Wealth manager and Financial Planner Quilter has added a client communications guide to its Consumer Duty support for advisers.

The firm said its guide would help financial advisers deliver messages to clients more effectively.

The guide offers a framework for advisers - using behavioural science principles - to help them comply with the FCA Consumer Duty’s Consumer Understanding outcome.

Quilter has developed a CLEAR acronym designed to make existing communications more consumer friendly:

• Capture my attention: Help customers to pay attention to the right piece of information at the right time.
• Lighten the load: Reduce the complexity of information and the effort required to process it.
• Explain what it means for me: Remove ambiguity by managing expectations and making information relevant to customers.
• Arrange the content simply: Use the layout to create a fluent visual journey and help customers compare options.
• Reassure me: Promote confidence and control by using reassuring, positive language.

The guide offers advisers two behavioural science techniques they can use for each letter of the acronym.

Jeremy Mugridge, marketing director at Quilter, said: “The FCA has set a clear expectation within its Consumer Duty about how providers should be supporting customers in their decision-making process. Client communications are critical to this and very easy to get wrong. As a result, we wanted to share a few simple and practical tips with advisers to not only get their communications working as the FCA would expect, but also working better for their business.

“Using behavioural science is a great way to remove some of the psychological barriers and harness the behavioural drivers that humans naturally have in order to promote better understanding.”  

Quilter said it is still in the process of adopting these CLEAR principles for all their client-facing materials.