Last Exit Benchmark Studies: Pension Funds Sector 2012

PENSIONSDIGITAL BENCHMARK©

2012


TABLE OF CONTENTS

2 INTRODUCTION3 ABOUT THE RANKING4

THE BENCHMARK RANKS 1 – 35THE BENCHMARK RANKS 4 – 96THE BENCHMARK RANKS 10 – 167

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

8 MOBILE9 SOCIAL MEDIA

10 CLEAR EXPLANATIONS11 USABILITY12 AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION13 AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION, ELSEWHERE14 ENGAGEMENT

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT US: [email protected] • +44 (0)20 7407 7666 // [email protected] • 1(646) 347 4340

LAST EXIT PENSION SECTOR DIGITAL BENCHMARK

The UK pensions market is about to undergo radical change on two key fronts:

Retail Distribution Review (RDR)

Changing the way Independent Financial Advisors and Financial Advisors are remunerated, and in force

from the start of 2013, the RDR will remove commission bias from the pensions system; financial

advisers will instead agree their fees directly and transparently with clients.

Last Exit considers the financial advice market to have a similarity with an unlikely sector - that of

mobile phones. At the moment mobile phones and financial advice are ‘free’ at the point of consump-

tion; the actual cost is hidden in contracts and recouped over time - essentially a form of credit. High

street banking - another service that is largely ‘free’ at the point of use’ - reinforces this modus operandi

of financial advice being ‘zero cost’.

From January 1st, individuals (or perhaps companies) will pay for that advice at a rate that a professional

may understand but the average person - particularly those on low incomes - may not.

Auto-enrolment

Shifting the burden of pension provision to companies who will, by law, have to ‘auto-enrol’ employees

in to a company pension scheme. Companies enter the auto-enrolment system over a period of years,

depending on their size and PAYE status.

Effect

Auto-enrolment will trigger an influx of new people in to pension plans, and stimulate those with

existing plans to revisit their provision. Some, at the lower end of the market, will likely use NEST - the

basic government-instigated scheme. Others will use plans from the major pensions providers as part of

a company scheme. Either way, there will be a considerable rise in interest from individuals and

companies in pensions. That interest - combined with the effect of the RDR - will inevitably lead people

to pension providers’ websites and, perhaps, more specialist websites including Trustnet and Citywire. It

may also spawn chatter on social networks.

The Last Exit Pension Sector Benchmark

Given the above changes, and building on expertise gained contributing to digital industry think tank

reports for L2, Last Exit has conducted a study to benchmark the desktop websites, mobile and social

presences of 19 UK pension providers. Covering 29 different touchpoints, the findings of the benchmark

are summarised in this document. For more detailed information and analysis please contact me.

Fred BrownPartner and Managing Director, Last Exit

“Up to 50 percent of IFAs will go out of

business as a result of the Retail Distribution

Review (RDR) legislation due on

1 January next year. ” Julian Chillingworth

chief investment officer at Rathbones

What proportion of theIFA community will be

wiped out in theaftermath of RDR?

more than 50 percent

25 to 50 percent

less than 25 percent

it will barely have any effect

20%

29%

36%

16%


INTRODUCTION

P 2

Source: FE Trustnet poll



ABOUT THE RANKING

MobileResearch and transactions are no longer

confined to desktop computers. We

looked for website optimisation on

mobile phones, and whether pension

mobile apps are available.

Customer pension / fund app available

Advisor pension / fund app available

DesktopMultiple touch-points, delving into

the organisation of information,

content quality, usability, audience

segmentation and engagement.

Identification of user type

Pension types and funds

Company information for customer

Route to pensions

Engagement

Managing your pensions

Fund data

Website UX

Wesite search

Visibility

Social MediaWe looked for ‘Likes’ and follower numbers on

Facebook and Twitter, engagement levels and

whether their social media presences are

reflected on their respective corporate websites.

Facebook main brand page

Facebook sponsored page

Twitter

Scoring systemWe examined the websites of 19 leading UK pension providers.

Our three main criteria were Mobile, Website and Social Media,

which we divided further into 29 touch-points, each being given

a score between 0-5 (5 being very good).

116+Excellent

115-87Good

86-58Mediocre

<58Weak

P 3FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT US: [email protected] • +44 (0)20 7407 7666 // [email protected] • 1(646) 347 4340

RDR and auto-enrolment will change the UK pensions market. But there’s also a longer-term change, often over-looked, in how consumers in the UK research major purchases and financial commitments. The web has changed how we decide what to buy and how we invest.

In this report we’ve set out to discover whether UK pensions companies are ready for these changes,

whether their digital presences are prepared for the growing numbers of informed customers with high

expectations of corporate websites. Customers used to researching, then purchasing from Amazon,

expect great service as the norm.

Analysing the websites and the digital presences of the UK’s leading pension providers, we’ve found an

industry that’s, in the main, ill-prepared for the digital revolution that’s taking place around them.

We are unable to grade any of the 19 websites we examined as ‘Excellent’. Only Aviva's site was judged

to be ‘Good’, of the rest, nine are ‘Mediocre’ , nine ‘Weak’.

