Communication with members is key to fund’s success
She says that every year TSRF undertakes scientific research to ensure that the communication strategy remains relevant, sustainable, and most importantly, has a real impact on members. The research surveys members’ views and experiences of the fund and includes questions about how they want to receive communication, in what format and when.
“The survey has shown that 84% of members believe the communication they receive from the TSRF is easy to understand, 83% say the information is useful and interesting, and 81% say that the information received enhances their understanding of the fund,” says Van Coller.
“This reflects well on the communication strategy of the fund being achieved, as our strategic objective is to enhance the understanding levels of the members via communication and to make sure the members not only understand their rights, but know where to go for further information about their benefits and investments.
“The study shows that in 2016, when we first asked the question, 36% of members said that the SMS was the preferred method of communication; in 2018 this figure has grown to 54%.
“This finding, coupled with the fact that most members have cellphones (as this is the preferred channel of communication with their employers) has encouraged the fund to communicate with members via SMS so that newsletters, newsflashes and videos can be viewed on members’ cellphones.
“Communication via members’ cellphones was a logical solution, as the fund has a database of 63 000 cellphone numbers.”
Van Coller says the advantage of communication via SMS includes the fact that it is real-time and as most of fund members are on the road, they can read or watch the information sent to them from the fund where and when they want to.
As SMS communication is limited by the number of characters per message, the solution is to send SMSs to members with embedded links, where newsletters or videos can open on their cellphones via a link to the fund website. This action has also encouraged members to visit the fund website.
“In 2017, 18% of members said that if they are looking for information about the fund they visited the website. However, this has increased to 58% in 2018. Furthermore, in 2013 we had about 1 000 hits a month on the website, which grew to an average of 68 000 a month in 2017 and 155 000 in September 2018,” says Van Coller.
“Scribble videos are also produced to explain fund related matters and benefits. Scribble videos are very effective as they are entertaining and engage the members who see the pictures on the screen, read the words and listen to the voice, which results in greater retention and comprehension of information.
“The scribble video is uploaded on YouTube; the link is uploaded on the fund website and sent via SMS to all members’ cellphones, which gives them direct and instant access.”