It’s time to get better at disclosure

“I have read and agreed to the terms.” This assertion is often referred to as ‘the biggest lie on the web’.

In years gone past it was common for us to hear people within organisations say things like, “No one cares” or “People obviously trust us. Look, they all agreed to our terms and conditions”. What we, and so many others, have come to learn is that this rationale isn’t rational at all. It’s a fallacy. People are confused, frustrated and have become apathetic.

In fact, Chicago Booth’s work from 2015 does a wonderful job of highlighting this fallacy in more depth. This has been supported time and time again in academic literature. More recently it’s been referred to as digital resignation.

At Greater Than X we refer to this phenomenon — where people attitudinally express they care about how their information is used (and guess what, they really do!), yet contradict this with their behaviour by accepting terms without actually reading them — as the Agreement Bypass Bias (ABB for short).

If you’re anything like the rest of us, you’ve ABB’d your way through almost every product or service you’ve ever signed up for. Again, like us, you probably felt like you didn’t have a choice. Given this lack of meaningful choice, your behaviour is perfectly justified. You ticked and moved onto the thing you really wanted.

The problem is, this comes at a price.

For consumers of a product or service, the price is pretty clear. You might get the gist, but you have no idea what’s going on under the hood. What about this clause and that clause? What does it mean if this happens? Will I actually be supported if something goes wrong? How is my data actually being used? Is this helping or hurting me? How can I even tell? What are my bloody rights!!!?

The lack of clarity — and the questions that come with it — are nearly endless. That’s because these agreements aren’t designed for everyday people living everyday lives. They’re designed to protect against class action lawsuits. They’re written for other lawyers. They detract from the overall experience people are engaged.

To make my point about how people feel really clear, a 2019 study explicitly asked U.S. consumers how organisations could best restore trust. The number one answer was easier to understand terms and conditions.

Electronic contracting environments do not have to be this way. It is possible to deliver better disclosure experiences. And we feel the time is now to make it happen.

Better Disclosure starts here

This is exactly why we’re launching our Better Disclosure Program. This program is an evidenced-based approach to help progressive, values driven teams deliver clarity to the customers they serve. This program can help you systematically redesign customer-facing legal agreements in such a way that the agreement begins adding value to — rather than detracting value from — the overall customer experience.

So far the results are pretty good.

We’re enhancing comprehension. We’re decreasing the time it takes people to understand what they’re getting into. We’re helping significantly enhance the propensity that individuals have to willingly enter into an agreement (or share their data).

Here’s a candid video of myself and a client, Rob Hale from Regional Australia Bank, talking about the challenges of Better Disclosure in Open Banking.

This uplift that we’re consistently demonstrating is powerful. It’s a step in the right direction for organisations intent on becoming ‘verifiably trustworthy’. This is HUGE for modern information businesses. After all, the relationship between trust and data sharing is getting clearer by the day. The most trustworthy organisations will gain access to more of the right data. They’ll be competitively positioned to deliver more value to the market they serve. They have the best opportunity to — as we pseudo capitalist love to say — ‘win’ their market.

The process is simple, fast and effective

It’s our expectation that this program will fundamentally change the way you think about customer-facing legal agreements. It’ll get you hands on with new, dynamic tools that you can begin utilising immediately. It’ll help you and your team build new skills. It’ll help you stop talking about customer centricity and start living it.

“Don’t just talk about helping consumers, develop the skills to actually do it!”

— Rob Hale, Chief Digital Officer at Regional Australia Bank

Wanna do it?

If you’re not already convinced, this post might not change your mind. The content we’ve written isn’t enough in itself. But that’s okay. Convincing isn’t the intent. We aim to help accelerate the progress of those already bought in. We want to work with those frustrated by the status quo and itching to do more.

The obvious question: Is this you?

If so, let’s talk. We can dive into the details, get you comfortable with the process and kick this thing off quickly.