Who reads contracts? And why not?

Building customer experience means touching all touchpoints and changing them into better, simpler, more understandable or more valuable solutions for the customer.

One area that can evoke extreme emotions is CONTRACTS. For consumers, they're a boring, long, and often incomprehensible form. For companies, they're an 'insurance policy' guaranteeing we won't overpromise consumers, but also protecting the company against excessive claims.

In our study Bullshit customer experience We asked Polish consumers how they feel about reading contracts. Do they read them, and why, and why not? 😉

We conducted the study using CAWI technology on an online panel. Here are some of the findings!

Text length matters.
59% doesn't read because... the documents are too long. This is a rational response if the product or service isn't particularly important to the customer. It's a foolish response if it concerns a serious matter, such as a long-term loan. On the other hand, since the length of texts and articles often doesn't exceed two old text messages (for much younger readers, I remind them that it was 160 characters), it's difficult to expect consumers to read long texts. We can probably forget about that. And whoever creates a picture contract will be the star. Sounds absurd? Seriously? We'll see.

I know that I know nothing.
Consumers are honest and admit they don't always understand contracts. Well, I'm not surprised. Some clauses, complex sentences, concepts few people understand, asterisks. All of this makes reading a single page a challenge. But what if there are a dozen or so pages? 😄 This honesty also has a rational dimension. I don't understand – so why read it?

There are already short contracts on the market, I understand (sort of). But considering the readership level, it seems that continuing to simplify contracts is a necessity.

Consumers have rights and influence. Seriously? 😄
Customers don't read contracts because they think they can't be changed. What's the point of reading them when a standard is a standard? We've raised consumers to be sheep with little self-control, who can be led and led wherever they please. Fortunately, not all of them do, because only 30% agrees with the statement that they have no influence on the shape and must sign whatever is on the table.

Time is constantly chasing us. Willy Fogg is on the offensive.
But we also don't read because we don't have time. That's what every third consumer says. And I think a further % won't admit it. So if someone wants to rip off a consumer, there's a way. A long, incomprehensible contract. First, the customer won't understand, second, they won't bother reading.

Of course, I was joking. I assume no scammers are reading this 😉

Trust is the most important currency in the world.
16% doesn't read because they trust the company. This is the measure of good companies. If we build a good image, paradoxically, we don't need contracts. This saves us time and that of our customers. But in the age of real-time marketing, social media, and fake news, building a trustworthy company image requires many good solutions and time. This is something I wish for many companies.

So how can we make contracts better and build positive experiences? There are many solutions worth considering.