CII aims to close customer expectation gap

The guide highlight how insurance professionals should apply the Chartered Insurance Institute’s Code of Ethics to ensure customers understand the extent of cover and service offered by insurance products and receive clear information before, during and after the point of sale. 

Five key actions identified by the guide are: 

1. Members should positively and proactively enhance clarity of wordings for the average consumer
2. Where are any interpretation could be made, err on the side of the customer.
3. Welcome internal and external feedback about documentation and communications throughout the customer journey and use that feedback (including feedback from complaints) to make improvements. 
4. Aim for all reading material to be understood by those with a reading age of 13 or less, as well as ensuring maximum legibility through varying use of font size and colour contrast. 
5. Ensure you fully understand the underwriting intent of a policy before communicating with clients, and vary your advice, guidance and offerings to suit the level of knowledge and experience of the customer you are interacting with. 

The guide also encourages insurance professionals not to prioritise speed of the purchase journey at the expense of customer understanding and engagement. 

Accessibility of reading material must also be considered, the guide states, to maximise legibility for those with visual impairments, including font size, colour contrast, and availability in braille, for instance. 

The guide also notes that less is often more and the length of any documentation must strike the right balance between digestibility for the consumer and depth of information in order to engage customers appropriately.

Sian Fisher, CEO of the Chartered Insurance Institute, said: “When people buy insurance, they are buying a promise of help when things go wrong. Far too often there is an expectation gap between what customers thought that promise was and what the provider intended.  

“By focussing on actions that can be taken to improve communications and product design, I hope we can reduce the gap between expectation and delivery and therefore increase trust in our united profession. 

“The core duty of insurance professionals is about knowing your client and putting their interests ahead of yours, even when they may appear to be at odds. 

“This duty is about putting yourself in your customers’ shoes, challenging unfair practices and treating everyone with respect. 

“Insurance professionals must remember that they are the expert and should be careful to use language and terms that can be easily understood by someone who does not have the same benefit of knowledge and familiarity with terms and concepts as they do. Insurance professionals need to make sure they are in tune with where consumers are on their financial life journey in order to best respond to their needs appropriately.” 

The guide was produced by the CII’s Chartered Transparency Forum. 

The Chartered Transparency Forum was created to examine ways the profession can best meet the expectations of consumers. 

The group, consists of Peter Blanc, group chief executive of Aston Lark; Graham Trudgill, executive director of British Insurance Brokers Association; James Daley, managing director of Fairer Finance; James Dalton, director of general insurance policy of the Association of British Insurers; Mandy Hunt, Chief Underwriting Officer of RSA Commercial and Society of Underwriting Professionals member; Philip Williams, managing director of Simply Business MGA and Society of Underwriting Professionals member; Jennette Newman, partner of Clyde & Co and Chair of the Professional Standards Committee of the CII; Dr Matthew Connell, Policy and Public Affairs Director of the CII; and Ian Simons, Customer Director of the CII and chaired by Melissa Collett, Professional Standards Director of the CII. 

To read the full report, please visit: https://www.cii.co.uk/media/10125286/coh_j012891-chartered-transparency-ethical-companion-guide-singles-c4.pdf