Most customers are not interested in financial jargon, but they are interested in whether they will be able to afford to live comfortably in the future. Information about the investments that will fund that future is incredibly important.

The nature of investments means we often have a long-term relationship with our customers. This is an important relationship, sometimes involving complex products. It is one where the information we send, and the decisions they make using that information, could significantly affect their financial future.

It is also information some customers have told us they find quite complicated, and sometimes confusing. This is why it is so important for us to help our customers understand how their investments are performing by providing information in a clear and easily understandable format.

As part of our ongoing programme to improve communication with our customers,
Legal & General commissioned independent research to understand our customers' views on some of the most important information we communicate to them every year - their bonus statements.

Customer bonus statements are an annual account of how their With-Profits investment with Legal & General is performing. It tells customers how much their policy is worth and how much bonus has been added for the previous year. Each statement also explainshow the different investments we have made have performed in the last twelve months.

In 2005, our customers told us there was:

• Too much information in their bonus pack
• Not enough information about the value of their policy
• No sense of being thanked for their business
• The bonus letter did not have a very friendly tone, although the length and volume was about right

So, in 2006 we:

• Revised the information sent to all With-Profits customers
• Switched to a warmer, friendlier tone in our letter
• Made it clearer how they could find their policy value
• Used charts and graphs to explain the information in 'Keeping You Updated'
• Showed customers how to calculate their bonus, using a worked example
• Made the questions and answers simpler and easier to understand
• Renamed With-Profits News to 'Keeping You Updated'
• Used less words on each page in our leaflet
• ...and said a big 'Thank You' to our customers for their business

To prove we were really listening, we went back and listened to our customers again in a series of face-to-face conversations. They told us:

• They liked the length and tone of the letter
• The statement achieved its objective of updating them on the progress of their policy

But

• There was still some jargon
• They were still confused by some of the terms

And

• They want their Bonus information pack to be as brief as possible
• They want as much Plain English as possible

... As a result

We are using our customers' views to make further improvements to this year's literature. The letters and statements we are sending out during 2007 will be based on what customers told us during the research. As well as pulling out key contact information, they will also make it clear to customers, at a glance, if they need to take any action.

We have changed the way we provide customers with important information about their policy. They told us they found our 'Keeping You Updated' magazine difficult to understand and too long. This has now been discontinued and customer information will be included in a Frequently Asked Questions section. Customers who want more information will be able to request a copy of our 'Bonus Factsheet' by visiting the Legal & General website or phoning us.

Of course, we are still actively listening. We will go on making improvements to this and other communications.