{"id":70043,"date":"2020-10-14T08:55:27","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T07:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/"},"modified":"2025-03-07T17:07:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T17:07:44","slug":"the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/","title":{"rendered":"The compassionate side of financial services copywriting"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Debt collection letters are a necessary evil, but do they need to be so harsh? The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute<\/a> thinks not. And under proposed new policies, using threatening language in financial services copywriting to scare customers into paying will be a tactic of the past.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

For years now, laws have required debt collection letters to include warnings about potential court action to be written in bold or block capitals. The idea was to be clear about the risks of not repaying the debt.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But under new plans, these rules could be reversed with the government asking for debt collection letters to be less \u201cthuggish\u201d. It\u2019s in response to a call from the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute that the intimidating and complex letters were worsening mental health problems for those seriously behind on their debts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Hurrah!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We\u2019ve been saying for years that all letters \u2013 whether about old debt or new regulations \u2013 need to be personable and compassionate to build long-term trust and protect the mental health of vulnerable people.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A quick fix or a complete overhaul?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Lots of businesses will no doubt respond to the proposed regulations by asking their lawyers to draft some new text to insert where the once red, bold and capitalised wording previously sat. However, we believe now is a valuable opportunity to reconsider the tone of the entire letter \u2013 to see if you can provide support and show you\u2019re taking consideration for their situation.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Although you might not want to win back the customers you collect debt from, don\u2019t forget that they have family, friends and colleagues who may hear about your letter. So, it\u2019s worthwhile making sure it leaves them feeling okay about things rather than riled up or hopeless.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

3 tips for softening the tone of debt collection<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To get you started with your debt collection letter review, here are three solutions we stand by for every negative communication.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1 \u2013 Work around the legal jargon<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Clarity is key and hiding behind legal terms will end up confusing the reader. In fact, the new government plans say that debt collection letters should do away with complex language altogether.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If you need to include certain terms for legal reasons, you can get around it by explaining what these words and phrases mean. Although it\u2019s important to keep your letter succinct, taking a bit of time to explain complex terms will go a long way.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

2 – Scrutinise your language<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Remember, the terms you use every day at work are unlikely to be the ones your customers use. As well as cutting back or explaining legal jargon, try to remove some of the financial services<\/a> copywriting terms. Simply switching \u2018funds\u2019 to \u2018money\u2019 can make a positive difference to the tone of voice.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We also recommend going one step further to give your writing a hint of compassion with phrases like \u201ceasier to manage\u201d, \u201cit can be difficult\u201d, and \u201cwe understand\u201d.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

3 \u2013 Show how you can help<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

You might not be able to clear the debt \u2013 or want to \u2013 but there are usually ways you can help. And there are a few ways to show this.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If you can, encourage your customer to contact you, so you can discuss another arrangement and take them through their next steps. If this isn\u2019t possible, point them in the direction of organisations that offer debt advice (this may become compulsory under the new plans).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Another simple way of showing you\u2019re trying to help the customer is by using a question and answer structure. Draw out the questions most likely to be on your customer\u2019s minds and use these for your headings. You can then provide a helpful answer below.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

