Phase 1 Project Report. Now Published
New research released at the Bank of England today reveals that adopting a ‘Plain Numbers Approach’ doubled the number of people who understood customer information across five different settings.
The report1 features the results of five independent randomised controlled trials conducted by Kantar Public to test a current form of customer communication (a bill for example) against a version with a Plain Numbers Approach applied (think Plain English - but for numbers), using a representative sample of the UK population. The results show that it is possible to transform customer understanding, even when working with customer communications from market-leading firms:
The firms involved were: ClearScore, Thames Water, Octopus Energy, Atlanta Insurance and Direct Line.
Key findings from the research:
1. Applying a Plain Numbers Approach resulted in a statistically significant increase in understanding in all trials, with understanding doubling on average across the five trials.
Analysis involved a two-tailed z-test for independent proportions, using the Bonferroni correction to correct for multiple comparisons. p-values for statistically significant differences between arms are indicated using *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001
2. There was a stark disconnect between what participants thought was explained clearly and their actual understanding. Participants were first asked whether they agreed that the document was ‘presented in a clear and fair way and I understand it’. In all the trials at least 6 out of 10 participants agreed. However, in all the trials involving the original document, less than 4 out of 10 participants were subsequently able to show a reasonable level of understanding (answer at least 4 of the 5 comprehension questions correctly). Worryingly for regulators and firms alike this means that many customers don’t realise that they don’t understand the information they are being presented with.
3. Applying a Plain Numbers Approach starts to close this gap between perceived and actual understanding – creating the conditions for genuine informed choice, even for the millions of customers who are vulnerable because they struggle with numbers.
We encourage regulators, government, firms, campaigning organisations and all those interested in enabling customers to make informed decisions to engage with these promising findings and to explore how to incorporate the Plain Numbers Approach into their future work.
Context
Consumer Vulnerability is a massive and increasing problem in the U.K.2. To their credit many firms are trying hard to support vulnerable customers. However, the recognition that poor numeracy affects approximately half of working-age adults3 and is therefore the single most common cause of vulnerability4 is still very low – and unsurprisingly effective practical action to address this vulnerability is therefore rare.
The Plain Numbers Project seeks to change this. We set out to find organisations who were already leading the thinking in this area and wanted to contribute to a cross industry initiative to bring about positive change. The Bank of England and five market-leading firms - ClearScore, Thames Water, Octopus Energy, Atlanta and Direct Line have worked with us in the first half of 2021 to show that seemingly small changes can massively increase comprehension among customers.
What is the Plain Numbers Approach?
The Approach builds upon over a decade of work supporting people who struggle with numbers and combines this knowledge with insight from fields of behavioural science and psychology. In practice it is carefully chosen, often quite small, changes that lead to this massive difference.
Along with the trial data, the report provides examples of the Plain Numbers Approach in action and is now available here: https://plainnumbers.org.uk/phase-1-project .
Comments from Plain Numbers and Partners:
Mike Ellicock, Founder, The Plain Numbers Project said:
“It has been a privilege to work with the inaugural Plain Numbers Partners to see the Plain Numbers concept come to fruition. I am tremendously encouraged by these trial results and am glad that these market-leading firms’ faith in our vision to make the communication of numbers and data clear, fair and never misleading has proved justified. We now need to build upon this promising first step.”
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England said:
“We are delighted to see the results of the Plain Numbers trials. To see such consistent outcomes across a variety of industries and forms of communication reveals the beneficial impact that changing the ways we communicate can have for people. I would encourage organisations to take heed of these findings and think about how they can help their customers to better understand the information they are presented with, and thereby make more informed choices.”
Justin Basini, Chief Executive of ClearScore said:
“At ClearScore, our mission has always been to make credit clear, calm and easy to understand for our millions of users. A huge part of this is ensuring that we communicate simply and effectively around complex financial ideas like interest rates so that our users can make credit work for them. The findings from our collaboration with Plain Numbers have reinforced the importance of this, and shed new light on how we can further help society’s most financially vulnerable, particularly when it comes to empowering them to get out of debt.”
Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, Global Director of Product & Marketing, Octopus Energy Group said:
“Most people have better things to do with life than worry about their energy. We try to make energy better - our famous wheel of fortune turns giving meter readings into a game, our head of accessibility wrote the book (literally!) on how to build a website which works for everyone, and we obsess about how to give customers the info about what they owe and what they're paying in as simple a way as possible. But it's not easy, there's a lot of regulation in an industry like ours and that can constrain what we do, especially around how we present bills to customers. We're excited to work with Plain Numbers to benchmark against what we're doing against a variety of industries, and hopefully learn some brilliance along the way.”
Warren Buckley, Retail Director, Thames Water said:
“Clear, simple and inclusive communications are incredibly important to us, so we never stop looking for ways to improve our customer experience. The Plain Numbers collaboration has shown where we’re already doing well and has given us concrete ideas, some of which we’ve already implemented, to further improve our billing services. We’re confident that presenting figures and calculations in a way that’s clearer and easier to understand will grow consumer confidence and trust and is a key part of our continuing efforts to enhance the support we provide for our customers.”
Ian Donaldson, Chief Executive, Atlanta Insurance said:
“2020 was a really tough year for everybody. One thing we definitely learned was our customers needed us more than ever and we needed to be understanding of their differing needs and vulnerabilities. Our partnership with The Plain Numbers Project allows us to further enhance how we support our customers and we’re passionate about ensuring our documentation is accessible to, and understandable by all. The Plain Numbers Approach brought new thinking to Atlanta and we were amazed to see how relatively small changes could lead to such an increase in customer awareness. This study shows us we can do more to help their understanding, and, thanks to the support of the Plain Numbers Project, we now have a clearer approach. We’ll be considering how we implement these findings across all our Atlanta business to allow us to continue to support both our existing and new customers to ensure they have the best possible experience when dealing with any of our Atlanta brands.”
Richard Beaumont, Director of Design, Direct Line Group said:
"Our vision for Direct Line is to be a force for good, making insurance easy for our customers to understand. Working with Plain Numbers has been hugely valuable in helping us simplify how we talk about our products, and we’re excited about where we go from here."
Max Mawby, Senior Director Kantar Public UK said:
“I am delighted to see how successful the initial trials have been. These results demonstrate that the way numbers are communicated to customers – across a wide range of commercial settings - can be improved. Kantar Public look forward to working with Plain Numbers, and present and future partners, to provide further evidence for how this approach could bring benefits to companies, customers, and our wider society.”
Notes to editors:
1. The Plain Numbers Phase 1 Project Report can be found here from 0001 1st July 2021: https://plainnumbers.org.uk/phase-1-project
2. See for example: FCA Financial Lives 2020 survey: the impact of coronavirus Key findings from the FCA’s Financial Lives 2020 survey and October 2020 Covid-19 panel survey – Published Feb 2021
3. See: ‘The 2011 Skills for Life survey’: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2012.
4. Data from FCA Occasional Paper 8:
5. Contact details for interviews. To speak with Mike Ellicock and Alison Plant, Founders of the Plain Numbers Project or with spokespeople from the inaugural Plain Numbers Partner organisations, please contact Isabel Sanchez at the Bank of England on Isabel.Sanchez@bankofengland.co.uk or chris@plainnumbers.org.uk