Of the websites we have looked at, for example, only three were easily viewed on mobile phones. More

and more consumers are using tablets and smart-phones yet none of the leading pension providers are

using responsive design technology that will display their websites correctly on these devices.

With a few notable exceptions, we found these websites to be difficult to navigate. Usability is crucial

for the consumer trying to absorb complex financial information, yet many of these websites make

finding important information difficult. It’s easier for potential investors to leave a poorly designed

website rather than battle conflicting text, jargon and old press releases.

In other industries, demographic segmentation is often used to make customer website visits easier and

more productive. Yet we found few pension company websites that successfully grouped their

customers, and even fewer that drilled down into occupation or income bracket.

Turning to the search facility on these websites is of little help. Almost across the board, the search

engines are poor on pension providers’ websites, many returning out-of-date .pdf files and irrelevant

pages. Extraordinarily, three of the websites we looked at didn’t even provide a search box.

Social media is another untapped resource for many pension companies. With widely differing levels of

customer engagement, only seven of the nineteen operate a corporate Facebook page and eleven have

opened a Twitter account.

During our research we found website after website that failed to clearly explain their pension products.

It seems that the websites are often organised around corporate structure and priorities, rather than

customer needs and the evolving sophistication of the web.

In this time of change, the companies that reflect on the challenges detailed in this report and alter their

websites accordingly, stand to gain a competitive advantage.


ARE PENSIONCOMPANIES

READY?

MORE AND MORE CONSUMERSARE TURNING TO THE WEB

TO FIND FINANCIAL INFORMATION

P 4


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


THE BENCHMARK

RANK COMPANY SCORE DESCRIPTION

Ranks 4 – 10 overleaf

P 5

1 89 / 145

GoodA clear winner. Aviva’s engaging website identifies its

key customers and is easy to navigate around. It

covers nearly all of the bases; relevant content, good

usability, a mobile site, social media pages and a

useful search function.

2 82 / 145

MediocrePru.co.uk makes it easy to find the important

information. A well organised, straight-talking

website that excels at explaining the benefits of its

pension products. Good tools and fund data.

3= 78 / 145

MediocreWell thought-out user journeys for its target

audiences. Good, engaging, online planning tools and

one of the few websites to tackle auto-enrolment.

3= 78 / 145

MediocreHas defined routes to pension products. Explains

clearly the roles that provider and advisors play and

how to consolidate pension plans.



THE BENCHMARK


4 Scottish Widows 73 / 145

Mediocre

Covers the basics. Refining the content and optimising for mobile would see scottishwidows.co.uk vying for the top spot. Beginning to make inroads into social media.

5 Legal & General 72 / 145

Mediocre

A good all-round performer. One of the few websites that provides clear information about the funds available under its selected pension schemes.

6 Fidelity 71 / 145

Mediocre

A well laid out website. Addresses transferring ISAs, funds and pensions.

7 Scottish Life 70 / 145

Mediocre

Makes it easy to find independent financial advice, also has a good internal search facility.


8 Friends Life 66 / 145

Mediocre

The website segments its target audience and explains key information but is not optimised for mobile.

9 LV 62 / 145

Mediocre

Maintains presences on Facebook and Twitter. We’d like to see better explanations of the pension types and funds on offer.

10= Wesleyan 57 / 145

Weak

Clear calls to action and section signposting aids navigation. Lacks planning tools, RDR and auto-enrolment information.

10= Zurich 57 / 145

Weak

Good information about the pension funds available. We’d like to see pension planning tools and optimisation for mobile and tablets.

Ranks 10 – 16 overleaf

P 6


THE BENCHMARK


11 NFU Mutual 52 / 145

Weak

Good calls to action, internal search and auto-enrolment information, but the website is not optimised for mobile, there’s no pension app, and the design is not responsive.

12 Virgin Money 51 / 145

Weak

A site that’s easy to navigate around, but is missing detailed pension information and a search box.

13 MetLife 40 / 145

Weak

Identifies different user types, but could do better with explaining the different products, fund data and information about consolidating pensions.

14 Skandia 39 / 145

Weak

Good explanations of the pension products available, but fails to identify user types and lacks clears calls to action and section signposting.

15 Sanlam 37 / 145

Weak

Offers fund data, but finding key information is difficult due to less than optimal internal search and content organisation.

16= Axa Wealth 36 / 145

Weak

Makes it easy to find an IFA, but the website relies on .pdf files and can be difficult to navigate around.

16= Canada Life 36 / 145

Weak

Contains clear information about the company and the role of fund managers, but the website’s reliance on .pdf files means that it can be confusing to use.

P 7FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT US: [email protected] • +44 (0)20 7407 7666 // [email protected] • 1(646) 347 4340

THE USE OF WEB-ENABLED SMART PHONES FOR RESEARCH AND

BUSINESS IS ON THE RISE.According to the telecommunications company Ericsson, the total

number of mobile subscriptions globally will reach around 9 billion in

2017, of which 5 billion will be for mobile broadband. Yet we’ve found

that many pension companies are not mobile-ready. Of the nineteen

companies we compared, only three employed websites that were

optimised for mobile. Only two offer mobile pension apps for their

customers. Pension providers are in danger of being left behind.


