Positive psychology on pensions saving can “transform” women’s engagement, according to joint research by Aviva and Big Window.

Findings shared at the annual Market Research Society today, 14 March 2018, showed that positive messages framed around “people like you can…” can shift women’s engagement from “deeply unlikely to very likely”.

The research used “expectancy theory” to understand how positive messaging can be used to influence women’s intention to save, rating their willingness on an indices of -25 to +30.
 
Aviva managing director of savings and retirement, Lindsey Rix, said: “The retirement challenges facing women are stark – they often face a longer retirement with fewer resources. Aviva and other leading providers carry a responsibility to respond to this challenge.
 
“This exciting research gives us new insight into how we can support our customers – especially women – to save for a more comfortable retirement.”

Other messages showing day-by-day and month-by-month progress, as well as reminding women that “pensions matter too”, were also found to have positive results.
 
Big Window founder, Lisa Edgar, said: “We simply have to use every resource at our disposal to encourage more people, and in particular more women, to save for their future. We have to really think about what is going to drive a step change in pension engagement.
 
“The Big Window team drew on our extensive knowledge of consumer, work, health and cognitive psychology to find a framework that has the potential to motivate women (and men) of every age and background to do something about their pension savings. The right framework can help us select and design the most effective nudges for behaviour change."

Stats released by Aviva show that, on average, women live for 21 years beyond the age of 65, but earn 9 per cent less than men and only account for 36 per cent of those eligible to be auto-enrolled, due to low earnings.

Woman have an average gross income of nearly 20 per cent less than men, earning £307 per week compared to £372 per week of men, according to government statistics.

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