Aviva’s perfectly timed, insight-driven mail campaign won SMEs’ trust

Background

The law on Workplace Pension had changed.  Critical "staging dates" were arriving that put the obligation on employers to set up the process of auto-enrolment to provide a workplace pension for eligible employees.  
Aviva wanted to position themselves as the first choice provider of workplace pensions and auto-enrollment for SME’s.

However, awareness of auto-enrolment (and the associated obligations) was low amongst SMEs. And consideration of Aviva as a provider of auto-enrolment was even lower.

Solution

Research revealed a key insight: SMEs didn’t believe they were ‘big enough’ for a company like Aviva. 

To tackle this head on, Aviva created a warm and engaging campaign: "Big experience working for Britain's smallest businesses".  The aim was to show business people that Aviva was on the side of small businesses, they understood them, and could make auto-enrolment simple and easy to do.

By mapping the customer journey (by staging date) to auto-enrollment, Aviva was able to identify the most appropriate time to engage contact and ultimately convert a SME.

A mailing that landed on the key decision makers in the SME’s desk carried the headline “Everyone’s big enough for our workplace pension”.  Inside the envelope, the leaflet used a gentle campaigning tone to show that Aviva is on the side of small businesses, that employees deserve to have a good workplace pension and Aviva was there to support them with a 5*Defaqto product. The images used showed a diverse mix of small business, from florists to farmers, cake makers to mechanics to demonstrate that Aviva was for "people like them".  

Facebook, Linkedin and banner advertising alongside targeted emails continued the message across the customer journey to auto-enrolment.

Results

Over the period of the campaign, from a standing start, more SMEs were going to the Aviva website to enquire about auto-enrolment.  Testimonials from employers confirmed that they now not only considered Aviva for auto-enrolment, but would go on to convert to a scheme.
 

Source: DMA Entry 2017