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Behavioural Design training for financial services

The training for banks, insurers and pension funds that actually moves customers.|

Distrust since the financial crisis, complex regulation from supervisors, risk aversion at every choice: financial services face behavioural challenges other sectors don't. Most communication explains and informs. Behaviour, though, is driven by the automatic brain: defaults, framing, the right moment. That's exactly why this isn't a generic training: you learn to design the behavioural layer that every customer contact, every pension enrolment and every digital product is missing.

Nine behavioural challenges in financial services → Or go straight to our programmes →

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Financial services professionals working together on a behavioural analysis during the Behavioural Design Fundamentals training at SUE Amsterdam

Financial services is a behavioural discipline

Every financial services professional runs into these behavioural challenges.

Pension enrolment, customer communication, digital adoption, compliance culture: it all comes down to whether customers and employees actually act. Time and again, a legally correct letter turns out not to be the same as behaviour. The question isn't whether you recognise this. The question is how you break the pattern.

01 · Trust after the crisis

Why don't customers believe our explanation, even when it's factually correct?

Reports, brochures, disclaimers: legally watertight, humanly unconvincing. Trust isn't won with more information.

02 · Pension enrolment

Why don't employees enrol in a pension scheme that's obviously in their favour?

The maths checks out. The action doesn't happen. Retirement is too abstract to choose for now.

03 · Financial regulation

How do I meet my duty of care without burying customers in legal language?

Compliance demands completeness. Behaviour demands clarity. The two collide every day.

04 · Risk aversion

Why do customers systematically pick the safe, suboptimal option?

Losses weigh heavier than gains. Every financial decision gets made under that asymmetry.

05 · Digital adoption

Why won't my customer switch to the digital product, even when it's objectively better?

Familiar habits and the fear of getting something wrong with money make the switch feel bigger than it is.

06 · Onboarding & activation

How do I make sure a new account, policy or app actually gets used?

Contract signed, account created. Then: silence. Activation is a behavioural problem of its own.

07 · Internal change & compliance culture

How do I get buy-in for a new process employees experience as extra red tape?

The policy is written. Behaviour on the shop floor doesn't automatically follow.

08 · AI in financial services

What's left of my value if AI can generate advice and content too?

AI speeds up production. Trust, framing and the right decision moment: that stays human work. Or does it?

09 · Proving impact to leadership

How do I show that behavioural design delivers more than a compliance checkbox?

Enrolment rates and conversion ratios convince a board. Intentions don't.

Proven in practice

What happens when you actually design the behavioural layer?

Three examples from financial services, from a large-scale pension intervention to anonymised client projects, show what changes when you stop just informing and start redesigning the context.

Headline case · ING · Pension enrolment

One extra question on the form, 20% more pension enrolment.

ING wanted more employees to enrol in the retirement savings plan. The maths was clear to everyone: contributing more means a more comfortable retirement. Enrolment still lagged. The problem wasn't motivation, it was abstraction: retirement sits too far away to make a concrete choice about it now. What psychologists Amos Tversky and Eldar Shafir call the "disjunction effect": people without a concrete picture of the future postpone the decision.

The intervention was minimal: one extra question on the enrolment form asking employees to imagine how it would feel, at retirement, to maintain their lifestyle without worrying about bills or healthcare costs. No extra explanation, no extra pressure. Just a concrete picture of the future.

According to Holzwarth et al. (Center for Advanced Hindsight, 2020), this concretisation led to a 20% increase in pension enrolment.

Client case (anonymised) · Belgian bank

A new app feature that doesn't feel like an ad.

A Belgian bank wanted app users curious about a new financial news feature, without it feeling like an interruption. The key was timing: showing the trigger after the banking task was complete (checking a balance, making a payment) rather than before it. Combined with the "financial news" framing instead of external newspaper logos, which had triggered an "ad" shortcut, the result was 10% of users and 300,000 readers a month.

Client case (anonymised) · Dutch bank

An employer brand that turns concrete instead of idealistic.

A Dutch bank wanted to become "Employer of First Choice" in a sector candidates see as generic. Research showed candidates unconsciously replace the hard question, "do I believe this bank's claims?", with the easier question, "can I see myself working here?" Real workplace photography instead of stock images, and concrete, recognisable proof points instead of idealistic taglines, proved decisive for recognition and credibility.

