Pension account holders give cool response to emails - especially "graphic and colourful" ones

Consumers who have recently logged into their accounts with a pension provider are significantly more likely than other individuals to engage with an email from that provider, according to Financial Conduct Authority research. Overall, however, theresearchers concludedthat it is "difficult to get people to engage with their pensions through email alone".

By Neasa MacErlean

Another useful conclusion from a field trial carried out among 82,000 pension customers of two firms was that the pre-testing of emails and other communications can have a notable effect on the response. When "graphic and colourful" emails were sent out, these proved "to be off-putting and potentially raised doubts about the trustworthiness of the emails", according to the detailed research results.