What AI thinks of your member comms… and why you should care

Member communications are often painstakingly crafted with input from different advisers to make sure they are accurate, legally compliant and send the right messages. Of course, we hope that members will read the whole thing, take any actions that are needed and contact the appropriate person if they have any questions. But as an industry we are increasingly aware of the challenges with engaging members. The FCA recently published research suggesting that only 1% to 7% of members were really engaging with emails from their pension provider (based on the number who clicked through to receive free financial guidance that was offered in a test).

The communications consultancy Quietroom explain that many members do not engage with communications because they’re difficult to read and use. Often, communications are written to meet legal requirements rather than meet members’ needs. In the very near future, Quietroom predict that members will read AI-generated summaries rather than the original (painstakingly crafted) communications or scheme websites. This is because these AI summaries and answers do a better job of meeting members’ needs. To an extent, it is happening already – AI is increasingly integrated into the search engines, apps, and devices that members already use.

Quietroom’s blog explains that this will affect every major communication channel, including emails and letters. In some cases, members will see the AI summary automatically, before they see the original.

We can’t stop these tools being used to access pensions information, so how do we make sure they help rather than hinder?

AI answers are only as good as the source material they’re based on. If communications are long, unclear and filled with jargon, then there’s a risk that AI will give members summaries that are incomplete, inaccurate, or misleading. This could lead members to bad outcomes, and potentially create risk for schemes.

Thomas Joy and Russ Hope at Quietroom have identified some best practice advice for preparing communications to help AI tools produce the best, most useful output.

Their key tips include:

• test your communications in AI enabled email apps and search engines, to see the summaries and answers your members will receive
• rewrite and re-test your communications until you get answers you’re happy with
• write using clear, concise and easy to understand language, so that AI makes fewer changes to your source material and creates more accurate summaries and answers
• keep related information together, to help AI give complete and well-rounded answers
• write clear calls to action, to help AI identify what members need to do and when they need to do it
• keep websites and online documentation up-to-date, and use consistent language when explaining benefits and other concepts, to reduce the risk of AI pulling through out of date or inconsistent information.

So, the fundamental principles for clear communication are more important than ever. The good news is that this can help members engage with and understand their pensions comms, whether using AI or not – a win all round!

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