Why the SUE Behavioural Design Method

Behavioural science made applicable for financial professionals who aren't behavioural scientists.

Most behavioural science knowledge sits locked up in academic papers and compliance reports. SUE built its own method, the Influence Framework, that translates that knowledge into a practical step-by-step process any financial professional can apply, no scientific background required.

Read: the SUE Influence Framework explained →

SUE Influence Framework, five forces that determine every human behaviour

No academic theory, you work during the training on your own customer or employee case: pension enrolment, digital adoption or onboarding, and go home with a worked-out intervention plan.

Built on Kahneman, Cialdini and Thaler, scientifically grounded but accessible for practitioners.

Proprietary method, the Influence Framework isn't taught anywhere else, described in the #1 Managementboek bestseller.

16 years of experience in financial services, from ING and Achmea to ABN AMRO and Rabobank: teams took our training to learn how to design pension enrolment, digital adoption and customer trust.

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What financial professionals say after the training

10,000+ professionals took a SUE Behavioural Design training.

The financial professionals among them have one thing in common: afterwards, they look differently at pension enrolment, customer trust and digital adoption.

It was a joy to attend SUE's Behavioural Design training with our whole team. Happy customers of Centraal Beheer. Especially thinking from and looking for the underlying jobs-to-be-done were an eye opener for me. We can immediately start working with the insights learned.

Mathilde Staarman

Market Researcher · Centraal Beheer

★★★★★

The course was at a good location with good catering. I learned a lot, the group was very nice and the training was very well put together. I would definitely recommend this course to my team. It will certainly be used in practice!

Claudia ten Hoven

Advisor · Centraal Beheer

★★★★★

The BDA were 2 instructive and fun days. In a short time I gained a lot of knowledge about influencing behaviour and applying it in practical cases. Now it's up to me to apply this in my daily life.

Wilfred Terpstra

Communication specialist · Centraal Beheer

★★★★★

The BDA were 2 fantastic days. Learned a lot in a short time. Thanks to the perfect combination of theory and direct application in practice, the information stayed with me. Very nice and inspiring trainers. Highly recommended!

Pieter van der Krol

Marketing & Communication Lead · Centraal Beheer

★★★★★

At the Academy you learn a lot about behavioural change and how to apply it in a short period of time. Amazing how complicated material comes to life in a fun and interactive course! I am definitely going to apply it in my work.

Alina Chakh

Change & Transformation Consultant · ABN AMRO

★★★★★

Two fantastic, intensive, innovative, useful and above all relevant days under the excellent guidance of Tom & Astrid. They managed to get the magic of behavioural design completely into my head in two days. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Charles Rurop

Project Manager · Rabobank

★★★★★

The Behavioural Design Academy Master Classes hand you the latest insights in persuasive marketing. Thanks to practical models you can start working with them right away. Really useful and absolutely worth the time and money.

Lissy Kenema

Lead Marketing Manager · Rabobank Nederland

★★★★★

Hands on training that provides many insights and makes you think. You can immediately start working with the acquired knowledge.

Wilko Scherpenzeel

Product Manager Tribe Wonen · Rabobank

★★★★★

The training was great fun to follow! The balance between theory and application is just right. You can immediately apply the theory in daily life and in your work, so that's great!

Juliette van den Dungen

Content Specialist StiPP · PGGM

★★★★★

After the training

What financial professionals do differently after the Behavioural Design training

No abstract knowledge. Concrete changes in how you approach pension enrolment, customer communication, digital adoption and compliance culture.

You analyse customer behaviour and risk perception before designing a pension scheme or product

You use the Influence Framework as your starting point. What pains, gains and anxieties are at play for your customer or employee. What job-to-be-done sits underneath. You know this before a single form gets designed.

You design defaults and framing, not just disclaimers and terms

You know how to design pension enrolment, customer letters and digital flows so the desired behaviour also becomes the easiest behaviour. Compliant, but automatically appealing too.

You speak the language of behaviour in compliance meetings, leadership and customer research

You have a shared framework to explain why customers and employees respond the way they do, and how to align your product or communication choices without diluting the regulation.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions about the financial services training

Yes. The programmes are EQAC-accredited and you finish with a certificate. You can start with the two-day Fundamentals Course (€1,490 excl. VAT) or progress to the Advanced Course for experts (€3,990 excl. VAT).

