Raising pension awareness through letters and social media
“Letters with fear appeal are effective in increasing the basic knowledge of the pension system”
The social sustainability of a new pension contract depends on its communication. It is therefore important to gain insight into the extent of a person’s pension awareness. Pension literacy is low. About 60% of people think, for example, that state pension contributions are partly invested and nearly a third of them think that premium discounts only apply to retirees. Letters appear very effective in increasing the basic knowledge, especially when these involve letters with fear appeal. This applies to both the young and the elderly. Social media ads are more effective in activating people to log in on the webpage of mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl. Moreover, they are much cheaper.
Key Take Aways for the Industry
- In informing both the young and the elderly, informative letters with fear appeal have a greater impact than informative letters with curiosity appeal.
- The cost-effectiveness of a social media ad is high. Additionally, a social media ad is better suited than a letter in stimulating active logging in on a website.
Want to know more?
Download the paper ‘Raising pension awareness through letters and social media: evidence from a randomized and a quasi-experiment’ by Marike Knoef, Jim Been and Marijke van Putten – Leiden University with Pensioenlab
