One of the best reality checks that I believe we can have is listening to the unfiltered, real and authentic comments from superannuation fund members. It might sound a little weird, but it’s great from behind a one-way mirror as part of a focus group.
It’s brilliant because not only are you hearing from real people, but you don’t have an ability to interrupt, correct, endorse, or otherwise impact the conversation. What happens as a result, is feedback from members that is a reminder about the industry we work in and love, but isn’t top of mind for most people. It’s also a jolt about how challenging it will be to cut through to the younger generation on the important topics of superannuation or insurance.
So it was with both trepidation and excitement that MetLife commissioned several focus groups of people who opted-in, let lapse, or cancelled their insurance through the Protect Your Super (PYS) phase to discuss their view of PYS communications. While the technical aspects or Putting Members’ Interest First (PMIF) are different, the sentiment and attitude towards insurance and communication habits and preferences remains relevant.
Those insights, together with previous research on Insurance Inside Super were compiled and presented to clients in an interactive workshop on Thursday 22nd August in our Melbourne office.
At that workshop we presented a summary of 16 behavioural insights, together with videos and verbatims, and a toolkit on how best to communicate PMIF changes to members. Some of the tools, while obvious in name, are technically tricky to perfect.
For example, the concepts of grabbing attention, value-framing the current cover, creating a sense of urgency, using appropriate tone of voice and amplifying urgency to act – were just a few discussed. We shared a hierarchy, timeline and provided example content for eDMs and text messages that can be adapted for use by superannuation funds.
22 of our clients attended the information session and we thank you all for coming along to share your views and contribute to the day. Your enthusiasm and feedback were welcomed and we look forward to working with you to better communicate future PMIF changes to customers to make sure they understand the value of super and insurance. All in all, our clients represent over 2 million superannuation fund members and that’s not a responsibility we take lightly.
If you need support with the PMIF communication implementation, we’re here to help. Please contact your Relationship Manager to find out how.
Brian Jacobs
Senior Manager - Member Engagement
