Isobar Digital Agency

The Challenge

Cbus Superannuation noticed a decrease in user interactions with retirees and received feedback from members expressing dissatisfaction with the lack of communication and support during their transition to retirement. The problem was identified as the need for a better experience for retiree customers, offering them the necessary guidance and support during this important life stage.

Discover

To utilise valuable business data for our project, we initiated a kick-off meeting with the key stakeholders at Cbus. Our objective was to gain insights from industry experts and establish a starting point for the project.

To ensure that we aligned with the business's objectives and aims, we carried out stakeholder interviews as a starting point for our research process. This method enabled us to attain an all-encompassing comprehension of the project needs and anticipated outcomes.

We landed on 3 Personas to screen for the first round of member interviews.

• Active Retirees (Balance > $150k)

• Low Balance Approahing retirement (Balance <$75k)

• Involuntary Retirees

Together the lead service designer and I conducted member interviews to gain a comprehensive understanding of our key users, including their behaviours, attitudes, goals, and pain points when navigating the retirement process. To ensure a reasonable sample, we decided on interviewing 13 participants per persona, allowing us to gather valuable insights and create targeted solutions.

Research Objectives

The research phase focused on understanding the retiree experience and identifying ways in which Cbus Superannuation could enhance their support.

The key objectives were as follows:

• Gain insights into the challenges faced by retirees during their transition to retirement.

• Identify opportunities to provide a more personalised and tailored experience for retirees.

• Understand the process, when, how and why members enter retirement. Is it a choice or involuntary?

• What are the daily challenges of members approaching/in retirement?

• What is the emotion and mentality of someone approaching/in retirement?

Define

To organise the vast amount of data we collected during the research phase, we conducted several workshops where we worked together to identify common themes and group them accordingly.

For the stakholder interviews we used affinty mapping to cluster similar information and bring forward common insights.

The key objectives for the project from a business perspective were

• To be a trusted retirement partner that understands our members better

• Ensure the best possible outcome for our members’ financial future

• Build proactive relevance as an organisation

After conducting interviews with each member, we set aside 15 minutes to organize their feedback and add it to a customer map using post-it notes. These maps are divided into three sections: Gains, Pains, and Jobs to be Done.

After completing all the interviews with the members, we merged their individual customer maps by identifying similar themes and observations. Next, we incorporated the insights into one map for each Persona, resulting in a total of four maps.

In order to better understand our users' behaviors and attitudes, we conducted a thorough analysis of each persona. To accomplish this, we utilised an empathy map exercise to gain insight into what they see, hear, and say.

After defining our personas, we generated a user journey map to visualise the entire process for our retirees. This allowed us to identify the areas that required attention and establish concepts to fill the gaps.

Through a combination of user interviews and data analysis, several key findings emerged from the research:

• Personalised Experience: Retirees desired a personalized experience that acknowledged their unique circumstances, goals, and preferences.

• Mindful Information Design: Clear and concise information, presented in a user-friendly manner, was crucial for retirees to understand their options and make informed decisions.

• Flow and Prompt: Retirees appreciated intuitive and guided experiences that helped them navigate the retirement process and prompted them to take necessary actions.

• Action Orientation: Retirees sought actionable guidance and support, enabling them to actively manage their retirement plans and finances.

• Jargon-Free: Communication free from technical jargon and complex terminology was essential for retirees to comprehend their retirement options and make informed choices.

• Tailored Content: Customised and relevant content, addressing retirees' specific needs and concerns, was highly valued.

• Members' Partners Engagement and Accessibility: Engaging members' partners in retirement planning and ensuring accessibility for all retirees, including those with diverse needs, were key considerations.

Design

During the project's design phase, we organised co-design workshops with the Cbus stakeholders to collectively define concepts worth pursuing for the project.

To kick off the ideation phase, we began with How Might We statements and asked all workshop participants to write down their ideas on sticky notes. The aim was to encourage everyone to think of the problem and find possible solutions without limiting their thought pattern.

After highlighting some key problems to solve we preformed a rapid ideation technique called Flash technique. The purpose of this excercise is to churn out as many ideas as possible in a short period of time using one of the HMW statements defined above.

This excercise is done a few times refining each concept based on everyones input.

We clustered similar concepts using the affinity mapping method.

In order to prioritise the clustered concepts we positioned them on a matrix diagram mapping them against the axes( Y top "Meets the challenge, Y bottom ''Meets another challenge")(X left "Traditional", X right "New approach".

We used dot voting to narrow down the ideas to a digestable list of ideas.

• Provide reading materials accessible to retirees (Things like books, ebooks, brochures)

• Host week events for retirees to learn about retirement and socialise

• Develop a support hub online where retirees can access information

• Provide financial seminars

• Create a YouTube channel educating retirees on specific topics

• Monthly chats with Cbus members to checkup on retirement status

The storyboard method was used to refine key concepts listed above. The goal of this excercise was to ensure we defined an idea which considered the 5 e's (Entice, Enter, Engage, Exit and Extend)

We prioritised each concept based on criteria, using Desirability, Feasibility and Viability as our criteria we gave each developed concept a score out of 10.

The following recommendations were made to improve the retirement experience for Cbus Superannuation members:

• Provide retirees with a retirement kit accessible online and printed out. This kit should include things like financial planning, social events and support options.

• Schedule Weekly retirement courses and seminars, a member should be able to sign up for these sessions online or by phone call.

• Create a "Finanacial Mythbusters" book concept

• Foster an action-oriented approach by offering actionable guidance and support. Get retirees to sign up for text message support. Cbus can send out reminders and tips to

• Implement information design strategies to present retirement-related information clearly and succinctly.

• Create tailored content that addresses retirees' specific concerns and provides relevant information.

• Engage members' partners in retirement planning and ensure accessibility for all retirees.

Delivery

I was brought on board to assist in the research and strategy for this project. During our presentation to Cbus, we shared key findings from the research phase and outlined the main areas to focus on in order to enhance retirees' lives during retirement. We also provided a list of recommendations and next steps to move forward.

Due to Cbus privacy policies I was not able to display the final presentation document.