How we communicate is more data-led than ever before, and it’s our job in the pensions industry to raise the bar. We have the power to turn the tables, to use rich data to be innovative and dynamic when engaging with members and make their pension communications more relevant to them than ever before.
What a ‘data’ be alive
Auto-enrolment should have increased an employer’s connection with its workforce. Not only are you automatically put into a pension scheme, but an employer is forced to provide one by law (and therefore at least think about preparing their employees for retirement). But the opposite has happened. Those connections are being eroded, as trustees of pension schemes struggle with the administrative and financial burden, and scheme members find themselves transferred into consolidated master trusts. Long term, the company connection is lost altogether as schemes look to buy-outs to manage risk.
When that consolidation happens, often, large providers are sending more generic communications as a result. They now manage memberships with wildly different work histories, demographics and behaviours. And in doing so, it’s not a “one-size-fits-all” approach—outreach needs to be bespoke and tailored to your specific audience's needs.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. We in the pensions industry have the power to turn the tables, to use rich data to be innovative and dynamic when engaging with members and make their pension communications more relevant to them than ever before.
First names are history
We need to raise the bar for what counts as a ‘personalised’ communication. Starting an email with “Hello James” is as personalised as putting my ‘personalised’ email address in the ‘To:’ field. Many of us understand this when scrolling through our personal inboxes, so we should hold ourselves to higher standards when designing emails for members.
Make it relevant
What does count for personalisation is anything which makes your communication more relevant and meaningful to the reader.
Getting a generic email to say that you’ve changed your investment choices is fine – you’ve received the most relevant and important message. But if your scheme also uses your age, target retirement date, pot size or recent transactions to give you more relevant information, and what you might need to do next, that’s much more valuable to a member than seeing their first name in the subject line.
Know your audience
Of course, schemes will never know what’s most valuable to every member for certain unless they speak to everyone in person. As that’s not likely possible, being driven by data is your best option. With this approach you can constantly refine your strategy if results don’t fully achieve your objectives.
Let’s say you use a different ‘call to action’ on your email depending on the user’s age, and the results don’t achieve your objectives. There are several conclusions you can make from that—perhaps age wasn’t the right data item to use for that line, or you picked the wrong message for each age group. But perhaps it was the right data item, and the action itself, or even the rest of the communication, wasn’t what they needed. Perhaps your objective didn’t align with your members’.
Here's two different strategies to consider:
- Research – Find out why it didn’t work. This can involve data analysis, user research, focus groups, questionnaires or investing in more sophisticated analytics for digital communications, such as cursor heat mapping or eye-tracking software.
- Experimentation – The more you experience and try different strategies and tactics, the more insights you have for your next communication. Ever wondered why you sometimes get interesting adverts on social media? Finding out what you don’t click on is as useful as knowing what you already like and have clicked on.
Informed choices
You’ll only improve outcomes for your members if you share their objectives. Take ‘engagement’. Most pension schemes want to increase engagement. But industry truisms like “increased contributions are always good” or “opt-outs are always bad” fall flat where increased contributions cause someone to face financial struggles, or an opt-out helps someone to buy a house. In all cases, the goal should be informed choices. Put simply, that means giving people:
- the right information,
- at the right time,
- and sending them to the right place.
Here are three steps for using data to support informed choices
1. The right information
Make your communications relevant to each audience. Tailor them to see what works by using a blend of campaign data analysis and direct member feedback. “Register for your member portal” does what it says on the tin, but you can give members a compelling reason to register by linking it to one of their objectives. If you know from user research that members start to think about retirement a year before their TRA, targeted nudge telling them about the simplicity of the online retirement process will lead to greater success.
2. The right time
Create administrative processes and communication nudges which are driven by a member’s life stage, priorities or recent activity; and highlight ‘next best actions’ for maximum impact. It could be as simple as someone updating their expression of wish after they update their home address.
3. The right place
Use clear and segmented calls to action. A benefit statement is useful because it tells people whether they’re on track for a pension 20 years away, or when someone’s planning their retirement in the short term. This will be more impactful than stating: “Read your benefit statement.”
Using these data-informed approaches, your members will be more empowered to make the right decisions.
How we can help
To start your journey with us, please get in touch.
At Gallagher, we understand the power of using data to engage with people effectively. Our experience shows that communications work best when you track your members’ behaviour and anticipate their needs, wherever they are in their financial journey.
