Consultancy · Fairer Finance · 2026
Behavioural Science Training Academy
A two-workshop programme for a UK building society
Summary
During a two-week placement at Fairer Finance, I designed a client pitch for a behavioural science training academy at a UK building society. The programme teaches staff what behavioural science says about how customers really make decisions, what the FCA expects firms to evidence under the Consumer Duty, and how to apply both to the society's own mortgages. The client approved the pitch and commissioned the academy.
The brief
Under the Consumer Duty, the FCA expects firms to show that their products, customer journeys and communications lead to good customer outcomes, and to use behavioural science as part of that evidence. Getting it wrong is a regulatory risk.
The academy needed to give the teams who design products, customer journeys and communications a shared understanding of behavioural science, so they could spot where a design helps or hinders members. Starting with the foundations and then applying them to the society's own mortgages meant staff could put what they learned into practice straight away.
What I designed
View the slides →The Foundations of Behavioural Science
- The "rational consumer" against how decisions are really made: limited attention, time pressure, imperfect information, emotion and social context
- Dual process theory, cognitive bandwidth, and choice architecture: there is no neutral design
- How the FCA expects firms to use and evidence behavioural science, and the risk of getting it wrong
- Why it matters for a society built around its members
Interactive: the Friction Matrix, "Nudge or Sludge?"
A Deep Dive on Mortgages
- Why mortgages are a behavioural challenge: rare, high-stakes decisions with a long product life
- Product design: fee and rate structures, choice overload, and defaults at sale and at term end
- Customer journey: anchoring on the headline rate, and inertia when a deal reverts to the standard variable rate
- Communications: reminder timing, jargon, readability, and framing the saving to prompt action
Interactive: teams redesign a real mortgage moment from the society's own product, journey or communications
The Friction Matrix
The first workshop's interactive task asks staff to sort real practices into four boxes. Friction isn't good or bad on its own; what matters is whether it helps or harms the customer. That mirrors how the FCA talks about sludge, and gives teams a simple test they can apply to their own work.
Why it worked
The pitch kept theory short and moved quickly to the society's own products. Each workshop ends with a hands-on task, so staff practise spotting nudges and sludge before applying it at work. Linking every idea back to the FCA's expectations gave it a clear business case, and the member focus gave it a reason beyond compliance.
The client approved the pitch and commissioned the academy.