Each year, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) sends reminder-letters to self-employed customers who have missed the HMRC self-assessment payment deadline. In an effort to generate greater customer response, HMRC decided to replace the existing ‘RITA500’ letter with a more urgent final demand statement.
Boag Associates worked in conjunction with HMRC’s in-house team to identify best practice design elements that were missing from the RITA500 letters. They also drew on key learnings about customers’ propensity to pay. Using clear language and layout, they came up with a design solution that summarised the customer account status, clarified payment options and highlighted HMRC contact channels. Colour was also introduced to emphasise the purpose of the communication and the amount due.
The new SA359 letter led to an increase of 60,000 customer calls, created greater urgency among customers, and helped to speed up the recovery of tax-debt and the amount recovered.