Consumers were more willing to complete vulnerability assessments than most firms in financial services expected, data from MorganAsh showed.
The findings from the MorganAsh Resilience System (MARS) found high response rates to customer vulnerability questionnaires across advice, credit, debt and insurance sectors.
The fastest responses came at the point of sale.
When completed online and integrated into an existing process, 95% of people under 80 finished the questionnaire.
The other 5% were supported by an agent or adviser.
Among those over 80, 71% completed online themselves, with almost two in 10 helped by firms.
Across all ages, most consumers engaged online, but MARS users also offered manual assessments by phone or in person.
This took completion rates to 100%.
MorganAsh reported that on average, 84% of consumers finished a MARS vulnerability assessment in eight minutes or less, and 55% did so in five minutes or less.
This addressed concerns about vulnerability assessments making fact-finds or sales processes too long.
The data found a mean of 2.3 vulnerabilities per person, which matched recent Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Financial Lives survey results that 26 million UK adults, or 49%, had one or more characteristic of vulnerability.
MARS users said their proportion of vulnerable customers matched FCA data, compared to other firms who still reported low numbers or none.
Andrew Gething (pictured), managing director of MorganAsh, said: “The MARS data is really encouraging as it demonstrates how willing consumers are to cooperate with vulnerability assessments – something that many firms have long been sceptical about.
“It also shows that this doesn’t have to be a laborious process – there are high levels of completions and most completed in good time too.
“In truth, there’s no reason why firms should not integrate vulnerability assessments into their processes – to really understand their customers, the outcomes they receive – and to have sufficient data to improve service and meet the requirements of Consumer Duty.”
Gething added: “Being able to quickly understand consumer characteristics and circumstances is equally applicable to targeted support, as proposed by the recent FCA’s Advice Guidance Boundary Review.
“Once you understand your customers’ circumstances, it becomes far more appropriate to provide targeted support – while the opportunity to provide this using automation becomes far more realistic.
“We continue to strengthen MARS and its customer vulnerability assessment – to offer firms much greater personalisation and configurability.”
He said: “This means they can choose the length and breadth of the assessment, based on their use-case and appetite for risk.
“There’s also the opportunity to modify the follow up – plus different tools to suit the customer journey.
“We support this work with our own consumer-facing portal that helps to educate consumers on the importance and value of engaging on questions around health and lifestyle characteristics and potential vulnerabilities.”
