DEI and Customer Communications: Why Inclusivity Is Key to Brand Success in the UK Market

Creating an inclusive workplace and customer experience starts with something simple yet vital: How we communicate. Inclusive communication is about more than just avoiding outdated terminology, it’s about creating an environment where everyone feels heard, understood, and respected.

Businesses that use inclusive language in their communication benefit from the work of happier and more loyal employees compared to businesses that don’t use it. They’re able to reach a broader customer base. 

From tone of voice to word choice, the way your organisation communicates both internally and externally plays a powerful role in how people engage with your brand. In this article, we explore why inclusive communications matters for UK businesses of any scale and talk about different strategies to improve your internal and external communication. 

What’s inclusive communication?

Inclusive communication is the conscious use of language and other forms of communication, including body language, written communication, and social interaction, that avoids bias and promotes equality. It enables people from diverse groups, including those with disability or different communication support needs, to fully participate and express themselves.

Inclusive communication is about recognising differences and creating an accessible environment that enables everyone to communicate effectively. That might mean choosing person-first language (for example, “person with a disability” rather than “disabled person”), using simple and clear sentences, or messaging that avoids jargon and assumptions.

Inclusive communication promotes understanding, avoids reinforcing harmful stereotypes, and ensures that your services are truly open to all. It’s especially important in the workplace, where the way we talk to colleagues, as well as customers, affects whether they feel valued, included, and supported.

Why inclusive communication matters for UK brands

In a multicultural society like the UK, your customer base includes people from all walks of life. To communicate inclusively is to acknowledge diversity in ethnicity, language, gender identity, disability status, and more. And when done well, it builds trust, strengthens your brand’s reputation, and drives loyalty.

In fact, the majority of UK consumers prefer to buy from companies that reflect their values. That includes respectful language, inclusive messaging, and clear accessibility options. People are increasingly aware of the brands they support, and they expect more than surface-level gestures.

Inclusive communication ensures that your organisation engages all audiences, including underrepresented groups. Whether it’s a support interaction, a product page, or a social media post, inclusive messaging helps everyone access your content and understand your message.

The role of inclusive communication in regulated industries

In highly regulated sectors like financial services, tech, and life sciences, inclusive communication is also a matter of compliance.

Miscommunication or exclusionary language carries legal, reputational, and financial risks. Regulators expect organisations to meet accessibility and inclusion standards in both written and verbal communication. In these sectors, clarity and consistency are vital. The consequences of getting it wrong are serious.

Inclusive communication ensures that content isn’t only respectful and accessible, but also compliant with legal obligations. For example, using plain language in customer contracts or product descriptions helps customers make informed choices and protects your business from claims of misleading practices.

Common barriers to inclusive communication

Despite the best intentions, organisations often struggle to develop consistent inclusive messaging in their customer communication. Here are some of the most common obstacles:

Lack of awareness and training

Many organisations unintentionally exclude people simply because employees haven’t received guidance on inclusive communication. Without training, staff may rely on assumptions or outdated language that reinforces stereotypes — even with the best intentions. Raising awareness is the first step to creating a more thoughtful and inclusive environment.

Overreliance on one communication style

Everyone has different communication preferences. Whether due to disability, cultural background, or personal experience, people may find certain formats inaccessible. Relying only on written communication, or assuming that spoken instructions suit everyone, can alienate employees and customers alike. Inclusive communication means offering alternatives like easy-to-read formats, captions, or visual explanations to suit different needs.

Implicit bias in language and tone

Bias often hides in plain sight. From gendered job titles to ableist phrases or culturally loaded metaphors, language can reflect unconscious prejudice. These phrases may seem harmless, but they perpetuate harmful stereotypes and make marginalised groups feel unwelcome. Being mindful of tone of voice, terminology, and context is essential for promoting respectful and inclusive interactions.

Lack of consistency across teams and departments

Even if some teams communicate inclusively, others may not follow the same approach. This ceates confusion and undermines efforts to build trust and credibility. Without a shared understanding of inclusive communication principles or tools to help apply them it’s difficult to scale inclusion across an organisation. That’s where consistent content governance becomes invaluable.

Inaccessible content formats

Sometimes, the barrier isn’t the words themselves, but how they’re delivered. Text-heavy documents without structure, videos without subtitles, or websites incompatible with screen readers exclude users with communication support needs. Making content more accessible enables people to participate fully and engage meaningfully with your organisation.

Strategies for creating inclusive communication

To promote inclusive communication, businesses need to go beyond checklists. Here are some strategies that can help:

Build awareness through training and guidance

Creating a culture of inclusive communication starts with education. Offering regular training helps teams recognise how their everyday language may unintentionally exclude or alienate certain groups. This kind of awareness empowers employees to rethink how they write, speak, and share ideas. It builds the foundation for long-term cultural change. Practical guidance and real-life examples help make the abstract feel actionable.

Use inclusive language in all communications

Inclusive communication is rooted in inclusive language: Choosing words that acknowledge diversity, showing respect to all people, and avoiding bias. From using gender-neutral job titles to avoiding outdated or ableist terms, organisations can make small changes that have a big impact. You can reach that goal by actively using words that foster belonging and human dignity.

Offer multiple communication formats

Different people process information in different ways. To communicate inclusively, it’s important to provide content in a variety of formats, such as plain-text documents, videos with subtitles, audio content, or easy-read versions. This approach supports employees and customers with communication support needs, including people with disabilities, and enables everyone to access and understand key information.

Apply inclusive principles across the organisation

Inclusivity isn’t a one-team job. To be effective, inclusive communication must be embedded throughout the entire organisation, from HR policies to marketing messages, and from internal emails to customer service scripts. That means aligning departments around a shared set of values and principles, and ensuring that everyone understands the importance of inclusion in communication.

Digitise your inclusive language guidance

To scale inclusive communication, organisations need the right tools. Digitising your inclusive language guide and integrating it into content creation workflows helps writers apply inclusive principles in real time. With content governance software like Acrolinx, teams receive proactive suggestions and can catch biased language before it’s published, helping to maintain consistency and impact at scale.

At its core, inclusive communication is about human dignity, clarity, and respect. It empowers employees, builds inclusive customer journeys, and reflects the true values of your brand.

How Acrolinx supports inclusive communication in enterprise content of any scale

Inclusive communication at scale isn’t easy. Especially when your content is being created by hundreds of people across different departments, regions, and languages, you’ll feel yourself confronted with a number of challenges. That’s where Acrolinx can help.

Acrolinx turns your inclusive language guide into a living, breathing part of your content creation process. It helps your teams:

• Apply inclusive language consistently across all channels — from blog posts to support messages to internal policies.
• Avoid terms that reinforce stereotypes or exclude marginalised groups — with real-time feedback.
• Promote inclusive communication principles by integrating them directly into the tools your teams already use.
• Align tone, terminology, and accessibility guidance across every customer touchpoint — even as your content scales.

By embedding inclusive communication principles into your organisation’s content workflows, Acrolinx helps you ensure that every person, regardless of background, ability, or identity, can understand and engage with your message.

Ready to make your communications more inclusive? Download the Acrolinx Inclusive Language Guide.