Bringing the voice of the customer to everything we do.

Customer first

Our customers are the reason we exist. So we work to listen and understand their needs, challenges, and motivations with more than academic interest. Real life input from employers, advisors, plan participants, and retail customers guides our work at every level of the organization.

We gather broad customer knowledge, trends, and insights through third-party research and studies commissioned by partner organizations. This data provides directional value. But it’s the work of our internal research teams that brings us ever closer to our customers.

Our opt-in Customer Community enables us to quickly gather key information on a variety of topics from nearly 1,300 individuals who use our products and services. We regularly segment and poll the group through online surveys, chats, and phone interviews. We use their input to vet everything from product design to education and marketing approaches. We listen, understand, and move forward, together.

Our success with this customer group will soon lead to the creation of an Employer Community that will bring deeper knowledge and immediacy to our work with businesses and plan sponsors.

The habits and interests of younger customers, who are now early in their retirement journeys, are already impacting our industry. In 2017, we studied more than 1,500 millennial and Gen X plan participants who are saving at high levels. The goal was to discover motivations that can be used to help other young participants engage and succeed in saving for retirement. It turns out that parents still hold a great influence on savings habits. So does the prospect of having the income to live a good life in retirement. Young savers are willing to make sacrifices. They’re also willing to help others, with six out of 10 teaching family and friends how to become better savers.

The use of technology and rich data is reshaping our industry. But drilling through the numbers to uncover real customers’ needs and preferences is what drives our future. And theirs.