When firms in the UK do not follow the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Rules or Principles, and consumers incur financial losses as a result, the FCA seeks to ensure customers receive adequate compensation, or redress. In 2011/12, the FCA helped obtain over £150 million worth of redress for consumers. Instances where consumers are due redress do not often receive publicity. Instead, the firm alerts customers to a potential issue, usually in the form of a letter that gives customers information, which they need to answer. Yet some customers do not respond, even when it is in their interest to act. Reasons may be that the relevant information is obscured or more complex than necessary, or that consumers suffer from inertia, but firms may not have sufficient incentives to correct these issues on their own.

People receive a lot of mail, much of it advertising, and have to sift through it in a limited amount of time. They have to decide which letters to open, look at, and read. Even if a consumer reads a letter and intends to act on it, there may be further barriers to responding, or they may procrastinate and forget. Much of this decision-making is quick and automatic. Insights from behavioral science suggest how firms may help consumers pay suitable attention to communication about redress due to them.