If your fintech copy leads with 'innovative', you may already be losing trust
Innovative. Cutting-edge. Disruptive. YAWWWN.
If you work in fintech marketing, you’ve seen these words everywhere. They dominate homepages, pitch decks and investor communications. After fifteen years working in fintech copywriting for startups, scale-ups and global financial institutions, one thing is clear: innovation is rarely what convinces people to buy, adopt or trust a financial product.
In many cases, leading with ‘innovative’ does the opposite. It introduces doubt, raises perceived risk and creates distance between your brand and the people you want to reach.
We’re taking a look at why that happens, why fintech brands keep repeating the mistake and what to focus on instead if you want your content to convert in a regulated environment.
Innovation sounds exciting internally but risky externally
Inside fintech businesses, innovation is a badge of honour. It signals progress, technical excellence and differentiation from legacy systems. Externally, audiences often hear something very different.
For buyers, investors and internal stakeholders, ‘innovative’ can translate as untested, unfamiliar, harder to justify internally or potentially risky.
This is key because fintech decisions are rarely emotional in the way consumer technology decisions are. Payments leaders, compliance teams, ESG officers and CFOs are not looking to be impressed. They are looking to reduce uncertainty.
The FCA reinforces this dynamic in its guidance on financial promotions. Marketing communications must be clear, fair and not misleading and must not overemphasise benefits without appropriate context or risk disclosure.
Why fintech brands default to 'innovative' copy
Product-led thinking leaks into marketing: Fintech companies are built by problem-solvers. Engineers and product teams understand how advanced the solution is, so copy often reflects internal pride rather than external priorities.
Fear of sounding boring: Heritage financial brands have spent decades communicating stability. Challenger fintechs often swing too far in the opposite direction, assuming trust comes from sounding new rather than sounding dependable.
Compliance anxiety: When teams are unsure what claims they can safely make, ‘innovative’ becomes a vague, low-risk placeholder. It sounds positive without committing to anything measurable.
Ironically, this safety blanket usually weakens persuasion rather than strengthening it.
Trust beats innovation in fintech copywriting
At Alex Genn Copywriting, we’ve been working in fintech of 15 years (as well as with many legacy financial brands). Across projects for fintechs such as Ardoq, Finzly, LinedData, PayAlly and PassFort we’ve seen one pattern emerge and again. When fintech copy moves from innovation-led messaging to trust-led messaging, engagement improves.
That trust is built through clarity over cleverness, outcomes over features and reassurance over excitement.
This mirrors how established financial institutions communicate. Working closely with brands likes Santander and Invesco, we’ve seen that they rarely lead with innovation claims. Instead, they focus on reliability, governance, scale and customer protection. These messages reduce perceived risk, which is often the main barrier to action.
If you want your fintech content to really connect with your audiences, to drive your brand and sign-ups, we’re ready when you are.
The hidden cost of innovation-led content
It delays understanding: Decision-makers still have to work out what you actually do. That friction increases bounce rates and lengthens sales cycles.
It complicates compliance reviews: Vague claims invite scrutiny. Legal and compliance teams push back, leading to rewrites that cost time and momentum.
It weakens SEO and AI visibility: Search engines and AI models prioritise
What to say instead of 'innovative'
This doesn’t mean hiding progress or technology. It means reframing it through outcomes your audience values. Effective fintech writing answers three questions clearly and early.
- What problem do you remove (such as, cost, friction, risk or compliance burden)?
- How does this make life easier safer or more efficient?
- Why should I trust you (including experience, governance and regulatory awareness)?
When you approach it like that, innovation becomes implied rather than announced.
Are you ready to supercharge your fintech copy?
Innovative is not a differentiator in fintech. Its a baseline expectation. What separates high-performing fintech brands is how clearly they explain, reassure and guide their audience through complexity.
If your content feels vague, over-technical or overly cautious, it may be time to rethink the language holding it together.
If you want strategic, compliant and conversion-focused fintech copywriting, talk to Alex Genn Copywriting.
We help fintech teams replace generic messaging with clear, trusted communication that works across marketing, compliance and search.