About Stratton Craig<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As a financial services copywriting agency, redrafting debt collection letters is something we have lots of experience in. For content writing <\/a>advice on how to tackle your most difficult communications, or to discuss a content strategy<\/a> that handles problematic topics, speak to our team<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debt collection letters are a necessary evil, but do they need to be so harsh? The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute thinks not. And under proposed new policies, using threatening language in financial services copywriting to scare customers into paying will be a tactic of the past.\u00a0 For years now, laws have required debt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[314,413],"tags":[459,466,473,474,475],"class_list":["post-70043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-copywriting-us","category-financial-copywriting-us","tag-content-strategy-us","tag-content-writing-us","tag-finance-copywriting-us","tag-financial-copywriting-us","tag-financial-services-us"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe compassionate side of financial services copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New laws mean debt letters need to get more compassionate. We show you how to make your financial services copywriting more empathetic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The compassionate side of financial services copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New laws mean debt letters need to get more compassionate. We show you how to make your financial services copywriting more empathetic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-14T07:55:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-07T17:07:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/dylan-gillis-xKmXZ4Fv63w-unsplash-1-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anna Fozzard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anna Fozzard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anna Fozzard\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1aa499016d8e89b274c832b5c5fdfffd\"},\"headline\":\"The compassionate side of financial services copywriting\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-14T07:55:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-07T17:07:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":672,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/dylan-gillis-xKmXZ4Fv63w-unsplash-1-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"content strategy\",\"content writing\",\"finance copywriting\",\"financial copywriting\",\"financial services\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Copywriting\",\"Financial copywriting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/\",\"name\":\"The compassionate side of financial services copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/dylan-gillis-xKmXZ4Fv63w-unsplash-1-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-14T07:55:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-07T17:07:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1aa499016d8e89b274c832b5c5fdfffd\"},\"description\":\"New laws mean debt letters need to get more compassionate. We show you how to make your financial services copywriting more empathetic.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/dylan-gillis-xKmXZ4Fv63w-unsplash-1-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/dylan-gillis-xKmXZ4Fv63w-unsplash-1-1.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":733},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The compassionate side of financial services copywriting\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/\",\"name\":\"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency\",\"description\":\"Written Communication\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1aa499016d8e89b274c832b5c5fdfffd\",\"name\":\"Anna Fozzard\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/55b42191d351ce473f5fececb8547ec9f7922f6dc3a1938e6807ecbed984adb6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/55b42191d351ce473f5fececb8547ec9f7922f6dc3a1938e6807ecbed984adb6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/55b42191d351ce473f5fececb8547ec9f7922f6dc3a1938e6807ecbed984adb6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Anna Fozzard\"},\"sameAs\":[\"dan@dcoed.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/author\\\/anna-fozzard\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The compassionate side of financial services copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency","description":"New laws mean debt letters need to get more compassionate. We show you how to make your financial services copywriting more empathetic.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The compassionate side of financial services copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency","og_description":"New laws mean debt letters need to get more compassionate. We show you how to make your financial services copywriting more empathetic.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/","og_site_name":"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency","article_published_time":"2020-10-14T07:55:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-07T17:07:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":733,"url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/dylan-gillis-xKmXZ4Fv63w-unsplash-1-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anna Fozzard","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anna Fozzard","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/"},"author":{"name":"Anna Fozzard","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/1aa499016d8e89b274c832b5c5fdfffd"},"headline":"The compassionate side of financial services copywriting","datePublished":"2020-10-14T07:55:27+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-07T17:07:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/"},"wordCount":672,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/dylan-gillis-xKmXZ4Fv63w-unsplash-1-1.jpg","keywords":["content strategy","content writing","finance copywriting","financial copywriting","financial services"],"articleSection":["Copywriting","Financial copywriting"],"inLanguage":"us-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/","url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/","name":"The compassionate side of financial services copywriting - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/dylan-gillis-xKmXZ4Fv63w-unsplash-1-1.jpg","datePublished":"2020-10-14T07:55:27+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-07T17:07:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/1aa499016d8e89b274c832b5c5fdfffd"},"description":"New laws mean debt letters need to get more compassionate. We show you how to make your financial services copywriting more empathetic.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"us-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"us-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/dylan-gillis-xKmXZ4Fv63w-unsplash-1-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/dylan-gillis-xKmXZ4Fv63w-unsplash-1-1.jpg","width":2000,"height":733},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/the-compassionate-side-of-financial-services-copywriting\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The compassionate side of financial services copywriting"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/","name":"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency","description":"Written Communication","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"us-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/1aa499016d8e89b274c832b5c5fdfffd","name":"Anna Fozzard","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"us-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/55b42191d351ce473f5fececb8547ec9f7922f6dc3a1938e6807ecbed984adb6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/55b42191d351ce473f5fececb8547ec9f7922f6dc3a1938e6807ecbed984adb6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/55b42191d351ce473f5fececb8547ec9f7922f6dc3a1938e6807ecbed984adb6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Anna Fozzard"},"sameAs":["dan@dcoed.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/author\/anna-fozzard\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70851,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70043\/revisions\/70851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}