AMP Makes It Plain For Customers

AMP today received international recognition for the clarity of its written customer communication, with the first of several customer brochures being awarded the Crystal Mark.

The Crystal Mark is the symbol of the Plain English Campaign organisation. It has become the standard that major UK organisations aim for when they produce public information, and is also recognised in the USA, Australia and South Africa. The Campaign, which is based in the United Kingdom, aims to make documents easy to understand, correcting poor grammar, removing confusing jargon and improving poor design.

AMP Financial Services head of Marketing John McMurdo said receiving the Crystal Mark for the Survival Insurance brochure was very welcome external recognition of AMP’s work towards plain language. “Traditionally, documents related to financial services have been quite formal, with a large amount of legalese and jargon. We decided some time ago to change that approach and make our communication with customers easier to understand.”

“We still have a way to go, and financial services can be complex to communicate. However, we are working hard to get better at plain language communication,” he said.

AMP is the first financial services company in New Zealand to put its communication up for Crystal Mark scrutiny. It is only the second New Zealand company to do so, the other being Clear Communication.

The first New Zealand corporate member of the Campaign, AMP is committed to plain language, with six more customer communications currently being reviewed for clarity by the New Zealand Campaign agent, Write Consultancy.

Write Consultancy Director Lynda Harris said “we’re delighted to award AMP with its first Crystal Mark. They’ve worked hard to foster the plain English philosophy and the Crystal Mark is an excellent way of publicly recognising this.”

AMP in New Zealand introduced plain language staff training 18 months ago with great success. Since then, 180 people have participated and 31 coaches have been trained to support staff once they’re back at their desk.

For more information:

John McMurdo Lynda Harris
Head of Marketing Director
AMP Financial Services Write Consultancy Ltd
Phone: 04 498 8897 or 025 248 2695 Phone: 04 384 6447

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