'Lousy letters' cost firms business

Insurance companies were among the worst offenders

Badly written or insulting letters are costing UK firms business, a survey has found.

More than 70% of people who responded to a survey about business letters said they had been so incensed by the correspondence that they had cut ties with the company concerned.

Mistakes in personal information, jargon and convoluted sentences were a common complaint in the survey by Abbey National bank.

One in four people said they had received a bullying or threatening letter, which many said made them feel irritated or angry.

Long-lasting impact

A total of 2,200 people were questioned for the survey.

Among the top offenders for such letters were councils, utilities companies, insurance firms and the Inland Revenue.

"In today's world of sound bites and e-mail, the old-fashioned letter has a much greater impact than one might think," said Dr Guy Fielding, the author of the report.

This research should be a wake-up call to every institution and company Dr Angus Porter Abbey National customer director

"People keep letters for longer and their effects can go deep, particularly if they feel their intelligence has been insulted.

"While businesses spend millions on sophisticated technology to improve their relationships with customers, they ignore the cost of badly written letters.

"But they do so at their peril - lousy letters are severely damaging their reputation."

Dr Angus Porter, customer director at Abbey National, said: "This research should be a wake-up call to every institution and company to take a long hard look at what's in their customer letters.

"The financial industry in particular needs to get its act together."