MOBILE

Website optimised for mobile (CSS or responsive)

AVIVA / FIDELITY / LV

NO

YES

Customer pension / fund app available

FIDELITY / STANDARD LIFE

NO

YES

Advisor pension / fund app available

LEGAL & GENERAL / SKANDIA

NO

YES

P 8

3

16

2

17

2

17

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%2007 2011 2015

73%

27%

43%48%

57%

73%

52%

Mobile web surfing is estimated to overtake desktop web surfing by 2015

Source: Morgan Stanley Research data



SOCIAL MEDIA

P 9

25000

30000LIKES / FOLLOWERS

20000

15000

10000

5000

0

FACEBOOK / TWITTERINTEGRATION WITHIN WEBSITE

AVIVA

LVSCOTTISH WIDOW

VIRGIN MONEY

FRIENDS LIFE

LEGAL & GENERAL

FIDELITY

SKANDIA

STANDARD LIFE

AEGON

AXA WEALTH

CANADA LIFE

METLIFE

NFU MUTUAL

PRUDENTIAL

SANLAM

WESLEYAN

ZURICH

SCOTTISH LIFE

SOCIAL MEDIA CAN NO LONGER BE IGNORED…it’s a powerful part of any modern marketing

programme. Facebook, for example, is used by

approximately 30 million people in the UK. But

as this chart shows, aside from Aviva and Virgin

Money, social media is still unexplored territory

for many financial services companies in the UK.

They're missing the opportunity to engage with

their customers.



CLEAR EXPLANATIONS

P 10

THE PENSIONS INDUSTRY CAN BE JARGON-HEAVY. We looked for websites that clearly explained their products to their customers, and informed us about key terms, from Auto-enrolment

to Stakeholder pensions. This page shows you, at a glance, which companies are using their websites to communicate well.

Four companies did not, in our opinion, provide a clear explanation of any of the terms: AXA Wealth, Canada Life, LV and Metlife.

7 / 7 TERMS 6 / 7 TERMS 5 / 7 TERMS 4 / 7 TERMS 3 / 7 TERMS 2 / 7 TERMS

We looked for these terms to be explained:

AUTO-ENROLMENT · GROUP PERSONAL PENSIONS · NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT SAVINGS TRUST · PERSONAL PENSION PLAN · RETAIL DISTRIBUTION REVIEWSELF-INVESTED PERSONAL PENSION · STAKEHOLDER PENSIONS



USABILITY

P 11

PRESENTING FINANCIAL INFORMATION CLEARLY IS KEY. The pensions process can be daunting for customers. This page contains two examples of websites we’ve selected for their ease of use.

employ clear calls to action on their website. They make it easy to “request a quote from your local branch”.

NFU Mutualclearly signpost their website sections. Information is relevant, well organised and there’s good use of colour.

Aviva



AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION

P 12

WEBSITES THAT USE AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY WANT TO ANTICIPATE AND UNDERSTAND CUSTOMER NEEDS. People respond favourably to familiarity, personalisation and being able to follow a clear path to information that’s

relevant to them. Customers can be segmented by age group, income level, occupation or interests.

uses occupation segmentation to engage their key customers in the medical, dental, teaching and legal markets.

The Wesleyanorganises their website homepage so that it reflects the customers they want to engage. They helpfully split their website visitors into individuals and businesses, aiding the user journey.

Aegon



AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION, ELSEWHERE

P 13

LOOKING BEYOND FINANCIAL SERVICES WEBSITES CAN BE INSTRUCTIVE. Established retailers and the motor industry are masters at segmenting their customers.

By creating five character types on their website, the fashion retailer makes engaging with their products easy and enjoyable.

Mr PorterThe car manufacturer anticipates customer needs, assisting the website visitor and making a purchase more likely.

Volkswagen



ENGAGEMENT

P 14

PENSION PRODUCTS CAN BE PLAYFUL. Tools, games and gizmos can be used to cut through the jargon, and engage potential customers.

This page contain two examples of tools that we like.

This Pension Calculator is easy to use and even fun to interact with. The results are easy to understand and thought-provoking.

Standard LifeThe ‘myPlan in retirement’ tool is a quick education. It allows customers to easily estimate how long their savings will last in retirement.

Fidelity


London office

1st Floor, Building 1/2

The Leathermarket

Weston Street

London SE1 3ET

t +44 (0)20 7407 7666

f +44 (0)20 7378 6431

[email protected]

New York office

200 Varick St. #802

New York, NY 10014

t +1 646 307 4340

f +1 425 952 9597

[email protected]

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?

How to reach us:

Last Exit is a digital agency with offices in New York and London. We exist to provide

unparalleled value to our clients through a rigorous, client-tailored planning process

and world class creative.

To discuss your digital challenges and initiatives, give us a call or email us using the

contact details below.

Documents

Last Exit Benchmark Studies: Pension Funds Sector 2012