Leading pension fund leverages Sitecore-powered personalization to engage young investors

This pension fund is an award-winning, profit-to-members superannuation fund dedicated to servicing existing customers. Instead of gaining new members, the company focuses on member and fund retention and building financially secure futures.

But consumer engagement and awareness about pensions is low, especially among young people - 30% of those surveyed were unaware of their pension investment or market impact. Changing financial regulations make pensions confusing which exacerbates low interest and makes connecting with members harder. Covid-19 and ongoing market fluctuations caused more confusion and even panic as people worried about job security and long-term financial planning.

The business undertook a complete rebrand, modernizing its look and feel across all digital channels. It was critical to focus on digital channels to improve communication and engagement with members. The fund found this reduced attrition by 50% (54% for under-30s). Digitization promised to make investment and advice more transparent, and better able to fit individual goals, income, marital status, and preferred risk level.

With a local Sitecore partner, the fund developed a digital marketing platform based on Sitecore comprising a new website, content, and communication channels. Core to the fund’s digital transformation and better member engagement is a strategy focused on personalization. Each member is treated as an individual, with targeted and personalized experiences that match their needs, stage of life, and level of financial engagement.

Building on its in-depth member data, the fund used Sitecore to establish a single, centralized information hub. This featured four main segments: the young; people with homes and families; those thinking about retirement; and those in retirement. Persona criteria within these segments include balance, engagement, and level of understanding. Over 220 trigger points – especially triggers for leaving the fund - were identified and used to drive deep personalization and automation campaigns.

Sitecore personalization enabled the business to transform its digital communications into highly targeted experiences that speak to each individual member. Combining rich data in Sitecore with transactional, behavioral, and segmentation data delivered a personalized experience. The website homepage now has five versions personalized to each segment with targeted content, links, actions, and messages. Newsletters, statements, and emails are personalized to each member.

As well as making the pension fund more interesting and engaging, the personalization strategy is increasing relevancy and education, and encouraging and making it easier for members to take pertinent actions. One key operational change that Sitecore fostered was to embed the member experience at the start of any new process to better manage expectations.

The pension fund’s digital strategy has seen significant engagement improvements. Monthly logins are up by 95%, self-service transactions have increased by more than 50%, and 90% of members get better personalized experiences. Emails regularly hit an average open rate of more than 40%—well above the industry average. Overall, engagement levels have increased by 50%.

Trust in the business has also improved, with the fund ranking in the top five out of 25 other funds. Better member engagement has enabled the fund to retain millions of dollars in funds under management. Customer interactions have changed from requests for information and how-to-do questions to strategic advice, enabling the fund to develop deeper, more valuable and meaningful engagements with members.

Sitecore technology also enables the digital marketing team to respond to change swiftly. For example, a dedicated Covid-19 microsite and chatbot went live in one week, the fund’s fastest ever emergency response. Over three months, overall website traffic increased more than 70%, self-service transactions were up nearly 95% and there were 30% more email click-throughs. Engagement with Covid-19-related video increased by more than 500%.

“Sitecore is a very strong, solid, and secure platform. Most critically, Sitecore gives us the flexibility to evolve, change, and reach out to the members of tomorrow and the ones we don’t know yet,” said the fund’s Head of Digital.

Since deploying Sitecore, digital has become the fund’s biggest member engagement channel, accounting for nearly 90%.