An Inter view with Mar y Ellen Whiteman
as 2013. Year-over-year, we saw three
times the attendance at those webinars
as we have made them more targeted.
The engagement is higher, the actual
attendance is higher, and we are seeing
satisfaction scores go up as a result of
the content being more relevant—that
single-handedly is the most effective
thing. It’s not necessarily about unique
messaging that no one has ever thought
of, or differentiating messaging, but more
so the ability to really break it down
and make the interaction as personal
and relevant as possible. That is what
has helped us engage more people.
What has been the biggest failure
you’ve seen in terms of participant
education & engagement? What went
wrong and, ideally, what lessons can
others learn?
Really it’s some opportunities that have
been missed in the past. I wouldn’t say
there is necessarily one thing that sort
of jumps in my mind. Tied to my last
comment about being more targeted, we
don’t always have access to information,
especially through the [plan] sponsor.
There are data points about participants
that are of high value when it comes
to educating them about their financial
priorities. For example, the number of
children or the birthdays of children.
So if they have a college savings goal
related to those children, we aren’t
going to know based on the [limited]
information that a sponsor transmits to
us. We are not going to actually help
[employees] meet their goals or provide
information contextually if we don’t know
about them. So ultimately, what we want
to do is become more knowledgeable
about all of our participants. I think
learning more about investors and being
able to use that data to personalize their
experience, is a missed opportunity.
This is going to become increasingly
important as we ramp up our digital
experiences. Secondarily, historically
there has been a fine line between
what we talk about from a 401k and
a retirement perspective, and what we
talk about beyond that. We have been
very siloed in the way we communicate
to participants about their 401k—not
in relation to all the other things they
are facing from a financial perspective.
And not even from a financial, but from
a retirement perspective. So there are
clearly other retirement vehicles that can
help an individual meet their goal, but
the way we traditionally communicate
with them is specifically only about their
401k. I think that is doing a disservice
to these folks because, broadly, there
are other things they may consider—
whether it’s debt management, setting up
an emergency fund, or saving for college.
For investors who reach certain limits,
there are retail products and services
that can help them meet their goals
that we have not historically brought
tinto mind for these participants. So
that is another opportunity as we move
forward: to not be inside-out thinking,
but really outside-in and thinking about
the participant as an investor. What is
it that I need to know? What tools and
resources are there to help me meet my
goals that are holistic and not too focused
on one particular thing? Taking that lens
will allow us for more opportunities in
terms of really getting folks engaged and
getting them the education they need.
Imagine you sit on a board of a
medium sized corporation and the
committee has given you carte blanche
to make any single change you want
to engage employees for retirement
planning. Is there a specific action
that works for most businesses that
you’d recommend or does your answer
specific to the company?
This sort of applies broadly, but I
think it’s a matter of how you do it
and how much you invest. Ultimately,
the best way to engage is through
digital properties. It allows an efficient
way to personalize the experience
without necessarily having to rely on
a human to do so. I would compare
it to phone consultations and phone
conversations, where it is high-touch
definitely, but also high cost and also
not necessarily the channel of choice
for all investors. Really think about how
we replicate all those interactions that
are high touch and are very relevant
and personalized: How do we replicate
those from a digital perspective? What
I recommend is that we need to have
an ongoing, user-focused effort on
all digital properties to bring them
together. We can be thoughtful on
how the website works with iPhones
vs. iPad, etc. Where do we want
people to get what they need from
us? Being very purposeful about that
and also dedicating not only funding
to ongoing iterations, but also using a
very customer-focused development
process to help us really understand
what users want—that type of process
is one in which you will end up with
the right digital experience and one that
helps you meet your business goals. I
would recommend that sort of discipline
be invested in and supported and not
just “one-and-done”. [Support] an
ongoing nature to keep up with changes
in technology as well as to keep up
with changes in the expectations our
customers have. n
Mary Ellen Whiteman is the Head of
the Individual Investor Experience at
T. Rowe Price. A graduate of Loyola
College, Mary Ellen has worked for
15 years with T. Rowe Price
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