Challenge
Standard Life faced a persistent industry challenge – low pension engagement at the pre-retirement stage. Despite automatic enrolment, many customers did not understand their retirement options, with only a minority confident about how much they needed to save. As pension decisions became more complex, customers were abandoning digital support and defaulting to financial advisers, creating accessibility issues and lost business.
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Solution
Equator collaborated with Standard Life to create a human-centred digital strategy that educates, empowers, and retains customers throughout the pre-retirement journey. Digital was positioned as the main engagement channel, improving accessibility while lowering operational costs.
- Designed an improved pre-retirement journey centred on customer needs rather than products.
- Simplified complex pension concepts with clear language and well-structured content. Introduced smarter triage based on customer knowledge and asset levels.
- Developed a content strategy that addresses both traditional and emerging pension challenges.
- Incorporated ongoing user research and testing to ensure the customer voice remains central.
- Supported internal teams with strategic and consultative guidance across stakeholders.
Results
62% increase in pension applications from search
34% year-on-year growth in SEO traffic
Improved retention by keeping customers engaged within digital channel
Outcome
Standard Life now offers a needs-led digital experience that increases engagement, improves retention, and drives measurable growth in pension applications. The programme shows how human-centred design can unlock commercial value while building customer confidence in retirement planning.