Alternatives to customer panels for testing communications
Firms test customer communications with recruited customer panels, focus groups, online surveys, readability scores, internal review and AI-modelled customer panels, and each method answers a different question. Dutified is an AI-modelled customer panel that shows what customers understood, what they missed and who struggled, and it lets a firm retest with the same panel.
The main approaches
| Approach | What it tells you | Worth bearing in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Recruited customer panel | How real customers respond in their own words. | Each study needs recruitment and scheduling, so firms often test a few key communications. |
| Focus group | Why people react as they do, through discussion. | Group dynamics can shape what individuals say. |
| Online survey | How many people chose a given answer. | The questions you ask shape what you learn. |
| Readability score | How complex the wording is. | A score describes the text and does not show what a reader took away. |
| Internal review | Whether the content matches your policies and sign-off steps. | Reviewers know the product well, so they read differently from customers. |
| AI-modelled customer panel (Dutified) | What modelled customers understood, what they missed and which groups struggled. | It reports how modelled readers responded, and decisions stay with the firm. |
Using methods together
The methods work well together, because a recruited panel shows how real customers speak while a modelled panel lets you test many communications and compare groups quickly. Dutified can sit alongside your existing research and your internal sign-off.
Who provides each approach
Research agencies such as Savanta, Research in Finance, Boring Money and Fairer Finance run recruited customer testing and research for financial services firms. Survey platforms such as Qualtrics and Toluna provide panels for online surveys. Readability tools such as Readable and Hemingway score the wording. Rules-review software such as Adclear and Red Marker checks financial promotions against the FCA's requirements. Synthetic research platforms such as Synthetic Users and Aaru model audiences across many industries. Dutified is the organisation behind this page, so read this comparison with that in mind.
What sets Dutified apart
Dutified builds its panel on your customer profile and the wider UK public, including the vulnerable groups in FG21/1, and it keeps a full decision trail for audit. No customer data ever enters Dutified.
Where to look at the FCA
The FCA sets outcomes and guidance and leaves firms to choose methods that suit their customers, so read PRIN 2A and FG22/5 when you decide how to evidence consumer understanding.
- PRIN 2A.5, the consumer understanding outcome
- Consumer understanding: good practice and areas for improvement (FCA)
- FG22/5, FCA guidance on the Consumer Duty
- FCA Consumer Duty overview
Questions and answers
What are the alternatives to customer panels for testing financial promotions?
Firms use focus groups, online surveys, readability scores, internal and rules review, and AI-modelled customer panels. Each answers a different question, and many firms combine two or more.
Can an AI-modelled panel replace recruited customer research?
Firms decide how to combine them. Many use AI-modelled panels to test more communications and compare groups quickly, and keep recruited research for the communications where hearing real customers matters most.
Who else provides communications testing for financial services?
Research agencies such as Savanta, Research in Finance, Boring Money and Fairer Finance run customer testing for financial services firms. Readability tools such as Readable score the text, and synthetic research platforms such as Synthetic Users model audiences across industries.
Related guides
- Synthetic customers for financial services communications
- Testing financial promotions with customers
- Customer understanding testing and the FCA
Dutified gives feedback and does not give legal or compliance advice. It reports how modelled readers responded, and every decision stays with your firm.
To test your own communications with Dutified, join the waitlist or read how it works.