Most participants from financial services start without prior knowledge. The training teaches you the behavioural science you need, directly linked to your own practice: pension enrolment, customer communication, digital adoption or compliance. No academic theory, just usable knowledge you apply the next day.

You learn the SUE Influence Framework: a method to analyse why customers or employees don't do what your product, letter or scheme asks of them, and to design customer contact, pension enrolment or digital onboarding so people actually move. You work on your own case during the training and go home with a worked-out approach.

This is most valuable for experienced financial professionals. You know the regulation, the products and the customer. The training gives you the scientific framework that explains why customers systematically pick the safe, suboptimal option, and how small interventions change that.

Deliberately a mixed group: professionals from banking, insurance, pension funds and fintech, alongside marketers, HR professionals and policymakers from other sectors. Maximum 16 participants. That mix is valuable: you also learn from how other sectors solve comparable behavioural challenges.

Yes. We invoice under the company name and the training is EQAC-accredited, which makes expensing easier. Get in touch if you need a quote or additional information for your request.

Start with Fundamentals. It gives you the complete Behavioural Design framework: the Influence Framework, the JTBD method and all core tools. Deep Dives such as Leading Change build on that with specific applications. Without Fundamentals, the Deep Dive is missing its foundation.

The Fundamentals course is the broad foundational programme: 2 live days (or 33 online lessons) in which you learn the complete Behavioural Design framework. After that you can apply it to any financial challenge. A Deep Dive training lasts 1 day and goes deep on one specific theme, such as leading change. If you follow both, Fundamentals is always the first step.

Yes. The Behavioural Design programme is EQAC-certified, which makes expensing to employers and training funds easier. We invoice under the company name and provide a quote on request. The course runs in Amsterdam and online. Get in touch for a personal advice conversation about which programme fits your situation best.

Ready to take the step? Check the next start date or ask your question.

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10,000+ professionals came before you · rated 9.3/10 · EQAC accredited

Behavioural Design is the missing layer.

Why compliant communication still isn't behaviour change

Behavioural Design for financial services is the application of behavioural science to banking, insurance and pensions: pension enrolment, customer communication, digital adoption and compliance culture. The method helps you understand why customers and employees respond the way they do, and how to design the context so the desired behaviour also becomes the easiest behaviour.

96% of behaviour is automatic. Most financial communication speaks to the conscious brain: informing, explaining, adding disclaimers. The Behavioural Design Method teaches you to read the unconscious, and design your customer and employee contact around it.

Five forces determine every behaviour. Pains, gains, anxieties, comforts and jobs-to-be-done. The SUE Influence Framework teaches you to recognise them in customers, employees and regulators, and to use them to design schemes and messages that land.

Behaviour is designable. The Behavioural Design Method gives you a step-by-step process to change the customer or employee context, not the person, so your pension scheme, product or letter isn't just read, but followed.

The training for banks, insurers and pension funds that actually moves customers.|

Every financial services professional runs into these behavioural challenges.

Why don't customers believe our explanation, even when it's factually correct?

Why don't employees enrol in a pension scheme that's obviously in their favour?

How do I meet my duty of care without burying customers in legal language?

Why do customers systematically pick the safe, suboptimal option?

Why won't my customer switch to the digital product, even when it's objectively better?

How do I make sure a new account, policy or app actually gets used?

How do I get buy-in for a new process employees experience as extra red tape?

What's left of my value if AI can generate advice and content too?

How do I show that behavioural design delivers more than a compliance checkbox?

What happens when you actually design the behavioural layer?

One extra question on the form, 20% more pension enrolment.

A new app feature that doesn't feel like an ad.

An employer brand that turns concrete instead of idealistic.

Behavioural science made applicable for financial professionals who aren't behavioural scientists.

A course for financial services: three featured formats for financial professionals

Behavioural Design Fundamentals Course

Behavioural Design Masterclass

Deep Dive Leading Change & Transformation

Or explore all our courses and programmes

10,000+ professionals took a SUE Behavioural Design training.

What financial professionals do differently after the Behavioural Design training

You analyse customer behaviour and risk perception before designing a pension scheme or product

You design defaults and framing, not just disclaimers and terms

You speak the language of behaviour in compliance meetings, leadership and customer research

Frequently asked questions about the financial services training

Why compliant communication still isn't behaviour change

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