As the UK’s largest building society, we have a responsibility. Not only to offer products and services that allow our customers to fulfil their financial goals, and deliver fair outcomes, but also to support broader social and environmental issues. A big part of how we offer our products and services responsibly, is how we talk about them.
We’re committed to providing our customers with the right information at the right time. It should be easily understood so they can make well informed decisions and take appropriate timely action to fulfil their financial goals. This is so we meet our customers’ needs with good outcomes and protect them from harm. Our standalone communications policy commits us to responsible practices, by communicating in a clear and fair way that does not mislead our customers. And helps them understand the information we’re sharing. That’s not just the letters we send – it's also online content, texts, emails, product literature, and even how we verbally interact with customers.
Read more on how we design and deliver responsible products and services here.
What's on this page
Our communication and content
We understand that everyone is different, with a wide range of needs and preferences. This includes how they access information. We offer our customers a range of ways to get the information they need, in an easy-to-understand way.
Our internal framework of policies, tools and controls help our colleagues to write and approve communications and content. This includes everything from traditional media like printed letters, to anything digital like emails and our website. The controlled way we produce this content gives us opportunities to consider some important points, such as:
Clear information
When creating our marketing materials and other communications, guidance is available to ensure they are not overly complicated or confusing, so that our customers will understand them. We also want to make sure they will not mislead a customer into making a decision that isn’t right for them.
We carry out testing on our communications to ensure they are understandable before we share them with our customers.
We need to balance giving detailed, factual information on our products while being easy-to-understand for a range of literacy and numeracy abilities. We have a team dedicated to researching the best ways to do this. They also provide training and create guidance documents. We consider many factors, including things such as reading age, the easiest-to-read colours, font sizes and placement of words. We also strive to not hide key information in small print.
Accessibility, vulnerability and inclusion
We make sure that customer vulnerability is always a focus. For example, in how we describe the information needed in easy-to-understand language, or in what format we share this. We have a set of requirements and principles to make sure we consider the different needs of our customers. They also inform how we can make communications and content work in different formats, including braille, large print or audio. This is integrated during our creative process, to ensure we don’t inadvertently disadvantage certain groups of customers.
When a customer tells us they need communications in different formats, we follow documented processes to best meet those needs. We do this to ensure we deliver good outcomes to customers, regardless of their communication requirements.
Training
All colleagues engaged in marketing materials and other communications undertake formal training to equip them with the right skills and knowledge to support our customers. Competency and understanding are thoroughly tested before colleagues are permitted to use our communication systems. This knowledge is kept up to date with regular training refreshers. We also quality check a percentage of our communication processes to confirm they’re being followed correctly.
Legal, regulatory and mandatory communications
These are the communications that we must, either by law or regulation, send to our customers at a certain point in time. This may be because of factors such as a change in the Bank of England Base Rate, which may change a customer’s mortgage payment. We have documented processes in place to identify when communications are mandatory, and processes to check they have been created and sent at the correct times. These processes are regularly tested to make sure they continue to work to an acceptable standard.
Throughout all phases of the communications process, various risk assessments and testing take place. Results are reported and monitored to make sure we understand and address any themes or weaknesses we find.
Marketing material
These are discretionary communications which we choose to share with our customers or potential customers to inform them of products, propositions or services that may be of interest to them. We have documented processes in place to make sure these have been created, and approved, by appropriate subject matter experts before they are shared.
About our approvals process
Approval processes for new or changed communications and content are clearly documented. They also don’t take place in isolation, but rather through review cycles, and by at least one other employee who has the knowledge and authority to approve. If the message is complicated or mandatory, it must be reviewed by more than one subject matter expert, as standard.
Some of our essential reviews, such as those involving financial promotions, are only undertaken by accredited individuals. We also have systems in place to minimise the risk of communications being shared with customers without the proper approval steps taking place.
When we are making any claims within our communications (e.g., ‘best’ or ‘green’ claims), we always ensure that these are substantiated and can be evidenced. Each of our specific claims are reviewed regularly to make sure they remain accurate. Whenever a claim ceases to be true, our communications are withdrawn.
How we monitor distribution and data
Customer satisfaction is at the heart of what we do and underpins everything about the communications process. To support this, we measure how understandable our communications are before they are distributed. We also measure and monitor how satisfied our customers are with the communications they get from us. This includes whether they’ve received the information they need, and whether they’ve understood the message. We do this because it’s important our customers can make well-informed decisions that lead to them taking appropriate, timely action to fulfil their financial goals. And ultimately achieve good outcomes.
We take our responsibility to look after customers’ data seriously. Our data privacy policy clearly sets out how and why we collect data, as well as how we use and protect it. More specifically, we have processes and controls in place to make sure that the data we use in the communications process delivers the right information in an understandable format to the right people at the right time. These rules also form a key part of our contracts with any third parties who manage some of our communications delivery, and checks are in place to make sure they’re being followed.
Policy governance
Our main policy (the Communications Risk Policy) guides the production and distribution of marketing materials and communications. This policy is overseen by internal committees, attended by Senior Managers and experienced risk professionals, from across Nationwide. We also engage with external stakeholders and initiatives to share best practice, expertise, and ways of improving marketing and communications for the financial services industry as a whole.
Last updated: August 2024