Why there's no magic number for customer understanding

When organisations think about improving customer communications, there's often a desire for certainty. ‘What level of understanding do we need to hit?’ It's an understandable question - but it's one that doesn't have a clear answer, and it's not the right question to focus on either. 

Start from where we are 

We're starting from a position where the level of understanding is so low that any positive differences we can make need to be made right away. Where constraints exist, we should be getting on with improvements we can make, before worrying about perfection. 

In our research trials, where Plain Numbers tested communications from five different companies with 5,000 participants, we found that the control versions achieved ‘good understanding’ from around a third or less of customers. When you're starting that low, the priority is to improve - not to hit an arbitrary target. 

Different products, different complexity 

There's a more fundamental problem with setting universal thresholds: it's impossible to define what 'good enough' looks like across all communications. 

Consider the difference between a payment notice stating, 'you need to pay us fifty pounds' and a complex decision about what to do with your pension at retirement.  

The level of understanding a customer needs in each situation is vastly different. Add in different regulatory requirements, different organisational capabilities, and different levels of technology enabling personalisation, and finding a meaningful threshold that works across all communications becomes impossible. 

Focus on improvement, not perfection 

There's no realistic alternative to the FCA's approach of asking organisations to improve customer understanding over time, starting from where they are. Any blanket target set by the regulator simply wouldn't work. 

The goal isn't to hit a ‘magic number’ of understanding. It's to make communications measurably better than they were, to keep testing and improving, and to recognise that progress matters more than perfection. Understanding isn't a one-off job with a one-off target. It's a continuous commitment to doing better by your customers. 

Ben Perkins, Director of Partnerships & Services at Plain Numbers 

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