It Was Never the Message

For years, our industry has been obsessed with communication and engagement. Now, quietly, it’s moving away from both words, and I suspect that’s because, deep down, we know they’re not working. The theory was simple: get people interested in their pension and they’ll save more, read more and understand more. They’ll do all the things we want them to do. But what we want is rarely what’s top of their list when our message finally arrives.

I’ve thought about this a lot. It used to be part of my job; now it’s a big part of it. I’ve written the newsletters. I’ve signed off the campaigns. I’ve sat in the meetings where we spent an hour deciding whether “your retirement” sounded warmer than “your future”.

So, here’s the uncomfortable truth.

How you say it barely matters.

In 2021, the Behavioural Insights Team and the Money and Pensions Service ran a trial with 87,000 pension holders. Three carefully designed versions of the same message, built by some of the best behavioural minds in the country. The kind of work most of us would be proud to put our name to.

The percentage of people who acted on it: 0.2%.

And the difference between the three versions? None of them did any better than the others. Three ways of saying it, and people did exactly the same thing: nothing.

We’ve spent years rewriting the message. The message was never the problem.

Yet we continue. A new tone of voice. A refreshed brand. A shorter letter. A longer letter. A video. Nudges, badges, gamification, a chatbot, a dashboard, a personalised statement with the member’s name in a friendlier font. Each one launched with a press release and a case study. Each one moves the dial a fraction, mostly among the members who were already paying attention.

None of that is wrong. Some of it is really good. Our industry has brilliant communicators: people who can make a tax code readable and a pension increase feel personal. But it won’t move that 0.2%, because it all makes the same mistake. It asks people to come to us, at a moment that suits us.

Open the letter when it lands. Read the newsletter when it’s sent. Respond to the campaign when it runs.

They don’t. They never have.

So what if we stopped asking how to say it better, and started asking when? What if all that talent, every writer, designer and behavioural scientist in pensions, focused on the one moment members are already paying attention?

It was never the message. It was the moment.

The one moment nobody has to create

There’s one moment when every person, without exception, is paying attention to their money. Nobody has to remind them, nudge them or reward them. It happens every single month.

It’s the day they get paid. Whether it’s a salary or a pension, for most people it’s their main income. Let’s focus on the pension side. For many schemes, once a member starts drawing their pension, communication more or less stops: a letter once a year confirms the amount, and even that brings security problems of its own. More on that shortly.

Around 11 million people in the UK are paid a pension every month. On that day, almost all of them hear from exactly one organisation: their bank. “Payment received.” That’s the whole conversation, and that’s fine. It’s exactly what a bank should do.

But the bank doesn’t know why the amount changed. It doesn’t know the member was widowed in March. It doesn’t know their bank details were switched last week by someone who wasn’t them. It doesn’t know this is their first pension payment after forty-four years of work.

The pension scheme knows all of it. And on pay day, it says nothing.

The organisation that knows least about your members talks to them every month. The one that knows most stays silent.

Look what the payroll already knows

Any pension payroll run in April can tell you, without looking anywhere else:

• whose payment went up, and by how much;
• whose tax code changed, and who’s about to be paid less than they expect;
• whose bank details were changed last week;
• who’s being paid for the first time;
• who’s being paid a survivor’s pension for the first time;
• whose pension is low enough that they may be entitled to extra help, such as Pension Credit.

It’s all there, in the file, on pay day. Every month. Then the money goes out, and the knowledge, and the help it could unlock, stay behind.

And look what happens to it

The increase? Explained in a letter, sometimes posted to an address the member left years ago, where anyone can open it. Meanwhile, the members who never saw it, or didn’t understand it, start ringing.

The changed bank details? Too often discovered when the money doesn’t arrive.

The widow? Gets a letter and a form, the week she’s arranging a funeral.

The information was there every single time. It just had no way to reach the member at the moment they were looking.

We don’t have a communication problem in pensions. We have a timing problem.

Now flip it

Same payments. Same Tuesday morning. Same payroll run. But this time every member gets a payslip from their own scheme, on their phone or computer, with one message chosen for them.

Mary, 72: “Your pension has gone up by £19.04 a month. That’s this year’s 3.8% increase. Tap to see how it was worked out.” The April phone call never happens.

Ray, 68: “Your bank details were changed on 21 April. If this wasn’t you, call us now.” The fraud is caught the same day, not next month.

Jean, 81: “We’re very sorry for your loss. If you’d like to speak to someone, our bereavement team is here, or we can call you.” A person, not a form.

Ken, 66: “Welcome. This is your first pension payment from us.” The first day of a relationship that could last twenty-five years or more.

Pat, 77: “Is there someone you’d like us to talk to if you ever need help?” Asked before it’s too late, not after.

Thousands of members have their affairs run by a son, a daughter or an attorney. Now the person checking the account on the train to work finally sees what the scheme has to say.

Five members. One payroll. Five completely different messages. Not a campaign. Not a newsletter. The right sentence, for the right person, on the one day they’re most likely to be looking and, for a moment, thinking about their money.

Every scheme has a direct line to every member, every month. Almost none of them use it.

Does it work?

We’ll know properly when the first scheme goes live. But here’s the comparison that makes me think we can move the dial.

That carefully crafted letter: 0.2%.

Payslips delivered through Experian’s PayDashboard between January and August this year: 66% opened.

These aren’t the same measure: one counts people who acted, the other counts people who opened a payslip. Those payslips went to employees, not members in payment, so I won’t pretend retired members will match it. And yes, a member still has to sign up once to receive a digital payslip. The difference is what brings them back each month: not our campaign, but their money.

So why hasn’t anyone done this?

Because the payroll team pays members, the communications team writes to them, and the payslip fell into the gap between the two.

Because until recently there was no way to put a payslip from the scheme on a member’s phone on the day they’re paid. Digital payslips arrived for employees years ago; they’re only now reaching pensions in payment.

And because the industry has spent a fortune asking members to come to it, and hardly any time asking the obvious question: what should we be saying in the one place members already go, every month, without being asked?

It’s 2026. Most people over 65 now manage their money online. Their sons, daughters and attorneys certainly do. Scammers have learned to sound exactly like a pension scheme. And the only voice members reliably hear on pay day belongs to their bank.

The scheme stays in charge

This isn’t an algorithm let loose on people’s retirements. The scheme decides what’s said, writes every word, and sets the order. Keeping the money safe comes first. Help when life changes comes next. Nothing commercial ever jumps the queue. The scheme sees how many people read each message and acted on it, but not who did what. Member data stays inside Experian’s secure environment. Fincentive’s job is to make sure what each member hears is helpful, relevant and on time.

Next month

Next month, your bank will message every one of your members. It will say “Payment received.”

You could write another letter. Redesign another newsletter. Launch another app.

Or you could take everything our industry has learned about saying things well, all that craft and care, and put it to work where it finally has a chance: in the one moment every member is already listening to.

The message was never the problem. It just needed somewhere to go.

SOURCES
[1] Behavioural Insights Team and Money and Pensions Service (2021). Smarter Signposting. 87,000 pension holders; overall uptake 0.2%; no statistically significant difference between the three message variants.
[2] Experian PayDashboard. Share of payslips opened, payslips published January to August 2026. Employee population.
[3] Age UK (2023). Around 4 in 10 over-65s with a bank account do not manage their money online.