Humanising finance: The hidden cost of complexity in financial services

By Max Mazonowicz, Head of Insight & UX at GAIN Experience

Money affects everyone. Regardless of age, ability, educational background or gender, it's interwoven into every stage of life. But despite its constant presence, most of us (if we’re being honest) find money and finances confusing. 

We’ve worked closely with financial organisations across both the public and private sectors, including Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), Hargreaves Lansdown, Aviva and HSBC. Through these partnerships, we’ve conducted hundreds of hours of research, gifting us an awareness of finances that touches each moment across people’s financial lifetime. 

Our research covered similar themes:  

• do you understand this information?  

• what do you need from this service?  

• how can this service better support you? 

Most of these questions lead back to a familiar answer: all users crave simplicity, clarity and direct language, especially around complex topics. People want financial information to be clear, direct and easy to act on, especially when the topic is complex or emotionally charged. 

Designing for life, not just transactions 

From early lessons about money, through pocket money, to funding university and first homes, to managing a pension and planning for retirement; our research has taught us lots about the public’s attitudes and understanding of money. As well as how it related to different age groups, life milestones, abilities, ethnicities and genders.  

We’ve uncovered challenges faced by people with hearing and sight loss, a variety of neurodivergent conditions, limited English, and low financial or digital literacy. 

Some solutions, like simpler content, clear layouts, and better navigation, benefit everyone. But others require targeted changes to ensure no one is left behind. 

Provide meaningful ways to connect 

We’ve consistently seen user frustration when it comes to poor or limited contact options.

Automated chatbots were almost universally disliked. Most participants preferred speaking to a real person. Speaking over the phone allows for an open dialogue, particularly around more complex queries, and mean that even users with low tech literacy can use a service.

However, only relying on phone poses challenges for others, like people with hearing loss. Users highlighted a lack of understanding from, and appropriate training for, agents on the phone, while certain security measures for establishing identity cause issues. For instance,  when relying on a third party, like a friend or family member, to speak to agents over the phone for them.

Ensuring access to appropriate contact methods is vital in making financial services available to everyone. For such important service, accessibility is a must. 

Set clear expectations 

Savings, pensions, and investments, aren’t just a practical thing we need in the world, they’re personal; shaped by our experiences and charged with emotions. Anxiety creeps in when language is ambiguous or outcomes unclear, so it’s vital that services provide timescales, definitive endings and clear next actions. 

Simple things make a big difference such as an email confirmation after a phone call that briefly summarises what was discussed. This makes it easy for people to refer to it, which is especially beneficial for people with hearing impairment and some neurodiverse conditions (i.e. ADHD), and people with low digital skills.

When users know what’s happening next, stress levels go down and trust goes up. 

Accessible language benefits everyone 

In our research people of all ages and education levels craved straightforward language, to demystify information and processes and ultimately ensure access to services. There are simple ways to combat this, like writing simply, explaining complex terms and removing jargon.  

But we can go further: 

• Direct, affirmative content makes people feel seen, heard and recognised. Writing in a human-centred way helps build trust by reflecting people’s experiences.  

• Emotions play a big part in how we read and process information. Research has found that the more stressed or anxious a person is, the harder it is to: 

  • read  

  • understand  

  • remember  

  • make decisions  

  • reflect  

  • pause

Good design starts behind the scenes

Compassionate design in finance isn’t just what words we choose. It’s in the framing of topics, our ways of thinking, the conversations we have and research we do before we press publish. 

It’s less about what we say and more about what we leave out. It’s all of the hard work happens before anything appears on a user’s screen. 

Show your empathy behind the scenes by advocating for users. Demonstrate how much you care by testing, iterating and making a service the best it can possibly be.