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Try CLEAR on a real communication

Choose one live letter, email, SMS or customer journey.

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Bring together the people who own different parts of it. That could include customer service, operations, compliance and communications.

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Then ask:

• What might we be missing about the customer?
• Can the purpose and first step be understood within a few seconds?
• Is support as easy to find as the action we are asking them to take?
• Can the customer access the message and complete the next step without friction?
• Does the channel suit the urgency, complexity and importance of the communication?
• What happens if the message is missed, undelivered or not acted upon?
• Are the outcomes used to improve the next communication?

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The CLEAR Communication Review turns these questions into a practical 15-minute check, with each section scored and the three most important improvements agreed at the end.

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Watch the webinar

The full session, Communicating with Impact: Delivering Better Outcomes for Vulnerable Customers, explores the framework in more detail and shows how the five checks work together across one customer journey.

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It also looks at how accessible outputs, physical and digital channels, engagement evidence and planned follow-up can help organisations put these decisions into practice consistently.

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Watch the webinar on demand:
https://www.csa-uk.com/communicating-with-impact-delivering-better-outcomes-for-vulnerable-customers

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Download the framwork for Free (no information required)

https://www.micom.com/clear-framework

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