In this blog, we share practical tips for creating pension communications that members can actually understand and engage with.
In pensions, communication is far more than something to tick off a list. Done well, it builds trust, makes complex information easier to understand and helps members feel more confident about the decisions in front of them.
That is the real job of pension communications: getting the right information to the right people, in a way that feels clear, relevant and useful. Simple enough in theory. In practice, pension member communications can quickly become complicated when you are dealing with different ages, different levels of understanding, different channels and some very technical subject matter.
So, where do you start?
Start with your members, not the message.
It is easy to begin with what the scheme needs to say. A stronger pension communications strategy starts with what members actually need to know.
Different groups may need different levels of detail, different examples and different ways to access information. Someone approaching retirement is unlikely to have the same questions as someone who has only recently joined the scheme. The language, timing and format should reflect that.
Member surveys and wider research and audits can also help take some of the guesswork out of the process. If you know which channels members use, where confusion tends to arise and what questions keep coming back, communications can be planned around real behaviour rather than assumptions.
Choose the channel as carefully as the words
A clear message can still miss the mark if it arrives in the wrong place. Email, letters, scheme websites, webinars, videos and member forums all have a role, but they do not all work equally well for every audience or every message.
For some schemes, a mix of traditional and online communications will be the answer. The important bit is making the experience feel joined up, so members are not receiving one message by email, another on the website and something completely different when they call.
Change needs a communications plan
Administrator changes, regulatory updates, market volatility, scheme transactions and other major developments can all generate questions. Silence rarely makes those questions disappear.
This is where a planned approach to crisis and change communications matters. Be clear about what is changing, what is not changing, whether members need to do anything and when they can expect to hear more. That does not mean flooding inboxes. It means communicating often enough to keep people informed without creating more noise.
Dashboards raise the bar again
Pensions dashboards are moving the industry towards a more connected, digital member experience. As schemes connect and prepare for wider public use, members will increasingly expect pension information to be easy to find, consistent and understandable.
That makes the wider communications journey just as important as the data itself. If members see information on a dashboard and then visit the scheme website, read a letter or contact the administrator, the experience needs to make sense from one touchpoint to the next.
Measure what members are telling you
Pension member communications should not be a case of send it and hope for the best. Look at what you can measure: email opens and clicks, website visits, webinar attendance, survey responses, repeat enquiries and the questions coming into administration teams.
The numbers will not tell you everything, but they will show where members are engaging and where a different approach might be needed.
When specialist support helps
Routine communications can often be handled perfectly well in-house. The harder moments tend to be the ones where the message is complex, the audience is broad, or there is a lot riding on getting the tone right.
KBPR supports pension schemes and providers with pension communications strategy, member messaging, content, change communications and the wider materials needed to bring a campaign together. You can also see examples of the wider work we deliver in our case studies.
If your pension member communications need a fresh pair of eyes, get in touch with the KBPR team
