Novel use of cellphones improves fund’s communication

With about 72 000 active members and 2 765 participating employers within the road freight and logistics industry, communication to members has always been a top priority for the Transport Sector Retirement Fund.

Communication consultant Estie van Coller from RetirementWise says the fund’s communication strategy is a living document that is adapted and updated as the needs and expectations of members change.

“A research study done in 2016 and in 2017 showed SMS as a preferred method of communication had increased from 47% in 2016 to 60% in 2017.

“This finding coupled with the fact that most members have cellphones prompted the fund to implement a special project to provide member communication via SMS so that newsletters, newsflashes and videos could be viewed on members’ cellphones.”

Van Coller explains that most of the members are truck drivers or are involved in courier services.

“Though they spend most of their time on the road, members are very organised and interested in their fund.

“Members keep and study their benefit statements and actually work out how much they contributed during the last year — and report to the administrator when they think their statements are incorrect.”

Van Coller says the fund relies on different employers to distribute communication material such as quarterly newsletters, posters displayed in human resources offices, event flyers and emails. This distribution channel poses many challenges as some of the smaller employers have no formal human resources function and many of the larger employers neglect to hand out communication to members.

The fund had to think of more innovative and creative ways to communicate directly with members in real time, thereby reducing the responsibility of the employer to get the information to the members.

Communication via members’ cellphones was a logical solution as the fund has a database of 47 000 cellphone numbers.

The advantages of communication via SMS include the fact that it is realtime and members can read or watch the information sent to them from the fund where and when they want to.

As SMS is limited to 180 characters per message, the solution was to send SMSs to members with embedded links so the newsletter or video could open on their cellphones via a link to the fund website. This action also encourages members to visit the fund website — website hits have increased from 815 hits per month in 2015 to 68 020 hits in June 2017.

Van Coller says the fund understands that it would be impractical to believe that 100% of members can be reached via their cellphones due to the fact that the fund has about 5 000 resignations per month and about the same number of new members joining. Members also change their numbers, and often do not have data.

The hope is to improve the delivery of SMS messages to about 60% of members within the next year. In the meantime the fund continues to print and distribute communication material to employers as well as various truck stops.

Van Coller says scribble videos were also produced to explain fund related matters and benefits.

Van Coller says another direct method of communication with the truck drivers is through the Bargaining Council’s Trucking Wellness initiative, with more than 21 National Roadside Wellness Centres where truck drivers stop for HIV testing and general wellness check-ups.

“The fund saw an opportunity to increase face-to-face communication by visiting the largest of these truck stops, on a regular basis to speak with members outside of the employer setting. The Harrismith Truck Stop receives between 800 and 1 200 trucks a day.

“Presentations at truck stops have to be done between 10pm and 12pm when truck drivers pull over to rest for the night, and again the next morning between 5am and 7am,” says Van Coller.

Research conducted on an annual basis to ensure that the strategy remains relevant, sustainable and most importantly has a real impact on members shows that 64% of members report that they understand their fund benefits, 87% say that information received from the fund is easy to read and 84% say it enhances their understanding of fund benefits.