Brand experience

You’ve asked a client to fill in a form. It’s several pages long, packed with legal jargon, and they’re not sure if they need to sign it or just keep it.
A week later, it comes back incomplete. Your team has to follow up, clarify, re-send… and the process stalls.

Forms like these don’t just slow things down. They create friction and undermine trust. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Application forms, client letters, terms and conditions and declarations are often overlooked, but they’re an important part of how clients experience your business. A clear, well-designed document doesn’t just make life easier for your clients. It also helps meet your regulatory obligations, improve turnaround times and reduce the risk of errors.

Why these documents matter

Client-facing documents are more than a compliance requirement. They’re a reflection of your brand and your commitment to doing right by your clients, especially under the Consumer Duty.

If a form is hard to follow, full of jargon or poorly structured, it creates frustration. But with some simple improvements, these documents can become a seamless part of your client journey.

They can also make life easier for your internal teams by reducing the burden on advisers, client service teams and operations by cutting down on queries and mistakes.

What to look for

We review a lot of client forms and documents. In our experience, many of them benefit from a fresh look at six key areas:

• Clarity. A short sentence or paragraph at the top can make a big difference. Tell the reader what the document is, why they’ve received it and what (if anything) they need to do—such as sign, return, or simply keep for reference.
• Structure. Breaking the content into sections with clear subheadings makes it easier to follow. Can you remove any unnecessary content that might overwhelm the reader? Could tables make fees or options easier to scan?
• Language. Legal or technical language may be required—but that doesn’t mean it has to be hard to understand. We can rewrite or edit content to improve readability while retaining the original meaning and intent.
• Format. Productivity matters. We can create interactive PDFs that clients can complete on screen, or editable versions you can pre-populate before sending for approval. That saves time for everyone.
• Compliance. Consumer Duty requires you to ensure communications are clear, fair and not misleading. Well-structured, easy-to-read forms help you demonstrate that you’ve considered client understanding and outcomes at every stage.
• Accessibility. We also consider accessibility by ensuring that information is easy to read, jargon is avoided where possible, and formatting supports users with different needs.

These updates also help align your client documents with your brand tone of voice – something that’s often missed when firms roll out brand or style updates across their marketing materials.

What a difference it makes

One client came to us with a complex client application pack running to several pages – dense text, no headings and lengthy legal disclaimers that were hard to follow. After restructuring, simplifying the language and highlighting key actions clearly, form completion rates improved significantly. Their client services team also reported fewer follow-up queries and faster processing times.

It’s a low-cost improvement with long-term value, boosting client confidence, reducing errors and saving time across your business.

Checklist for improving your client documents

• Add a sentence upfront explaining what the document is for
• Break long sections into clear subheadings
• Use plain English wherever possible
• Turn dense text into tables or bullet points
• Remove anything overwhelming or redundant
• Format it as an interactive PDF to speed things up
• Make sure tone, structure and layout are consistent with your brand

Let’s make your forms work harder

From improving the client experience to reducing delays and demonstrating Consumer Duty in action, we’ll help you create documents that support your business and your brand. Talk to us about what you need.