ABP pension fund – EpicStories

ABP pension fund Customers Innovation Team

For almost 100 years, ABP has been the pension fund for people working in the Dutch government and education sectors. 1 out of 6 people in the Netherlands receive or will receive in the future a pension from ABP.

Our role

We were the Innovation Designers (Research, UX, and UI) for the Customer Innovation Team of ABP. The main purpose of the team was to investigate communication issues between the organization and its participants. The findings and corresponding solutions were then presented to the board of ABP. To accomplish this, we conducted interviews with customers, guided creative sessions with multiple teams and stakeholders, built prototypes and MVPs, and conducted user tests and quantitative research. We then ensured that stakeholders could make further steps with our insights and resources. With key insights and solutions, we guided stakeholders to take further actions.

The numbers

86,184 invitations sent to customers
227 of these customers were interviewed at 12 locations
of which 118 were men and 109 were women

with a with ages ranging between 26 and 74 years
We asked these customers 1,542 different questions
and measured 30,122 click behaviors from them
We placed 42 of these people under the MRI scanner

62 stakeholders and experts were interviewed
In the end, we realized 14 projects in 1.5 years
with around 254 different solutions
And have built around 54 prototypes/MVPs

Problem statement

The perception and trust of the pension fund has changed. Economies shift, rules change, the population is getting older, and complexity is increasing. Pensions are something to care about later, not now. Participants are therefore harder to activate, have less trust, and are less willing to contribute. Communication has a key role in this.

Engaging users to gain more knowledge and understanding

Pensions are one of the most important topic for many of people. The problem is that most people are only interested in the subject at a later age—and by then, it’s too late.

Before trying to develop a solution to engage (younger) people into pensions, we needed to obtain more understanding on the following: What information are participants looking for and when? How and where do participants search for information? In what ways can we make searching for information easier? How can we transfer knowledge in an easily accessible manner?

We collected this information from expert conversations with call center agents and data, pension information officers, and marketing department representatives, among others. By analyzing frequently asked questions at the call center and click paths from ABP.nl and MijnABP, the conclusion of our preliminary investigation: Participants search for personal information.

We cause confusion for participants

One of the most important lessons is that ABP, but also many other companies that have a MY environment, separate explanations from personal data and settings. They are often in two different environments and usually also separated via a password.

The result is that users do not read explanations because they are not relevant and too generic for their specific question, and they cannot interpret their personal data and settings in the MY environment because there is no explanation.

Bring personal information and explanations together

Ideation sessions

By joining together in Crazy Eight ideation sessions, we come up with different solutions in a short time. From these multiple solutions, we test two or three feasible ideas among users. We use guerilla testing for this. At a train station, airport, shopping mall, or other places where there are many people, we briefly test our ideas. This process usually results in one or two winners. We work out one of the winners in a prototype where we can test the operation in reality.

In this case, we came up with the idea of breaking all information into information snacks, combining it with personal data, and presenting it to the user via a conversational UI.

Results & Conclusion

✴Quantitative (n = 1.007)

The experiment contributes to knowledge and convenience. Explanation Nuggets with personal information makes the user 2x smarter. Conversational UI in combination with Explanation Nuggets ensures very high CES.

Managing expectations

How can we communicate uncertainties to the correct extent so that it contributes to confidence in ABP’s pension?

Lessons: communicate (un)certainties

All sketches and ideas show that simple and personal use of language is appealing. The combination of proposition and images also triggers, fascinates, and feels personally relevant.

Ideation

In the prototype, we show personal myths/topics that are relevant to customers NOW. Six propositions are shown that, along with an interactive dialogue, provide further depth in normal/simple language.

Results

✴Quantitative (n = 1.019)

How to activate pension participants

How can we, especially young people who have just started working, become interested in financial matters that only have consequences when they stop working?

Our lessons

People are difficult to activate to arrange complicated financial matters such as retirement for their future. They may think it is important, but will also think, “It will come later.” And then daily activities take precedence. By repeating several times the necessity of planning ahead, you can persuade some people to really take action. But you can’t keep spamming people.

First ideations

Many new ideas came from our creative sessions. Because we were initially focused on communicating, many ideas were also focused on that. Our first ideas didn’t change behavior and therefore failed.

After additional interviews with users and people in the financial sector, we gained new insights. We discovered that our participants use their banking app an average of 37 times a month.

Response to first prototypes of Pension in banking app

Learning: people look on average 37 times a month in their Bank App on their mobile Phone

Pension in your banking app Version 2

We obtained many new insights from telephone conversations with the first test persons, the 312 ABP participants who engaged in new face-to-face usability testing and quantitative testing. The biggest concerns people had related mainly to the concern that banks would have access to retirement data, leading to privacy issues. Indicate clearly in the prototype flow that banks do not have access to their personal pension data attracted the last doubters.