Technical jargon confuses customers

The majority of customers struggle to understand their service providers’ mail. For example, two thirds of policyholders complain about “technical jargon”. At the same time, only one in three customers feels personally addressed by the letters and written documents from their service provider. Above all, insurers, energy suppliers and telecommunications companies show major deficits in written communication with their customers.

These are the results of the competition “Germany’s most customer-oriented service provider”, which in 2010 was carried out for the fifth time by Steria Mummert Consulting, the University of St. Gallen, Handelsblatt and Service-Rating. These results cannot be justified with the great complexity of the content. Because the health insurance companies show that “technical jargon” can be dispensed with even with difficult content. The statutory insurance companies receive consistently positive marks from their customers for their written communication: 54 percent praise the comprehensibility of the letters.

The information content of the written documents also leaves a lot to be desired from the point of view of many customers. Only three out of ten keep im
In the context of the competition, the letters from energy suppliers surveyed were meaningful. The customers of
Telecommunications company the informational value of the letters. “Service providers should communicate in writing with customers
pay more attention. Because your letters and documents are the company’s figurehead, ”says Elmar Stenzel, senior
Manager at Steria Mummert Consulting.

The largest service companies in Germany were founded by Steria Mummert Consulting, the I.VW of the University of St. Gallen,
Service-Rating and the Handelsblatt invited to take part in the competition “Germany’s most customer-oriented service providers 2010”. In addition to a survey and assessment of the management, more than 8,600 customers of these companies were interviewed.

www.steria-mummert.de